Given last season was abandoned due to COVID-19 prior to the finals series, the Bushrangers head into 2022 as two-time defending premiers.

Those two titles came on the back of dominant runs - a seven-game winning streak in 2019 then an undefeated 2020 campaign - but Archer doesn't expect things to come as easily this year.

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The Bathurst Giants proved last year that they are contenders and Archer thinks Dubbo Demons are shaping as genuine threats too.

"I think Giants last year obviously had a great year and deserved to be minor premiers but I think personally going into this year, Dubbo will be pretty hard to beat," he said.

While there has often been talk of a Dubbo threat at the start of a season, the Demons have not yet delivered. Last year they won four of 12 games.

But with a fully fit Bevan Charlton-White - a man who kicked 14 goals in eight games last season - and talent Thomas Byrnes in the midfield, Archer feels the Demons can deliver.

"I just think last year they didn't have a good start to the year, they didn't have Bevan play the first four rounds. But they got him back which made a big difference and then they got a really good midfielder [Byrnes] sort of halfway through the year," Archer said.

"He played the last five-six rounds and I think he got votes in the league best and fairest count nearly every game he played.

"So I just think with those guys there for the whole pre-season, they're shaping up really, really strong, they'll be tough."

While the Bushrangers are chasing a third consecutive men's title, the Demons last won a premiership in 2007 when beating the Bushies by 22 on grand final day.

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