THE Bathurst Bulldogs might be raring to go as they return to Central West Rugby Union action tomorrow after a general competition bye, but they know rivals Parkes Boars will bring the fight to them.

The competition resumes following the Blue Bulls successful representative campaign at the Country Championships, with number 8 Peter Fitzsimmons the only member of Bathurst’s first XV who took part.

It means his fellow Bulldogs are fully rested and eager to meet the winless Boars in Parkes as they search for their third consecutive win.

The Boars have leaked over 40 points a game on average, but at home Bulldogs co-coach Brian Roberson expects them to be a tougher prospect.

“We’re quietly confident, but when it comes to Parkes at home, they’re a different beast. They’re a team that could beat anyone on their day,” he said.

“They’re still strong in their set pieces, scrums and line-outs, and strong in broken play. We’ll focus on our own structures and patterns to counter that.”

Last round’s 23-19 win over the Mudgee Wombats took the Bulldogs’ record to two wins and two defeats for 2016 and they are keen to further improve their position.

But the Bathurst outfit know they must improve in order to do that.

Bulldogs came dangerously close to letting a 17-0 lead slip against Mudgee as numerous penalties at the breakdown let the Wombats back into the contest.

It is no surprise that’s the area coaches Roberson and Phil Newton have been focussing on over the past fortnight.

“The primary focus for us after that Mudgee game is how we’ve got to contest the breakdown. We’ve done a lot of work over the last couple of sessions on our ball security and cleaning out the area,” Roberson said.

“We’ve had three intense training sessions and this week we’re putting the polish on it all. It’s a tough trip to make, out to Parkes, but we’ll be ready for it.

“We’re looking to build up a bit of momentum now. We’ve got Parkes and CSU for our next two games and we’re not going to underestimate our opposition by any means, but we’ll be looking to build things up across those matches.”

There is only the one change to the Bulldogs’ starting side this week.

Bart Bogart comes back into the team at outside centre, while Tyler Cook is looking at up to a month on the sidelines nursing the shoulder injury he picked up in the win over the Wombats.

The match will kick off at 3.15pm.

BATHURST BULLDOGS: 1 Chris Plunkett, 2 Mark Donnelly, 3 Sean Fogarty, 4 Izaak Breen, 5 Ollie Barclay, 6 Adam Dwyer, 7 Brendan Nelson, 8 Peter Fitzsimmons, 9 Adam Miles, 10 Sam Roberson, 11 Josh Lee, 12 Scott Johnson, 13 Bart Bogart, 14 Kurt Weekes, 15 Jack Roberson.