IT was not the dream debut for new Dubbo Westside coach Robbie Dunn but he would take plenty of positives from his side's round one loss to the Forbes Magpies.
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The new-look Rabbitohs made the trip to Spooner Oval on Saturday and came up against a Forbes team which also featured a number of new faces.
Determined to improve after a disappointing 2014, the Magpies were made to work by Westside but eventually won 50-28.
The final score wasn't a true representation of the match with Westside leading 28-16 with 20 minutes to go before tiring late on.
"We started slow but we picked up the pace and stuck it to them," Dunn said.
"In the first 20 minutes we didn't have much ball and they got out to a 20-0 score but then we started to get a bit of ball and our class took over and we really mixed it with them."
After the Magpies got out to the early lead Westside began to work their way back into the game and were only trailing 20-16 at the break.
The Rabbitohs continued that momentum in the second half and led by two points at one stage before the Magpies wrested back a 30-28 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
The home side then ran away with the match late on but Dunn said he was pleased from what he saw in his side's first competitive hit out together.
"We're trying to put a new side out there together so it took awhile but once they knitted out there I thought they were really good," he said.
The coach praised the efforts of Quinton Dickinson and Justin Shillingsworth while he was also pleased with the way halves Josh Merritt and Swade Dunn guided the team around.
"It's only early, I said earlier that playing Forbes at Forbes is very hard, it's almost worth four points if you can snare a win there," he said. "But we've got something to work on and we'll knuckle down at training and work on it because it's a long season."
Forbes also claimed victory in the reserve grade, 26-14, while they were too strong in the 18s as well, 52-14.
Despite going down in three grades, Westside had plenty to cheer about in the women's League Tag competition with the Bunnies recording a 22-0 win over Forbes in the inaugural round of the competition.
The Westside girls are one of few Group 11 teams with League Tag experience after their side has competed at the past two Western League Tag Challenges at Canowindra.
That team cohesion showed on Saturday with the Bunnies proving they will be tough to beat in 2015.