“Any time you come away with a bonus point win, especially at the start of the season, you have to be happy,” Hammond said of the 31-12 win.

He was particularly pleased with the efforts of Blake Ridges who stepped up from the minor grades to take a spot in the centres and Adam Hall and Adrian Cole who also played well.

”It was a good win, if not a pretty win,” Hammond said.

“Discipline let us down at times but we were strong in areas that we pride ourselves in,” he added.

Although they went down Orange City skipper Logan Brockmann is certain the Lions can be a title contender in 2018.

Five Lions played all of second grade then backed up with 80 minutes in the main game.

But, as it did against Orange Emus the week before, a lack of fitness caught up with the young Lions.

Forbes held a narrow, 12-7 lead at half-time before putting Orange City to the sword as they tired, ultimately winning 31-12.

“It’s not a huge positive, but we scored the last try and that does show that we were still up for it,” Brockmann said.

“You never like to lose but it was actually really good, I was pretty pleased with the game itself. We were in it up to our eyeballs, but it was just a fitness issue, we faded out a bit in the middle part of the second half and Forbes took advantage, like Emus did in round one.

“I mean, they were missing Jarrod Hall and one or two others but even so, we had guys backing up from twos and playing big minutes, it was a huge effort from them. 

“We showed up, we fought for each other and really put it to Forbes.”

Hammond said the Platypi escaped the match with no real injury concerns and they should be ready to take on first round losers Bathurst Bulldogs at Bathurst next weekend.

He did say that while the Platypi have been too strong for Bulldogs over the past couple of seasons he warns against complacency as the Bathurst side has “been very competitive” and is “ready to take the next step, I think they’ll be right in the mix at the end of the season”.