The two sides met in round one this season and the Bulldogs were given a 59-point thrashing at Armidale.

But in chalking up four consecutive victories, three of which were over 100 points, the Bulldogs are bristling with confidence heading into the weekend’s match.

The Nomads are looking ominous again this season, but Bulldogs coach Greg Piggott believes his side has the ability to seriously challenge the reigning premiers if they stick to their structures and eliminate the ability of the Nomads run and carry. 

“They run and carry out of defence into attack better than anyone, so it’ll be good test to see if we can stop that,” Piggott said.

“If we can, it’ll restrict their scoring opportunities and hopefully on the back of that we keep creating our own (opportunities) like we have in recent weeks.”

While the Bulldogs made considerable strides in the competition last season and the beginning of this year, Piggott is challenging his side against the yard stick of the competition in the Nomads.

“It’ll be a good gauge for us to see how we really are going. They’re the measuring stick and we haven’t played our best against them in the past and early this season, so that’s the challenge going forward,” he said. 

Inverell Saints will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak when they host the Moree Suns in the other game, with Narrabri’s withdrawal from the competition leaving the two Tamworth sides with byes.

The writing was on the wall for the Eagles pulling the pin on the season when they forfeited successive games, but was somewhat unexpected.

“At the beginning of the year they had one of the biggest number of players,” AFL North West president Adrian Walsh.

“They had more than we had at the Nomads.”

But injuries and people moving away left them struggling for numbers.

Walsh said the league offered their assistance but there wasn’t a lot they could do being part the way through the season. For similar reasons they were unable to rejig the draw, with clubs already committed to fixtures.

And while “very disappointing” Walsh is optimistic the Eagles will be back next season.

“The thing I like is they’ve got a plan for getting themselves back on track for next year,” he said.

“They’re going to put their effort into an AFL nines competition locally in Narrabri to drum up some interest.”