Magpies secure second win, set sights on Bathurst St Pat's

First grade captain Nick Greenhalgh was delighted to have a good win in the side's Peter McDonald Premiership campaign, and to have carried it out in front of a good home crowd at Spooner Oval.

The crowd has been brought forward on the grandstand side in preparation for the construction of new grandstand and amenities, and it's taking the traditional support the Magpies enjoy to a new level.

"It feels like they're on top of you sometimes, you can definitely hear 'em so I'd hate to be a visiting side coming to Forbes this year," Greenhalgh said.

"It's always a tough place to play anyway but with that crowd a bit closer it's a good home field advantage for us."

The Magpies' early errors put Macquarie in a good position, and they capitalised, but Greenhalgh was very happy with the way his team responded - particularly how they came out of the sheds in the second half.

"Once we click like we did for that 20-25 minutes periods in the start of the second half we're fairly dangerous, we can score points from anywhere," Greenhalgh said.

"You've got guys like Tom Toohey and Jack Smith sniffing around everywhere, it's fairly dangerous but we just need our fair share of the ball."

Tom Toohey was named player's player for the second week in a row for his outstanding efforts and Ben Maguire proved every bit as hard to stop as he did in Wellington a week earlier.

"(Maguire) started at left back row and moved to the right in the back half and scored a couple of tries," Greenhalgh said.

"Every time he ran the ball it took three or four to bring him down."

Jack Smith just keeps getting better and Greenhalgh plans to continue building the combination between Smith, himself and Tommy Caldwell.

"He (Smith) is everywhere, it feels like he doesn't like being tackled, he's got spiders on him or something, they just can't bring him down," he laughed.

But the effort was there from everyone to give Forbes that win.

"We gave away a couple of early penalties in the second half and I think that they kicked for touch a couple of times," Greenhalgh said.

"Our wingers Connor (Greenhalgh) and Jordy (Hartwig) ended up batting the ball back in and we got the ball back in good field position and we ended up turning those sort of half opportunities into points.

"Those effort areas - the boys just being aware on the sideline the ball can be in play at any time - so those guys being aware put us in a good position.

The consistency of Toby Hurford, Tommy Phillips and Jake Haddrill is serving the side well.

The success means the side is looking at selection issues - in the best way - as they prepare for this Saturday's trip to Bathurst to take on St Pat's.

After a couple of tough early weeks at the judiciary, Charlie Lennon returned from suspension on Sunday and Jack Hartwig and Campbell Rubie are available from this weekend.

Back to back wins show the club has great depth with plenty of players ready to step up and do the job - and that's all positive news.

After losing their first two hit-outs of the 2024 season the Magpies put a focus on this run of four games.

"We're taking it one week at a time but there are plenty of boxes to tick and areas to improve on," Greenhalgh said.

They've achieved their goals with wins against Wellington and Dubbo Macquarie, but they know Bathurst St Pat's and then Parkes on the long weekend will be tough.

"Bathurst is going to be tough and they've got Mitch (Andrews) playing for them now so there's going to be a bit of rivalry which'll be good," Greenhalgh said.

"Hopefully we can go over there and play our brand of footy that we know we can play."