In what's expected to be a cold and rainy affair at Waratahs the second and third placed teams, level on 23 points, will look to get the jump on each other in what will certainly be the match of the round.

The two clubs only met three rounds ago at Proctor Park, where they had to settle for a 3-all draw.

Bathurst '75 coach Mark Comerford expects very little to change from both clubs with the way that they go about their football.

"We only played Waratahs a few weeks ago and we were relatively disappointed that we came away with a draw, and I'm sure they were as well. We had the lead twice and gave it up twice," he said.

"I think both teams will play the same way that they did before. They're coming in off a loss last week and they'll be home now so I expected them to be keen to bounce back and get a result.

"We've been pretty close with the top teams and I can't see it being much different to previous games."

Bathurst '75 go from facing the lowest ranked Orange team to the highest ranked one in the space of a week.

The Bathurst men thumped Orange CYMS 8-1 last week, putting away seven goals within the first 50 minutes, in a ruthless offensively display.

You'd be brave to think anything similar would unfold this weekend as Bathurst '75 looks to break down one of the best defences in the competition.

"Last game against them Waratahs came back when 2-1 down and 3-2 down to get the point so I don't think they'll feel they have to change too much to get the three points. We feel the same way, but we just have to be better at managing the game," Comerford said.

"We need to be better organised defensively to take away their opportunities to score. There's just a couple of little things we need to fix up that seems to happen when we play the better teams."

The only factor that could significantly shift the way either side goes about their business could be the inclement weather.

Up to 10mm of rain is predicted, to follow a similar amount on Friday, and strong winds could also come into play.

"We'll still try and play the game that we want to play but it will depend on what the weather's like," Comerford said.

"We'll go in with the same mindset that we have with every other game. How we play from out of the back and use our midfield likely won't change but the conditions could dictate how much we do that.

"We don't go in thinking we need to be any different. If they use a different system because of it then we have to adjust and we have to work around it."

The winning side will take first place on the ladder should competition leaders Panorama go down to Parkes Cobras.

Kick-off is 6pm.

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