The Tigers currently sit third on the ladder ahead of RSL Colts, who are in fourth, and the two sides will battle in the MoneyQuest Megahit at No.1 Oval in what is the first game after Christmas.

Although they currently sit in the top three, Russo knows there is still work to do for the Tigers.

"We're going alright, we were going alright leading into the Christmas break so we are hoping to continue that momentum," he said.

While some clubs this weekend will be without playing due to the increasing COVID-19 situation in Dubbo, Russo says they are preparing for players to potentially miss games in the future.

"We've been pretty fortunate to have it rattle us as of yet," he said.

"We are sort of being realistic knowing it is going to happen eventually, we just don't know when.

"We need to make sure we've got enough players there to cover it and move on with it as fast as we can."

A big absence from the Tigers side this week will be Mat Skinner who will miss the match with a shoulder injury.

Russo is hopeful Skinner could return in just a few weeks as the extent of the injury is not yet known.

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"He's out this week for sure," he said.

"He's going to get scans and stuff later this week to find out the extend of the damage.

"We'll find out hopefully early next week what the go is."

"Losing Mat is big. It sort of just drops the boys a bit but we have enough talent and experience there to go on without him.

"Hopefully he is out for just a couple of weeks and we can get him back to make a big push for finals."

While Newtown's bowling has been impressive through the first half of the season, Russo is hoping the Tigers batsmen can stand up and make some big scores going forward.

"I think our bowling has been our strength," he said.

"We are keeping it very simple and I think that has helped us throughout the year.

"We just need to sharpen up our batting a bit more, we just seem to lose wickets in clumps like we have the last few years.

"If we can get out of that then really start knuckling down and getting big scores then we should be pretty hard to beat."

Play will begin at 6:30pm.

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