An in-form Ben Barba looms as the key for the Bulldogs when they take on a rejuvenated South Sydney in Saturday's NRL clash at ANZ Stadium.

For the first five rounds of the season, the Rabbitohs struggled to shut down opposition attacks and conceded an NRL-high 26 tries.

But all that changed when they came up against the competition benchmark St George Illawarra on Monday night.

Showing a renewed defensive attitude, Souths held the Dragons tryless until the 67th minute - a fact which Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore highlighted in a video session earlier this week.

"It's obviously something they've worked on and spoken about at length in all their media," Bulldogs skipper Andrew Ryan explained.

"We're going to have to be good this week, we're going to have to really work hard on our defence in particular and we're going to have to throw something at them with the ball."

But coming off a man-of-the-match three-try effort against Parramatta last weekend, star fullback Barba appears to be the man most likely to split defences for the Bulldogs this season.

"Benny Barba has been outstanding," Ryan raves.

"I think the good thing about him is that not only does he score points and all that stuff (in attack), but (he's also working hard on) his positional play.

"He's working hard at his game and he's doing a good job for us."

Barba admits that last week's victory, coming from 14-0 down to prevail 34-14 over the Eels and halt a two-game losing streak, was an important moment in the club's season, but he was reluctant to accept the role of the Bulldog's match-winner.

"It was definitely very important, we said that the two weeks that we lost were a learning experience," he said.

"(Last week) we had to come out and prove that ... we learned something for ourselves and to really prove that we can win. And we did that (with) a great win.

"I was pretty happy (with my performance) ... but I did that on the back of some greatwork from the other blokes in the team."

The Rabbitohs have dropped veteran fullback Rhys Wesser and Fetuli Talanoa, drafting in promising rookie James Roberts and Chris McQueen - but Ryan ruled out a bombing raid on the inexperienced pair, saying the changes would not alter their gameplan.

"I don't know a heap about (Roberts), I've just heard little bits and pieces that he's shown plenty of talent in the lower grades," he said.

"He's a young kid playing in a key position so we'll have to be on our toes ... (but) I think it's more about us (this weekend) we haven't really spoken about (targetting specific players), they're a quality side so we have to turn up and be ready to steel ourselves for a big game."

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