Cowra's first grade Eagles have had their winning streak blunted this week by the Dubbo Kangaroos in a 42-7 defeat in an away game at Dubbo. Other grades faired similarly, apart from the u12's who came away with a win.

First grade coach Adam Meiklejohn said the game was difficult, with a strong defence from Dubbo, and a few lost opportunities.

"The effort was there. The determination was there, just the execution was off." said Mr Meiklejohn, whose Eagles have enjoyed a string of victories until Dubbo, "You never like losing, that's for sure. But the score probably didn't reflect how physical the game was, and first half, we just got everything wrong. It was a good learning curve for us." he added.

"Dubbo's defensive line was very, very good at coming up very quickly and putting pressure on us. We learned that if that's the case, we should take few options [to attack], but their defence was just too good, and we didn't have any answers to them, and particularly when we had the breeze at our back in the first half, we didn't utilise that to its full potential, and just couldn't get out of our own half."

The Eagles were not settling into a rut, however - crediting Dubbo's defence and moving forward.

"Preparation was good during the week, but you never know until you get out there what's going to turn up on the opposition or our own side," said Mr Meiklejohn.

"We're not panicking - while it's disappointing to lose, they are obviously top the table and undefeated. So we can't not give them credit. They played well and the game was pretty physical, but we're definitely not throwing the baby out the bath water yet."

With a bye and break this weekend, the Eagles have players returning from physio and taking a well earned rest before taking on the Orange Emus.

"Sometimes a loss can be a really good catalyst and just help identify a few things that we need to work on. And we'll also have a few players returning from injury by this weekend, which will help for the following couple of weeks."

It wasn't all bad news for the Eagles however, as their own Damien Michael has been named captain of the Central West Blue Bulls. Damien Michael will be playing this weekend for the senior men's side.

Mr Meiklejohn affectionately said Damien Michael had arrived at Cowra "...a tall, skinny, weedy little fella that has extreme pace and loved a bit of boxing, - he just sort of picked up rugby along the way and realised that he's got potential and ability, particularly his speed, and started to work out in the gym."

"He's picked up his knowledge of the game and now he's Captain in Central West Rugby."