Orange City, Emus and Kinross champing at the bit for massive, Orange-wide Indigenous rugby celebration

With a blockbuster set of all-Orange local derbies, Eastern Suburbs' massive Beach to Bush Regional Round and an inevitably-fiery Kinross versus St Stanislaus College Bathurst grudge match across Friday night and Saturday, it simply doesn't get much bigger.

That's just on the rugby front, but making the weekend all the more memorable is the fact Orange Emus, Orange City, Gordon and Kinross will all be donning one-off Indigenous-inspired jerseys, recognising and celebrating the history and culture of Australia's traditional custodians on a magnitude rarely, if ever seen in the Central West.

On the Blowes Clothing Cup and Shute Shield fronts, the all-encompassing Indigenous round was inspired by Emus' annual event - pioneered by injured hooker Tom Goolagong in 2017 - with Orange City, Gordon and Eastern Suburbs throwing their support behind the concept in a four-way joint venture this year.

Kinross have their own annual event and while the two blues will wear their jerseys against St Gregory's as usual, they've decided to mark National Reconciliation Week by also donning them in Saturday's season-opening grudge match.

The pride among the clubs' Indigenous players is palpable as the chance to represent their mobs is one they relish - you need only speak to Kinross five-eighth Preston Simpson to see that - but Emus winger Harry Cummins said it's a unique opportunity for all the non-Indigenous players too.

"I don't want to speak for the other clubs' players but I'm sure they feel the same way, but those of us who aren't Indigenous at Emus have spoken about it and we all have so many mates, inside and outside the club, who are Indigenous and we're all very, very proud to be able to come together with them and help celebrate the culture, their culture," Cummins enthused.

"I'm sure Gooly, being a proud Indigenous man and the brains behind the concept, would be hurting that he can't play this weekend but he's mentioned to us how proud he is to see everyone so passionate about wearing the jersey and celebrating that culture. (Flanker) Sam Greatbatch is Indigenous too and he is playing, I know he feels the same way as well.

"Gooly is very big on bringing people together to celebrate Australian history as a whole and he's spoken a lot on that, so for a lot of us it's very humbling to be given this opportunity because there's a lot of us who didn't, or still don't, know as much about Indigenous culture as we maybe should.

"That combined with how big a stage we've got makes this weekend not just a celebration but also a real inspiration for education and respect too, and that's a great thing because the more we come together the better."

For Cummins' Emus and the rebuilding Lions Saturday marks the second local derby of the season, the first ending in a thrilling 22-all draw just three weeks ago in round five.

Although Orange City have endured a difficult period since, after an incident in the following game at Cowra left skipper Josh Tremain ruled out for the entire season the Lions were hammered 60-nil by Bathurst Bulldogs.

Emus on the other hand produced their best performance of the year directly after that draw by thumping Forbes 59-17, but took a step backward with a clumsy win over Dubbo Kangaroos last weekend.

Buying into the traditional cliche ahead of a derby clash, Cummins said you can "throw all that out the window" because, as was seen in round five, these grudge matches are a completely different ball game.

"We're expecting the same Orange City side we saw in round five, if not better," Cummins said.

"We're not reading into their loss to Bulldogs at all because they'd had such a tough week and they'll no doubt just forget about that one, write it off.

"They'll be up for it and we have to be too. We weren't for the last one but we only played as well as Orange City let us, they retained the ball beautifully and their defensive pressure was excellent.

"For us, I think it's about attitude. We've shown glimpses of our best but haven't been able to sustain that for long periods, we'll get on top then get lazy and that's when the ill-discipline and errors creep in.

"It's about having that mental strength and ruthlessness to stay on top."

Orange City second-rower Scott Smith all but echoed Cummins' sentiments, saying his Lions have put last weekend's loss behind them and are confident they'll find form again.

Without Tremain he said set-piece will be a focus once again for the Lions on Saturday afternoon, particularly at the scrum, where they largely matched Emus the first time around.

"We have just moved past it, it was a difficult week and we just didn't show up. That happened against Bulldogs the first time too but every other game we've been right in it," Smith said.

"That draw gave us plenty of confidence but it'll be a different ball game with Emus being full-strength this weekend, they had a few out last time. But we're on the big stage and I'm sure we'll be ready to go.

"Our whole pack just needs to lift in general, at scrum-time and everywhere else because we're letting our backline down at the moment."

Judged by former Wallaby James Grant, the top grade's man-of-the-match will also win the inaugural Terry Brown Memorial Cup, established in honour of the two-time premiership-winning Lion.

Kinross five-eighth Preston Simpson is his side's only Indigenous player and he said it's "special" to be able to represent, particularly considering the clash is against the two blues' traditional rivals.

"Definitely, it is very special and I'm really looking forward to it," he said.

"Our pre-season's been pretty tough and we're obviously wanting to win the competition, that's the (end) goal, and we always want to beat Stannies too."

The Westfund Ferguson Cup and Blowes Clothing Cup Colts and local derbies open the weekend on Friday night at Pride Park, from 5.30pm and 6.40pm respectively.

Easts and Gordon's women's sides clash at Kinross Main Oval at 10.45am on Saturday morning, with Kinross and St Stanislaus College Bathurst's ISA division one derby at the ground that afternoon as well, from 1.15pm.

The Blowes Clothing Cup second grade local derby kicks off at 11.40am at Wade Park before Easts and Gordon's reserve graders go toe-to-toe from 1pm.

The Intrust Super Shute Shield clash, this round's televised game, begins at 3pm before the top grade local derby under lights from 5.15pm.

There'll be a host of junior games thrown in the mix as well, with a number of Indigenous cultural activities too, which are expected to involve Canobolas Rural Technology High School's Clontarf Academy students.

Kinross and Stannies go toe-to-toe at Kinross Main Oval from 1pm, while Orange City and Emus face-off for the second time this year under lights at Wade Park from 5.15pm.