The Dubbo Rhinos may be without a win and seemingly cemented to the foot of the New Holland Agriculture Cup ladder, but opposition sides remain cautious before a trip to Apex Oval.
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The Rhinos are a physically strong outfit, sometimes fiery, and there's a number of young players who can create a moment of magic from seemingly nowhere.
While flashes of that brilliance have been few and far between this year, it's enough to have CSU players a little wary ahead of this weekend.
However, they're not letting a trip to Dubbo get in the way of their ultimate goal.
"You never know what you're going to get with Rhinos, it could be a tough one for sure, especially as we're playing at Apex, their home ground," students winger Nick Greenberg said.
"But based on how we are playing I think we can make the grand final, I think we can do it. The only team we've lost to is Narromine, we're in second, so I think we're in with a pretty good chance."
The Bathurst-based side has only lost once in 12 rounds this year and after that heavy defeat to the Gorillas a month ago they have got back to their best.
For the Rhinos, things have been going from bad to worse.
The struggling side has scored just 12 points in the last three weeks and was held scoreless by both the Gorillas and the Blayney Rams.
A clash with the second-placed students is another challenge, before the regular season ends with games against third-placed Mudgee and Narromine.
The focus now is on simply finishing the season with some kind of momentum and confidence, something the students have had almost all year.
After showing great improvement last season and making it all the way to the preliminary final, the students are determined to go further in 2019.
Greenberg said a lot of the development comes down to the work ethic and discipline instilled by experienced coach Dave Conyers - a man who has mentored CSU to premiership glory in the past.
"It's been pretty incredible," Greenberg said.
"Discipline, 'Cons' brings discipline. He's regimented, they way that he and Pete Koen train us is very old school as well.
"I guess he's helped the forwards more than anything, that's where his focus has been, on the forwards in terms of their rucking ability and their pick and drive.
"The forwards going well sets a good platform. I guess because we are younger and don't have that experience or age that those 35-year-old blokes from Blayney have or Mudgee or wherever, having that discipline in the forward pack helps a lot.
"I'd say we are just as good mates as we were last year, but on the field we're a bit tighter, more cohesive."