Forbes’ Group 11 premiership defence appears on track after the Magpies clinically disposed of one of this season’s contenders 34-12 on Sunday.
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At Spooner Oval for the round three clash, Jake Grace’s side took on a highly fancied Dubbo Macquarie outfit and, in a fiery contest, kicked on from a 10-6 halftime advantage to wrap up the 22-point win and remain undefeated.
“I’m really happy with the way we’re going,” Grace said.
“By no means are we playing our best, there’s plenty of improvement in us, there always will be, but against our biggest challenge so far we really stepped it up.
“We needed that, and I’m really pleased with the way the boys played.”
After accounting for Wellington and Westside in the opening two rounds of the competition, Macquarie was always going to be Forbes’ biggest test to date.
It proved exactly that way, too, as both sides’ packs went toe-to-toe during the opening 40 minutes in an attempt to get their side on top.
After a scuffle in the first term and several players spending time in the bin, Forbes emerged on top thanks to a 10-6 advantage.
The second half then belonged to the hosts as the defending premiers, buoyed by a sensational game from prop Zac Merritt – he scored a double – and a great showing from Farren Lamb after regular halfback Matt Roylance went down injured, ran out 34-12 winners.
“It was one of those games, two big packs going at each other and things got a bit heated, frustrations boiled over, but that happens,” Grace said.
“Both teams shook hands at the end of the day.”
We needed that, and I’m really pleased with the way the boys played.
- Magpies captain-coach Jake Grace
The Macquarie co-coach Steve McLellan stated he was “disappointed” in a number of refereeing decisions in the loss to the Magpies but refused to get carried away.
“I don’t want to make it a blame game so it’s time to look forward and get excited for the local derby against CYMS next weekend,” McLellan said.
“The amount of ball they had and amount of tackling we’d done, to be down by only four we were still confident.”
In the weekend’s other games, Nyngan clicked in a 50-24 thumping of Narromine, Wellington got off the mark with a 54-16 win over Westside while Dubbo CYMS proved too good for Parkes in a 36-22 victory at Caltex Park.
The Magpies travel to Nyngan to meet the Tigers in round four.
