Collegians are hard enough to beat at the best of times, but when the reigning premiers are in a vengeful mood they become an even tougher prospect.
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It's a lesson De La Salle learned last week, the Dogs heading north and exacting revenge for a disappointing loss the Shire club in Magic Round earlier this year.
Peter Hooper's side led by eight at halftime that afternoon only to be blown away in the second 40 to go down 28-14. They led at the break again last weekend but found something down the stretch to leapfrog De La into second spot with a 28-16 win.
"We led at halftime against De La last time and, come the second half, they came out and, to their credit, they out-muscled us. We don't like to be out-muscled and we're renowned for our physicality.
"We certainly had the spotlight on that, especially at half time on Saturday and they weren't going to come out physically out-match us this time. With that, our attention to detail it after the break up there at Captain Cook was pretty good and that's probably the most pleasing part for us.
"We'd been having little patches of doubling up our errors, giving away a cheap penalty into a loose carry and little shitty errors in our game. That was something for us to deliver on, not doubling up errors, and obviously concentrate on that first 15 minutes after the break."
Having also knocked off Thirroul at Gibson Park a week earlier, Saturday's grand final rematch with Wests is a chance to notch three consecutive away wins wins over top-four rivals.
Saturday's showdown a chance to leapfrog the Devils into top spot on the ladder and, barring disaster, but them in the box seat for a top-two finish. A stretch of wins would not come more impressive, but Hooper said his side had not looked at the three weeks on the road as a block.
"They're two really tough road trips but we certainly didn't speak about it [as a block]," Hooper said.
"You've got to go one week at a time, but now we're in a situation where we're looking to consolidate again with another good performance heading into the last round of the competition.
"The best part is our destiny's in our own hands at this point. We don't have to worry about results or other things to go our way, we determine where we finish.
"We don't really want to be relying on De La or Thirroul winning or losing to see where we finish up. We just want to keep building momentum and I know the boys are excited about Saturday.
"Wests are a different beast. They've got some really classy outside backs and they've got a real good forward pack that works for one another.
"It's not too dissimilar to our side and it's exciting because because we're in a position where we're playing good footy and we're playing against competition leaders so everyone's up for it."
Wests are coming off a loss for the first time this season having been outlasted 24-16 by Thirroul last week, one that saw them reduced to 12 men for more than 30 minutes following the send-off of key forward Dylan Lauri.
The resultant striking charge will see the Devils without their lead enforcer for the next two weeks, with coach Pete McLeod saying it was a reminder of how tight the 2023 premiership race is.
"I thought it was a pretty high quality game, probably the first 30 minutes of it, and Thirroul took their chances either side at halftime. We gave them a lead and going in [to halftime] and being down to 12 men was always going to be hard to bring it back.
"The boys did a good job, we were well in the game with a couple of minutes to go and got done by a good try. The plan at the start of the year isn't to go undefeated. No one has that plan.
"We just need to learn and improve as the year goes on and get everyone fit and healthy at the back end to be able to play some good footy.
"We knew there was a heap of improvement in us and that doesn't change. If we'd got over the line in the last five minutes at Thirroul it wouldn't have changed how we approached this week. There was still a lot of areas in the game we can improve on. It's all about this week now."
Wests got the win in the last meeting between the hostile neighbours, but McLeod said that outfit was not in the same form as the one jumping the fence this week
"They're always a big game, all the sides you're playing in the top four are quality sides and it's a tough game every week," McLeod said.
"We've played the last two grand finals against Collegians so there's a big rivalry there. They're literally just next door, it's Old Boys Day at Parrish Park, we got beat last start, so there's a lot of reasons for us to go out and play well this weekend.
"I think the game will come down in the last 10 or 15 minutes and whoever handles that the best probably wins. Hopefully, in the last five or 10 minutes, we can be better than we were last week."
Elsewhere on Saturday, Thirroul will head to Dapto Showground looking to make it two wins on the bounce against a Canaries outfit also looking for consecutive victories after seeing off Corrimal last week.
De La Salle will head south to Ziems Park to face Corrimal looking to recapture top form having dropped three of their last four games to drop out of the top two.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
