Kurri Kurri will be without key trio Mick Steel, Tyme Dow-Nickau and Peter Cronin for Saturday's game against Macquarie Scorpions at Peacock Field.
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Steel and Dow-Nickau, who were both instrumental in Saturday’s defeat of Maitland in the Mercury Shield, have been recalled to the Newcastle Knights NSW Cup team.
Cronin has not recovered fully from concussion and may be doubtful for next week, Bulldogs coach Phil Williams said.
“He went and had scans on Tuesday and is getting some more next week,” Willams said. “He is still feeling a bit light-headed. I don’t think we will have him for a couple of weeks.
“He has been going really well. It was probably the fittest he has been in a long time. He was one of the best forwards against Souths and was going strong against Maitland where got more minutes out of him again.
“It was just unfortunate he got hurt shortly into his second stint. He is a hard man to replace, but someone’s got to step up.
“Probably our best forward from last year Brock Gilmour had to start on the bench to accommodate Mick and Pete because they put their hand up. So we are building depth.”
Williams will finalise his team on Friday but Gilmour and Justin Peterkin are likely to start in the forwards.
“Jake Moore is in the mix, but I want to look at a couple of combinations at training on Thursday and Friday before I make my mind up,” Williams said.
“It’s going to be a hard selection as everyone performed well. We’ve got a bit of pressure on the first grade squad.”
Williams said his main message at training this week was the need to consolidate their win.
“We haven’t had back-to-back victories for a number of years. Apart from the glory days of the grand final run a couple of years ago, the club has been one win, one loss,” he said.
“We need to build a little bit of momentum and confidence in the club that comes from winning consistently,” he said. “To do that we need to be a lot more clinical with the ball.”