The match has been brought forward from Saturday afternoon  with the permission of both clubs, with several Kiama players to otherwise be unavailable.

‘‘There’s a concert (Splendour In The Grass) on Saturday that plenty of our guys are going to and it would have hit us hard if this game was on Saturday,’’ O’Connor said.

 ‘‘Playing it Thursday is good for us and having checked with the Bulldogs they’re happy as well.

 ‘‘The guys are fit and it won’t matter playing a couple of days earlier. We’ll have a strong side available.’’

  Kiama lost their opening three matches but have been steadily improving and are up to fourth following last Saturday’s  29-point home win over Bomaderry.

Key forwards Josh Krull and Ricky Neels combined for seven of Kiama’s 11 goals in the win over the Tigers.

‘‘We started the season slow but have getting better each week and this will be a good test,’’ O’Connor said.

  ‘‘We have to win  the ball in the middle. That’s the key and we’ll be working hard to get first use of possession and use it from there.’’

The Bulldogs have won the past three premierships and are coming off a 39-point loss to third-placed Northern Districts.

 With a huge dependence on players studying at Wollongong University, the Dogs  are getting to the end of their toughest spell of the season with the university semester break.

 With just six more rounds remaining before the finals only unbeaten leaders Wollongong Lions (18 points) are assured making the top four finals, though second-placed Bulldogs (14 points) have a massive winning percentage of 168.26 from their five win/three loss record.

  Just four points separate the Bulldogs from sixth-placed Shellharbour.

 First bounce between the Power and Bulldogs on Thursday  is 6.30pm.

  In the two other Seniors matches in round 13 on Saturday,  the Lions return from the bye to host Shellharbour and Bomaderry are at home to Northern Districts. Nowra have the bye.

Ladder: Wollongong Lions 20, Wollongong Bulldogs 14, Nth Districts 14, Kiama 12, Bomaderry 10, Shellharbour 10, Nowra 8.