Southcity were humbled 34-0 by Gundagai in the grand final rematch at Anzac Park in what was just their second loss of the season.

The Bulls looked to struggle to work their way out of a difficult situation against the Tigers and McCarthy brought the team together days after the heavy loss in a bid to correct the situation.

"We all got together at training and had a deep talk about whether we are really committed to the cause," McCarthy said.

"Blokes were able to go away for a week and really think about it."

McCarthy believes the bye came at the perfect time.

Not only did the Bulls get a chance to rest a few injuries but they've responded well at training.

Now he's just looking to move forward starting with the clash with Brothers at Harris Park on Sunday.

"We've put it behind us and hopefully it all goes good," McCarthy said.

"Tuesday's training was really good off the back of it."

The Bulls have been forced to make one change with Nathan Rose again out with a hamstring problem.

He re-aggravated the issue just before half-time in what was just his second game back.

The Bulls are looking to be a lot more conservative this time around.

"He's training but I think he probably came back too early this time," McCarthy said.

"We will make him rest a few weeks to get it perfect."

Ben Lucas returns to the five-eighth role after impressing when Rose missed the win over Young last month.

However Jake Dooley has shaken off his hamstring injury and will take his place at fullback.

The two sides faced off in last year's final series but Brothers have struggled to repeat their efforts from last year.

However they're unbeaten in their last three games.

McCarthy is looking to adopt a simple approach to help turn things around.

"We just have to get back to the basics," he said.

"We've been trying to build and improve and I think we went away from what made us good - a high completion rate and playing up tempo.

"We tried to over-complicate things and went away from our defence.

"Hopefully we can get back to that this week."

Brothers named Riley Flint, who spent the last two seasons at Southcity, as the man to replace injured centre Ethan Mackenzie.

Flint will have his hands full up against Usaia O'Sullivan.

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