Former Central West flanker Tom Dewhurst will make his Blowes Clothing Cup debut for Emus in place of the injured McLean, having linked with the defending premiers earlier this year after moving to Orange from Melbourne.

He slots into No.8 after some weeks in the lower grades, running from the bench in last week's win over Orange City. Some would say the timing is perfect, considering Dewhurst will make his first start against his old club, Cowra.

"He is a fairly handy replacement, yes, and to have that kind of depth is obviously a real benefit for us with the longer season compared to last year, which was always going to bring more injuries," Campbell said.

"It was pretty exciting when we got word Tommy was keen on coming to the club this year because we all know how good a player he was for Cowra, and for Central West, before he moved to Melbourne.

"He's had a good taste of lower grade rugby coming into the club over the last few weeks and he was really strong off the bench against Orange City. He's shifting from flanker to No.8, but that won't be an issue for him."

With Cowra being one of the more abrasive sides in the top tier, Campbell admitted Dewhurst might need to be prepared for a little bit of extra attention from his former teammates, but is certain the hard-nut breakaway will handle it well.

"I'm sure he'll get a bit of stick, but that would be true of anyone in that situation, if it comes it'll all be in good fun. Tommy's probably looking forward to it," Campbell said.

After hammering Dubbo last weekend Cowra moved into second on the ladder, with the stakes becoming even higher considering the competition lead could actually change hands this weekend - Emus are just four points clear.

Revenge may well be on the Eagles' agenda too, they head into Saturday's round 10 clash after four consecutive wins. The last loss they suffered was a 15-3 defeat at home to Emus.

"Makes for a pretty good game, doesn't it?" Campbell asked, rhetorically of course.

"They're tough, they always are. They like the confrontation up-front and they like controlling the tempo of the game, so we'll need to work hard to not allow them to do that.

"We were pretty good in patches last weekend against Orange City but there's still plenty to work on."

Emus will also be without halfback Shahid Khalfan, with Archie Weston returning from injury in his place. Jack Marchinton and Sam Greatbatch also return to the sides of the scrum, having recovered from injury as well.

Saturday's clash has been moved to Wade Park due to the condition of Endeavour Oval after this week's rain. Kick-off is at 3.15pm.

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