Forbes sits fifth on the ladder, three points outside of the top four, with a month’s worth of competition rounds remaining in 2018 and to, as skipper Jack Hammond puts it, sneak into the top four the Platypi will almost certainly need to win all four remaining games, and hope other results go their way.

One of those results, Saturday’s 28-14 loss to the Dubbo Roos, definitely didn’t go Forbes’ way but Hammond is confident with the inclusion of Mahe Fangupo and Charlie French, along with the return of a stack of other key first graders, Forbes’ premiership defence is far from over.

“We knew it was going to be a do-or-die type of game, against Roos ... but if we apply ourselves over the back end of the year and play the kind of rugby we know we’re capable of we can definitely sneak in there,” Hammond said.

“We’ve left it a bit late now and we’ve got to rely on other results a bit as well, which we didn’t want to do but if we do get an opportunity I’m confident we can make an impact.”

The Platypi battled through the four-tries-to-two loss to Dubbo, although the Forbes line-out was strong, and the likes of Simon Uphill, breakway Greg Moxey and second-rower Nathan Suringa all stood up at Victoria Park on Saturday.