The Rhinos will hit the road in both first and second grade, travelling to Parkes for round three of the New Holland Cup season.

Sandry's side are coming off back-to-back wins to start the season while Parkes are yet to play a game after having the bye in round one before their match last weekend was washed out.

While they are yet to play a match, Sandry knows Parkes will be a tough opposition.

"They have been premiers two years in a row and they have been for a reason," he said.

"I think over the last couple of years they would've only dropped one game at home so they are a fantastic side.

"It's going to be a challenge, it's going to be really, really tough.

"Both sides are going to know they are in a game."

The Rhinos mentor said the vibe around the club is infectious, especially coming into big match on Saturday.

"Training has been really good, we've had strong numbers which has been terrific," he said.

"We had a really good session on Tuesday night with second and first grade where we worked on our scrums and line-outs as well which weren't that great against Mudgee.

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"So we've identified a couple of deficiencies and hopefully we will be able to get those fixed up before Saturday.

"Because we know Parkes will have a really strong scrum and have done for a long time now."

In some bad news for the Rhinos, Sandry confirmed the side will be without one of their best and most popular players for the foreseeable future.

"'Grimace' (Matt Graham) is out for probably up to eight weeks with a knee injury, so that is going to be a massive loss," he said.

"The work that he does around the ground, his scrummaging and his line out throwing is second to none so he is going to be a major loss this week."

While Graham could miss two months of rugby, Sandry will hand a debut to another of the club's juniors who comes into the game with a lot of praise.

"We are going to go with our hooker from our under 18s last year, Dasun Samarakoon," he said.

"The other under 18s from last year have stepped up and we expect the same from Dasun, he'll do the job.

"He is a terrific line out thrower, great in the scrum and he gets a lot of work done around the field so we are excited to see him.

"It's an opportunity for him to make his mark on the competition, we think he will do a great job."

Kick-off is at 3:15pm.

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