After defeating the Kangaroos 30-14 at Grinsted Oval, Hammond said he and his side were “excited” to next tackle Orange Emus, the side which downed Forbes in last season’s grand final.

A premiership-winning penalty goal from Nigel Staniforth deep into injury time last season has haunted the Forbes side since and the in-form Platypi are determined to make up for that defeat next weekend.

“We’re looking forward to having another crack at them because we felt we were robbed last year in the grand final and we felt like we were robbed here in the second round (this season) so we’re excited to go over there, especially with first and second grade going over,” he said.

“There’s a very good vibe around.”

Forbes’ forward pack was outstanding in Saturday’s qualifying semi-final, setting the platform for the victory while star scrumhalf Mahe Fangupo was all class in the number nine jersey in another near-flawless performance.

The Platypi were the better side for almost the entire game but the Kangaroos didn’t help themselves, making a number of handling errors while their set pieces also failed at times.

The Roos, playing in Western Force jerseys in support of the battling Super Rugby club, will now take on the winner of Sunday’s elimination semi-final between the Bathurst Bulldogs and Orange City.

“Losing semi-finals is always disappointing but Forbes is a lot bigger and heavier forward pack than us and they used that to their advantage,” assistant coach Mark Stanford said.

“They plated in the forwards, dominated the breakdown and it’s all won and lost at the breakdown.”

A rolling maul from the Forbes pack led to the first points, Matthew Coles finishing it off before Nedd Brockmann, another standout, nailed the conversion to make it 7-0.

Brockmann missed a penalty then nailed the next one to make it 10-0 but right before the break Roos scrumhalf Jock Brownhill sliced through and scored out of nowhere while a yellow card to Forbes’ Henry Willis also gave the visitors momentum.

But any hope the Roos had were dealt a massive blow almost immediately after the restart. Possession was given away cheaply and Mahe Fangupo darted over after some sustained pressure to extend his side’s lead.

Winger Darren Piper scored out wide 18 minutes into the second stanza to make it an intimidating 24-7 lead before a neck and shoulder injury to Forbes’ Brenton Howarth brought about a lengthy delay.

The ambulance was called as a precaution for Howarth, who was cleared of any serious injury.

The Roos restarted the better and Viliame Turuva finished off a flowing move to get his side back into contention but 24-14 was as close as his side got.

Two late penalties from Brockmann sealed the win.

“It’s really pleasing and even more pleasing the way we played and controlled the game,” Hammond said.

“Especially after that long delay we might have struggled to get back into it but with the team we have and they way we’ve been controlling games coming into finals, we knew it wouldn’t be an issue.

“The scrum was dominant too … and doing that leading into a major semi-final against the third-best side (Roos) shows you’re playing pretty good footy.”

The Roos camp was dejected but Stanford said his squad remains positive despite losses to Emus and Forbes in the space of three weeks.

“We believe in what we’re doing and we don’t make too many changes week-to-week and I think if we can work on the way we start, we made that mistake at the start of the second half and they scored.

“At the breakdown and at restarts, that’s what we need to work on.”