Blowes Clothing Cup 2018: All on the line as Dubbo Kangaroos plays host to Orange Emus

The Blowes Clothing Cup powerhouse, so often a mark of consistency in recent years, suffered a heavy loss to Forbes last weekend and was pushed for the entire 80 minutes in games against Cowra and Bathurst Bulldogs prior to that.

Therefore, it may seem like this weekend is the perfect times for the Dubbo Kangaroos to welcome the men in green to No. 1 Oval.

“Not at all,” Roos captain Shaun McHugh fired.

“We weren’t there at those games so they could have lost 100-nil, that doesn’t matter to us.

“They’ve been clinical both times they’ve played against us.”

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In the final round of the regular season the equation is simple for the Roos; defeat the competition frontrunners and they will play finals or lose and watch the rest of the season from the sidelines.

Last week’s loss to Bulldogs saw the Dubbo side fall below both Cowra and Forbes in the battle for third and fourth.

However, with Forbes and Cowra playing each other in the final round the Roos can move back into the top four with a victory.

“Lucky for us we’ve got another chance and we’ve just got to win. There’s no mathematical equation,” McHugh said, before laughing about how to beat Emus.

“By scoring more points. But they beat us convincingly in Orange but when we played here it was tighter.

“We just let a couple of soft tries in and that’s been the story of our season, letting in too many easy points.”

That was the issue in the 25-5 loss to Bulldogs last week. The match was closer than the score suggested for long periods, but the Bathurst side managed to capitalise on Roos errors and poor options on a number of occasions.

McHugh, much like club coaching director Beau Robinson and many others involved with the Roos, still feels the side hasn’t played to its potential this year but all are also aware time is running out to show people what the current team is capable of.

“I believe we do deserve to be there (in finals),” McHugh said.

“The four other teams would say no because they’re all above us but I believe we should be there and it’s down to us now.

“Should we be there on our performances, probably not. But on attitude, absolutely.”

The battle for consistency is evident as the Roos have gone thew entire regular season without winning successive games.

Finding that spark and ability to perform across the 80 minutes will be vital on Saturday against a team as clinical as Emus.

Only once has the Orange side scored less than 21 points in a game this year and a win on Saturday will secure Emus the minor premiership and hosting rights for the major semi-final.

“Everyone is aware we just need to win,” McHugh said.

“You look across the park and there’s not many weaknesses (in Emus).

“We’re not sugarcoating it. We’re up against it and for me, they’ve been the best side for the past three or four years.”

“We’ve got to start well and build pressure and hopefully some scoreboard pressure. We’ve got the team to beat them, we know that.”

There is expected to be very little change, if any, to the Roos starting lineup ran out last Saturday.

Kick-off is 3.15pm, Saturday at No. 1 Oval.