Injuries to Josh Addo-Carr and Jeral Skelton mean Canterbury will blood two NRL debutants as they fight to secure a home final against North Queensland.
Wingers Addo-Carr (ankle) and Skelton (leg) suffered their injuries in last week's loss to Manly but are expected to be available for the first week of the finals.
With back-up winger Blake Wilson also injured and Bronson Xerri suspended, coach Cameron Ciraldo has named wingers Jonathan Sua and Eli Clark to play their first NRL games.
Local junior Sua has scored 11 tries in 16 NSW Cup games this year, while North Coast product Clark was a member of the Bulldogs side that won last year's Jersey Flegg Cup.
Stephen Crichton returns from suspension to add vital experience to the back-line.
News of the debutants' inclusion comes as the Bulldogs hope to secure a rare win against a fellow top-eight side.
Lose to the Cowboys on Saturday and the Bulldogs will finish the regular season with the equal-worst winning percentage against current top-eight sides of any team that began round 27 in the top eight.
A defeat at Accor Stadium would push the Bulldogs' record to 3-7 for the stat, the same produced by this season's Sydney Roosters.
The Bulldogs' three wins so far have come against the eighth-placed Dolphins, Cronulla - in golden point - and the Roosters, whose winger Dom Young was sent off after only 26 minutes.
But since the start of July, resurgent Canterbury have only played three of the current top eight and haven't had the chance to face Penrith or Melbourne since before Magic Round.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of last week's decisive loss to finals-bound Manly, Ciraldo shrugged at the statistic.
"A few of our losses early in the year against those top sides were as we were probably learning our style of play, learning how to play, get combinations that hadn't played together before," the coach said.
"We definitely learned some lessons earlier in the year and over the last six weeks, we've gotten a lot of confidence about what really works for us.
"I think we're going to be in a really good position once that (the finals) starts. But we're not looking too far ahead, we need to make sure we're focused on tomorrow night."
The winner of the Bulldogs and Cowboys will lock up a home elimination final and leave the loser only able to secure their own hosting rights if the Sharks beat Manly on Sunday.
Ciraldo has been buoyed by his side's renewed vigour without the football after a defensive performance against Manly he rated as the Bulldogs' most disappointing of the year.
"(I've seen) a bit more energy and focus on it (defence) in training. We were probably a little bit guilty of talking too much attack over the last couple of weeks," he said.
"We've reminded ourselves of who we are and what we're good at and what we want to build our game on."
