“The forward pack, as simple as that,” he said ahead of the do-or-die minor semi-final against Bathurst Bulldogs.

The Roos have dropped off in recent weeks, admitted McHugh, and losses to Orange Emus and the Forbes Platypi in the past month means they are left to fight for their season in Sunday’s clash at No. 1 Oval.

McHugh confessed his side was “outmuscled” in last week’s qualifying major semi loss to Forbes, while he also accused his side of not being “desperate” enough.

That needs to change.

“It just has to,” McHugh said, before speaking again about the importance of the forwards.

“No matter what people say about backs, they might score the tries but if they aren’t getting any ball then it means the forward pack isn’t doing its job.

“We haven’t been playing our best in the last few weeks but now we’ve only got one chance to get it right so we’ve got to step up.

There’s been very little to separate the Roos and Dogs this season and in most recent years.

The home side won on each occasion during the two regular season match-ups and the job for the Roos is to get back to the level which resulted in a 27-21 win last time the two sides met.

The Dubbo side has worked on tinkering some minor things at training this week to ensure the players have options for however the game pans out.

Rather than saying this was being done because the ‘Plan B’ hasn’t worked in recent weeks, McHugh said it was more about fine-tuning.

“We just haven’t been executing. We’ve had these plans in place and they’re good plans but we just haven’t played smart footy.”

The losses to Emus and Forbes both featured the Roos dropping the ball or having passes go to ground.

Being more clinical in possession will be key against Bulldogs and, according to McHugh, that is something all players from 1-15 need to work on.

“We need to lift as a team and do that, and do that dirty work before we can go on and score,” he said.

The Roos have named the same lineup which played at Forbes last week, with Will Chaffey again expected to be missing.

Reuben Williams and young gun Charlie Lawry will battle for a starting prop spot while Angus McGinness is expected to feature off the bench after impressing during a brief late cameo against the Platypi.

Bathurst head to Dubbo on Sunday having defeated Orange City in last weekend’s elimination semi-final.

Kick-off is at 3.15pm.