The fate of the Dubbo Roos' season is well and truly in their own hands this weekend when they host Orange Emus.
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Emus will be in town on Saturday to take on the Roos at No.1 Oval in round 13 of the Blowes Cup and the match is an important one for the hosts who are fighting to play finals football.
A win for the Roos on Saturday would keep them comfortably inside the top four of the competition with only two rounds left while a loss and a Forbes victory would see them under pressure from the Platypi.
After a high-scoring match against Bathurst Bulldogs last weekend, the Roos will be looking to find their defensive resilience which was on display during the first part of the season.
Roos co-coach Paul Elliott said the playing squad are eager to bounce back against Emus.
"It's an important game in the scheme of things with that we are still in battle for a fourth, fifth or sixth spot," he said.
"Everyone is keen to play and hopefully we can make amends for last week."
The Roos were outplayed against the Bulldogs and Elliott admitted it was tough to completely forget their performance to turn their attention to Emus.
"It is (tough) but there were a lot of positives to come out of last weekend and that's what we've tried to focus on," he said.
"The old saying it is a week-by-week proposition, so we'll work on those positives and fix a few defensive lapses.
"Hopefully we can compete with Emus."
The two sides have played some thrilling battles so far in 2022, with each side winning one game each and Elliott is expecting another tough match for his side this weekend.
"We are (expecting a tough game), they've seemed to have found some form and have a few returning players," he said.
"That will give them a boost, we narrowly beat them here and they narrowly beat us there.
"I'm sure it will be another tough contest."
Dubbo will be a bit light on this weekend due to several injuries and availabilities with James Gilmour, Tim Beach and Cliff Noke all to miss the game while Josh Bass is unavailable.
"Unfortunately, we've copped a few more injuries after last weekend," he said.
"Things have seemed to go from bad to worse for us.
"We've got probably five to 10 players injured or unavailable this week.
"We are sort of scratching our heads a little bit for a few positions.
"We will gladly take the underdog tag for this week."
Underdogs or not, the Roos are always a different side at home and Elliott is hoping his side gets up in front of their home fans.
"We're very proud of our home ground," he said.
"It's always a lot easier to get the motivation levels up in a home game so that's definitely in our favour.
"Hopefully we get a good crowd, we've got a big day planned with all the grades and the juniors playing Emus also."
Kick-off is at 3:15pm.