But since that defeat there's been plenty of rugby for the Bulldogs to get under their belt, and now on the back of two straight victories the Bathurst club welcomes the Roos to the Ashwood Park fortress.

The game pits together the second and third placed teams on the ladder and could shape up as one of the most crucial games in determining the make up of finals.

Bulldogs will end the round in either second or fourth on the ladder - barring a draw - and with so much on the line coach Matt McRobert hopes the team fires up for the occasion.

"In the context of what's to come in the semi-finals it's an important game," he said.

"Like any sport, momentum is important, and these last two wins have given us that. We played in terrible conditions last Saturday and we were able to still play good rugby.

"We're hoping to continue that improvement this weekend against Dubbo. Our forward pack played more as a unit than they have done all year and that was the most pleasing thing to see."

Both teams have had three matches to build on that first meeting, one where McRobert said his side were certainly outplayed in the 31-19 result.

Errors not only fed the Roos extra possession but after those mistakes the Bulldogs struggled to contain the waves of Dubbo attack.

A repeat of such a performance will be devastating for the Dogs.

"Playing at Dubbo at any time is a big task. They're our traditional rivals and we've got a history of grand finals against them. Driving to Dubbo and playing them first up was always going to be a big ask," he said.

"They put 30 points on us which is never a good thing. We're keen to make amends there and our defence is still a work in progress. We had a good outing against Forbes but we leaked too many points against Orange City.

"The focus is making sure we tighten up around the ruck and make tackles. We find that we play better on the back of strong defensive efforts. When we do get the ball we need to respect possession because there will be difficult conditions again.

"We need to be extra careful against Dubbo because they punished us on turnovers in that first round game."

Bulldogs make a couple of changes for the home clash.

Several experienced members of the forwards make their return while Ethan Ivory gets his first run-on start in first grade.

"Ethan was one of the starts from last year's colts team. He gets a chance on the wing in place of Ben Sheppeard, who's unavailable. It's great to see kids like Zac Taylor, Tom Felsch and now Ethan getting a run up in the top grade.

"It's been great to see the young guys come up into the team and show that they're up for it.

"Sean Fogarty comes back into the front row. Harrison Jones is out and Peter 'Fitz' [Fitzsimmons] comes back into number 8."

Kick-off is 3.15pm.