It's a tough ask any day taking on the northern most AFL Central West club, but at South Dubbo Oval, they're always just that extra bit harder to beat.

Bathurst Giants coach Mark Kennedy knows all about the challenge the Demons will dish out in Saturday's tier one clash, especially as the Dubbo club has already beaten the Bathurst club earlier this month at the same venue.

"They're always tough at home," Kennedy admitted.

READ MORE:

"Last time we went up there we got done by 30 points, so they're always a different kettle fish playing at their home park.

"They've got a good side, so it's a testament to them to bounce back from the first half of the season where they were struggling, having to split the team up over tier one and tier two to travel.

"They've done really well to bounce back and at home, they seem to bring players out of left field to give them a run. We're just going to put a very solid side onto the park and go over there and try and learn from our mistakes the last time we went over there."

In Dubbo's most recent match before last Saturday's round was declared null and void due to the COVID-19 lockdown in three Central West local government areas, the Demons claimed their first ever win against the Bushrangers in Bathurst in wet conditions.

The 10-point victory was also the Demons third consecutive win, after winning just one of its first seven games.

For the Giants, however, they are sitting pretty in first, with eight wins from 10 rounds, fresh from a comfortable 8-9-57 to 2-2-14 win over the Orange Tigers.

The Giants now return to the paddock having the week off and also an interrupted training schedule.

George Park 1 and 2 were severely damaged from play two Saturdays ago, with a lack of sustained sunny weather unable to dry out the fields.

It means the Giants have had training sessions at both Bathurst High Campus and at the hockey fields.

"We had a training at hockey fields on Wednesday afternoon. Bathurst hockey has been really kind to let us train on their fields," Kennedy explained.

"We put as much effort into that session to set up our game plan for the weekend. We've also been training up at Bathurst High. We've had to find alternative locations, like everyone else."

Kennedy also said there's a mix of pros and cons when it comes to having a week off.

"I prefer to play all the way through, so you can get as much exposure to football as you can," he said.

"There were a few guys that were struggling with injuries in our last game against Orange. and we lost Bailey Waldron to a quite nasty injury and he's done for the year.

"The week off gives us a bit of time to reset. We've had a few light training runs."

First bounce is at 2.15pm.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: