After a tumultuous season in 2015 for Dubbo Macquarie, finishing the regular season in second and making week two of the semi-finals was a success, their coach said.
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Last year the Raiders finished seventh, with just five wins to their name and well outside finals contention.
Steve McLellan was disappointed with his team’s final performance of the year, as they went down to Forbes Magpies 40-20 at Caltex Park on Saturday but said there was still plenty to be pleased about.
“I’m disappointed we haven’t gone further but I’m certainly happy,” the coach said.
“We finished the regular season in second spot, that’s certainly an improvement on last year where we ran third last.
“It gives us something to build on for the future and there are some good young ones coming through reserve grade.
“I could identify five or six who could step up to first grade. That’s good for the club down the track.”
McLellan felt his team was capable of beating any other side in the Group but said against Forbes, they met a better opponent on the day.
They knew how dangerous the Magpies were, McLellan said, heading into the match and had a game plan to avoid getting into a forwards battle but Macquarie weren’t able to execute.
They matched the visitors for the first 25 minutes but Forbes took an eight point lead to half-time and extended it throughout the second 40.
“We said all along we didn’t want to fall into the trap of playing down the middle,” he said.
“That was how they wanted to play, they have a big forward pack, and we just didn’t move the ball to the parts of the field where we wanted to play.
“We wanted to play in the outside channels and every time we got there we exposed them but didn't do it enough.”
McLellan also said while Macquarie wasn’t a one-man team, losing their five-eighth Josh Merritt to suspension in the lead up to the match hurt them.
“Josh drives us around the park nicely and we missed that,” he said.
The Raiders also saw their under-18s team loss to Forbes 30-24 but they still have a team to cheer on, with their reserve grade side set to take on Westside for the right to met the third Dubbo team, CYMS, in the grand final on September 11.
“I think all grades have acquitted themselves well,” McLellan said.
“The club will be disappointed but when we look back, we have positioned ourselves well for the future.
“We still believe we have a team that could have challenged but we will look at the positives.”
Macquarie Reserves will clash with Westside Rabbitohs at Pioneer Oval on Sunday.