Adrian Purtell returns to five-eighth for Albury

The Border outfit are just one of two sides to beat premiers Gundagai this season, but have lost three of their five since then.

After four weeks out with a quadriceps problem, Purtell returned to the centres a fortnight ago but heads back into the halves to take on Cootamundra on Sunday.

With Etu Uasiele back from injury, the former Canberra Raiders centre believes it's the best balance for their back line.

"Etu is back from injury this week and I've been happy with how he and Damo (Damien Scott) have been going in the centres so at this stage I'll be playing six," Purtell said.

It means Robbie Byatt takes over the halfback role from Bronson Meehan.

Coming off successive losses to Southcity and Tumut, Purtell helps the clash with the winless Bulldogs can lay a good platform for the business end of the season.

"It's a great opportunity for us to build some momentum leading into the finals," he said.

"We were obviously disappointed losing the last two games but they are two of the best teams in the competition so it just highlighted that we need to improve if we want to compete in the finals."

Southcity took a 24-18 win at Greenfield Park before Tumut ran away with things in the clash at Twickenham last week.

The 30-6 scoreline was one of the biggest the Thunder have conceded all year.

Purtell thought the Blues made them pay in the back end of both halves

"It was always going to be a tough trip up there and Tumut are definitely a chance to win the comp this year," Purtell said.

"We are under no illusion how good they are but it was disappointing the scoreline got out that far.

"It was a pretty tough game and I thought we competed really well at times but they just ran away with it in the back end of both halves.

"It highlighted we need to improve come finals time.

"I thought they were a lot better on the ground than us both defensively and offensively.

"They dominated the ruck when we had the ball and they played the ball quite kick."

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