They may need a couple, with newcomers De La Salle emerging as a fourth force among regular title fancies Collegians, Thirroul and Wests, simply 'beating the rest' won't be enough for any team to sneak into the finals this season.

The Tigers have a chance to land a major blow when they host competition leaders Collegians in a homecoming showdown at Rex Jackson Oval on Saturday, their first first-grade outing at their spiritual home in almost two years.

Currently in fifth spot on the ladder, three points off the top-four pace, the Tigers took care of business against Dapto last week.

With Wests and De La Salle facing off at Captain Cook Oval the same afternoon, the Tigers could draw within a single point of a top four spot if they can upset Collies.

"[Top four's] the goal for sure. It's what we talk about and we know we're capable of that," Raper said.

"We're capable of stretching those teams up there [on the ladder] and we need to. We're definitely aware of that and we're planning some really good cracks at those top sides over the next few weeks to really see where we're at.

"Six weeks ago we got ambushed against Wests and hopefully we can be a little bit better prepared this weekend.

"We know down the stretch of those last three or four games we're going to have to jag one or two of those sides.

"Realistically we know that's where we're going to be, in that little bottleneck there at fourth and fifth, and we're really looking forward to challenging ourselves over the next couple of weeks.

"[Collies] are slick, they're big, they whack in d so it'll be a big challenge and I'm really looking forward to seeing the boys finally back to Rex Jackson and it'll be a good test."

Having fought out a draw with Corrimal and been edged out by De La Salle in the preceding fortnight, the Tigers were up 26-0 against the Canaries last week on the back of doubles to Taulima Tautai and skipper Jordan Bowles.

They ultimately saw out a 32-10 confidence-building win ahead of their biggest test of the season thus far.

"It was a bit of an attitude test and we lost one of those [in a draw with Corrimal] a couple of weeks ago so we knew we had to come out and work hard," Raper said.

"It was actually really good for us to have a few out and give some other guys some time and they really produced, I was really proud of them.

"We just had to get the job done and we did that. We've got another challenge in front of us now that we're looking forward to."

At Captain Cook Oval, third-placed De La Salle will be looking to claim their first major scalp of the season when they host second-placed Wests.

The competition newbies fell just two points short of an upset win over Thirroul three weeks ago and coach Luke Manahan says his side has been desperate for another crack at one of the big guns.

"It was a weird feeling in sheds after that game, the boys were super disappointed which I thought was really good," Manahan said.

"Our expectations coming into the year were that we were coming up against some super-hard teams and we want to compete but they were really disappointed knowing that two points was there for them and we didn't get them.

"At the same time they came away knowing they can match it with the best because Thirroul are definitely up there as we all know.

"We just want to take on all the best sides and see how we and it's good timing for us to come up against Wests.

"I think we came into the bye at a good time last week. The game's have been so fast-paced and I think the boys were ready for that week off to get ready for this weekend which is the biggest game yet for us.

"They had that loss to Collies but came back pretty hard against Thirroul last week so it should be a really good game."

A win would see De La leapfrog the Devils into a top-two spot and, having come into the year with more measured ambitions, Manhan said his side will be looking to finish the regular season there.

"That win over Helensburgh [a fortnight ago] was a vital two points for us and took us to four from five heading into the bye round," Manahan said.

"That's probably exceeded our goal to this point. We had a fair few new players in new positions and my goal was just to win more games than we lose and make those finals and if we get there anything can happen.

"Now we've come up against some tough teams we know we can be in that grind and get the two points in any game we play.

"There's a bit more trust and belief in the squad as a whole and we feel we can be top-two come the end of the season.

"That's a goal now, getting those two bites at the cherry, but we've still got a long way to go.

"We're coming into a really hard patch with Wests and Collies coming up and Cronulla Caringbah with that local derby as well so we're not getting ahead of ourselves."

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