Orange Emus coach Pete Bromley doesn't even need to try and play the underdog card leading into Saturday's Blowes Clothing Cup grand final rematch against Bulldogs, because there's simply no denying the Bathurst side are the competition's benchmark so far.
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The ladder-leading Bulldogs have produced three spell-binding performances to open the season without a blemish while Emus have been somewhat disjointed and sub-par compared to their usual lofty standards, and suffered their first loss last weekend to Cowra.
Ill-discipline and uncharacteristic errors killed the greens against the Eagles, they piggy-backed their rivals up Cowra Rugby Ground with penalties and were frustratingly error-ridden as often as they were scintillating through the round three defeat.
"We can't do that this weekend. We were inconsistent and our discipline, or lack thereof, really cost us and if we do that again it'll be even more costly against a side like Bulldogs, who are setting the standard this season," Bromley said, giving the greens' rivals due credit.
Having Central West centre Lachie Harris back in the No.13 jersey will help the greens' cause, he returns after missing the Cowra loss with injury.
He'll partner former Bulldog Tom Joseph in the centres, who was superb in his debut for Emus last weekend, although a yellow card did take some gloss of an otherwise barnstorming performance.
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Joseph is a former Bulldog, so there'll no doubt be a touch of extra feeling in Saturday's clash for the physical inside centre.
"Lachie being back is a big boost. Matt Campbell did a great job but he twinged his hamstring last week, so it's a straight swap there," Bromley said.
"With the side we've got there's still plenty of confidence going in because it is only one loss and it's still early in the season.
"Like any other side we're still a work in progress but we do need to get better, we need to improve. Our senior guys need to step up and lead from the front."
Naturally being at Anne Ashwood Park will give the Bulldogs even more confidence, considering they've not lost at their home ground in some time, running through 2018 undefeated there.
The last time they beat Emus also came at the Bathurst ground, a four-point win in a 74-point shootout midway through last year.
Emus tackle Bulldogs from 3.15pm on Saturday afternoon, at Bathurst's Anne Ashwood Park.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
