This time too they’ll be tackling the Bulls on their home turf, where they are notoriously tough to beat.

“It will definitely be a step up,” Pirates coach Mat Kelly said, highlighting, among other attributes, the pace the Bulls possess outwide.

Sam Collins and Brendan Rixon will again team up in the centres for the premiers as they look to overcome the loss of star outside centre Damian Reti. He has did his ACL against Scone last round.

Fortunately Kelly does have a few options up his sleeve but in the immediate future will look to Collins and Rixon. They did the job effectively for them when they played the Bulls last time.

Refreshed and “ready to go” after the bye, Pirates will be searching for an improvement on their last game against Scone. While they got the win, Kelly rated it their worst performance of the season. Their discipline was “very bad” and they were guilty of “expecting things to just fall into place”.

Not a common complaint he has had, they weren’t prepared “to do the hard yards beforehand”.

Walcha host Scone in the other Tier 1 game, while in Tier 2 action Inverell are home to Barraba, and Quirindi and Tamworth match-up at Quirindi.

Both sides are coming off last game wins with Quirindi accounting for Barraba last week, and Tamworth holding on against the Rams the previous week to post their first win of the season.

The Lions got the points last time the two sides met, the Magpies’ discipline contributing to their downfall.

Coach Craig Summers was quick to point to that as where they need to improve.

“We’ve got to be more disciplined. We were trying to play with the ball in the ruck too much and giving away penalties and piggybacking them.”

Even against the Rams a late penalty almost cost them the game. Summers also noted the accuracy of the Lions’ kicking game, and said they need to put more pressure on the kicker.