Blowes beat: Dubbo Kangaroos travel to home of defending premiers Bathurst Bulldogs

The target is on the back of Bathurst Bulldogs throughout this season as they chase another Blowes Cup title, and one of the keys to staying ahead of the competition is for the next generation of players to make the leap.

If the early stages of this season are anything to go by then the Bulldogs are on the right track.

Bulldogs will look to keep their strong start to the 2023 going when they play host to the Dubbo Kangaroos this Saturday at Ashwood Park, and several younger club members will look to stamp their authority on the match.

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Bathurst fly half Brad Glasson said there's a great buzz around the Bulldogs camp, especially with the future being in astute hands.

"There's a pretty good vibe around the club at the moment. There was a good old boys lunch on earlier in the day on Saturday, and we're working towards our 150th season which will come next year. That'll be big," he said.

"There's a few young fellas coming through who are now playing first grade regularly. They're a good bunch of blokes.

"Tom Felsch is one to watch, and Zac Taylor is another. Zac missed the first round with injury with he's been at training every week and he'll be back this weekend. He's coming through his grades well and might be on the first grade bench.

"In the backs we've got Hunter Davis who has been there the last couple of years. Isaac Hogan is another colt coming through who's played well over the last couple of years."

Bulldogs trampled Forbes Platypi 61-5 in their opening round fixture last round.

Even so, Glasson said there's still bits and pieces that the team know they can improve upon.

They'll need to patch those areas up especially against a Roos side who weren't far away from Orange Emus in a 14-7 loss last round.

"From the start we played our own football and we knew what we were doing. We're a much better team when the comms are up and we all know what's going on," he said.

"Dubbo are always big lads with the tough ball carries. They just keep coming all day, so we're expecting a tough contest with these guys. Hopefully we can get things going from the start.

"We don't like losing at home. We love going out there with the home crowd cheering us on."

Platypi coach Tony Wallace isn't underestimating the task ahead of his first grade squad this Saturday.

The blues are at home to an Orange City side that is still celebrating its first win in two years - over the strong Cowra Eagles - in round 2 of the Blowes Clothing Cup.

Unfortunately, the Platypi will be missing a number of players between injuries and personal commitments this weekend.

"We will be tested this week with our depth," Wallace said.

The Platypi met a "red-hot" Bulldogs side in Bathurst last weekend, with Wallace crediting that side as "one of the better teams I've seen run around this competition in a lot of years".

"We had injured players going into that game who only lasted a couple of minutes on Saturday and that compounded the result," he said.

"We won't give up, we'll keep going and see what we can do."

Cowra will, simply, be looking for more effort this weekend when it hosts Emus.

The Eagles suffered what was seen as a shock 20-8 loss to Orange City last time but the Cowra side this season is a little different to those of recent years which has pushed for premierships.

"We're just a young side this year rebuilding," assistant coach Casey Proctor said after the City game.

"We didn't really value our opposition after winning last week.

"We didn't do the basics well, we didn't value field position, our discipline was very poor.

"We came away from last week thinking we were going pretty good.

"We learnt a lesson about respecting the game and the opposition and territory.

"Sometimes you turn up and think it's going to happen at home, fall into place but we found out today we'll have to put a lot more effort in."

Emus head to Cowra having beaten the Roos in round one after a round one loss to Bulldogs.

The three first grade matches kick-off at 3.15pm, Saturday.

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