Bathurst Giants to host Dubbo Demons in round one, Bathurst Bushrangers travel to Orange Tigers

The always highly-anticipated Bathurst derby will then take place on George Park 2 the following weekend before the Bushrangers host the Demons and Giants host the Tigers in round three.

Giants won't be doing any travelling over the opening month of the competition as they play all their games in Bathurst over the first four rounds.

Coach Mark Kennedy said the run of Bathurst clashes will be of great help to his side.

"It'll be handy for us because we've got a few players out for the first few weeks or so, so it's nice to be at home so we can draw on some extra players," he said.

"Dubbo will be a bit of an interesting opponent this year. I think they'll be much improved. They've got most of their core players back, so that'll be similar to last year, but I think they've been working a bit on their fitness.

"That's something that they probably lacked a little bit last year, and teams would sometimes run over the top of them late. If they can fix that up then they'll be a challenge for the other sides in the tier one comp."

Kennedy said expectations for the 2022 season will be more tempered than the previous year.

"We've had good numbers at training and the guys have been up and about. They're really keen. We're just going to have a bit of fun this year. Last year we were really serious about getting that premiership before COVD put it all to bed," he said.

"Our first round will also be dedicated to Oscar Mann. We'll get together with the family there and get something together for Ossie."

Bushrangers' co-coach Tim Hunter said the first round trip will be a fun test to see where the team is at.

"It's only just down the road so it's not a bad first travel for us. It's always a tough place to play but we're excited about the early challenge of playing away from home. We're looking forward to it," he said.

"Pre-season's been fantastic. We've had really solid numbers and the boys have put in a fair amount of work.

"We had our first intra-club trial on Saturday and that went really well so things are looking really positive for the season. One of the biggest takeaways from that game was it showed the depth we've got."

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