The competition-leading Emus suffered their first loss of the season last round to the Dubbo Kangaroos, proving that the high-flying men in green are beatable.

It’s a different lead up for the Bulldogs who are coming off a comfortable 33-0 win over the Cowra Eagles at home.

However, Bulldogs co-coach Phil Newton and his side know things will be much tougher on Saturday against the side he deems the “benchmark team in the competition over the past few years”.

Bulldogs have already picked up a win over Orange City this year and it would be a notable achievement for the Bathurst men to take wins over both Orange clubs in a season.

“I’d expect Emus after their first loss of the season to come back hard,” Bulldogs co-coach Phil Newton said.

“If we want to be true contenders then we’ve got to match up with these big sides. It was a big thing for us to beat Orange City for the first time in six years but we still haven’t beaten Emus in some time.

“On our day I think we’ve got the ability to beat any side. It all comes down to believing in ourselves to be able to play to that ability.”

Bulldogs have to turn around a disappointing 36-14 loss to the Emus from April’s opening round of the competition at Ashwood Park.

Emus rarely let Bulldogs into the contest as a dominant opening half from the visitors took them to a 22-0 lead at half-time.

Emus may have gone down 22-7 to the Kangaroos last round but Newton doesn’t want his side to read too much into that result.

“From all reports, Emus had a few players out in their last game. I’m not sure if they’re back for this one,” he said.

“They have a lot of strength in the forwards. They're strong in their set pieces and they have some very classy backs.

“Emus are a great team across the park and there’s nowhere on the paddock where you could say that they’re weak. We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves to try and beat them.”

Bulldogs currently sit fifth on the table, with a five point gap back to Mudgee Wombats.

“The pressure is on us. We’ve got Mudgee and Cowra snapping at our heels. We really need to keep winning matches,” Newton said.

“We got that win over City then Forbes got over us, just. We’ve got to make an impression now against both Emus and Dubbo.

“We missed Izaak Breen against Forbes and if he was there I think that result might have been different, but if something happens to one of our key players then we need to be able to deal with that.

“If we can keep our players fit then we’re looking good. I’d say our lineup is almost where it needs to be at. Our bench have also been excellent for us and that’s made a huge difference for us.”

Emus hooker and key player Tom Goolagong escaped suspension following a red card against Dubbo and will be available.

Bulldogs have named an unchanged starting lineup for Saturday’s game, which starts from 3.15pm.