AS the Bathurst Bulldogs look to avoid their third consecutive loss of the new Blowes Clothing Cup season on Saturday not only will they need to overcome the Forbes Platypi at Grinstead Oval, but do so without their representative stars.
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After opening their campaign with a come from behind win over the Orange Emus, Bulldogs have gone down to Parkes Boars and Dubbo Kangaroos.
Forbes have had a similar start to their 2014 campaign, with a win and a pair of losses, making Saturday’s match an important one for both outfits.
The winner will almost certainly move into the top five, while the loser will have conceded plenty of ground to their rivals.
Bulldogs, in seventh place, will head to Forbes without Tom Hollis, Hayden Tidswell, Chris Plunkett and Phil Tonkin, who will all be absent due to NSW Country Cockatoos commitments.
But Bulldogs co-coach Scott Johnston believes his club howed against Dubbo last Saturday there is enough depth to field 15 strong players.
“From losing Hayden Tidswell in the first couple of minutes and then losing Adam Dwyer and Alistair Fryer [last Saturday] it made things tough,” he said.
“The desire in the club is terrific though. I thought that the boys did really well despite all that.
“Most of the injuries are only one to two weeks.
“A lot of them were just muscle tears or small ligament damage and nothing too big.”
There has been plenty of shuffling in the Bulldogs’ starting side, particularly in the backs, creating plenty of first-time combinations.
Brodie Scott moves into the halves in the absence of Hollis while Jack Roberson switches out of the centres to fill the vacancy at fullback.
After playing second grade last Saturday, Tim Collins will start on the wing.
Fryer, recovering from a hip flexor injury, will test himself the number 8 role and Jayman Carter gets a challenge jumping from colts into the first grade side.
Forbes will be carrying plenty of confidence into the match after falling just shy of a win over defending Central West Rugby champions Orange City last week.
They now get to face the Bulldogs with their only back-to-back home fixture for the season.
The sides may be even on points, but Johnston said the Platypi will hold a definite home ground advantage.
“There’s a big difference playing Forbes at home compared to away. In the 11 years that I’ve been at the club, I’d say that we’ve only won there about three or four times and we’ve had some very strong sides in that time,” he said.
“They usually pick and drive well and have a couple of handy backs.”
The match is set to kick off at 3.15pm on Saturday.
BATHURST BULLDOGS: 1 Andrew Donaldson, 2 Mark Donnelley, 3 Sean Fogarty, 4 Izaak Breen, 5 Lachlan Bull, 6 Matt Boyle, 7 Jayman Carter, 8 Alistair Fryer, 9 Adam Miles, 10 Brodie Scott, 11 Tim Collins, 12 Alex Weal, 13 Josh Lee, 14 Ben Sheppeard, 15 Jack Roberson.
