Dubbo Rhinos star Dale Smith knows his side only needs to focus on themselves if they are going to go far in the New Holland Cup this season.
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Smith and the Rhinos will host the Parkes Boars this weekend in the New Holland Cup at Apex Oval, with the home side looking to get one back on the visitors.
Parkes were too good for Dubbo earlier in the season, defeating them comfortably at home but Smith is confident the Rhinos can get the win.
"They've probably been the standard for the last couple of years," he said.
"They got us in Parkes so we are looking to get up at home. We are undefeated at home so we are looking to keep the roll on going."
The Boars came away with a 27-17 win earlier in the season but there was not a lot to like about the Rhinos' performance on that occasion with errors and missed tackles proving costly.
The Rhinos will be without regular captains Matt Graham and Nash Forgione for Saturday's match with the latter to arrive at half-time due to work commitments.
The lack of captains has forced coach Doug Sandry to turn to a pair of reliable members of his forward pack with Lachlan O'Malley and Jesse Redenbach to co-captain the side this week.
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While he is becoming a senior member of the Rhino in his own right, Smith believes O'Malley and Redenbach have what it takes to lead the club.
"As far as I know they are (captaining), I haven't been in the loop as much surrounding captaincy," he said.
"I'm sure the both of them will do a great job."
The Rhinos are coming off a bye last weekend while Parkes were defeated by Mudgee, once again proving the 2022 New Holland Cup season is anyone's to win.
Smith believes if the Rhinos don't get too caught up in what other teams are doing then they should go a long way to being present at the business end of the season.
"You can't pick a round actually, Narromine went over and beat CSU in Bathurst," he said.
"Then Parkes went over and got flogged by Mudgee.
"No one knows what's coming up so we just have to play our best footy and hopefully that gets us the two points."
While he has played fly-half in the past, Smith has started at fullback in all the Rhinos' matches so far this season and believes he has been in some solid form.
We are undefeated at home so we are looking to keep the roll on going.
- Dale Smith
"I started off well but just trying to be consistent is my main goal this year," he said.
"When I'm putting my best forward I feel I'm contributing to the team well."
The Rhinos currently sit second on the New Holland Cup ladder, only two points behind Mudgee while Parkes are in third position a single point ahead of CSU.
The Rhinos' reserve grade side will also be in action on Saturday when they take on the Boars at 1:55pm and are hoping to continue their strong start to the season which has them sitting second on the ladder behind Mudgee.
Saturday's first-grade match between the Rhinos and Parkes will kick off at 3:15pm.
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