The victory was an important one for the Roos as it saw them move ahead of the Platypi into third on the Blowes Clothing Cup ladder and keeps them in touch with second-placed Bathurst.

It was also the first time since 2015 the Dubbo team had been able to get a win at Forbes.

Over the past two years, the Platypi have won all four clashes there, including two qualifying finals that launched their campaigns in consecutive grand finals.

Even in 2015, the last time the Roos won there, they were only able to escape with a 22-20 victory after converting a try just two minutes from full-time.

Roos captain Shaun McHugh knows how tough it is to grind out a win at Grinsted Park.

“We were talking about it on the bus, how tough it is to get the win there. They’ve beaten us in some close games down there,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are top of the ladder and they are bottom, or how they are performing, they are always a tough side to beat at home.”

The Roos went into Saturday’s match expecting the defending premiers to be fired up after losing their last three games in a row, but they flew out of the gates to score three early tries.

The Platypi rallied to trail 22-10 at half-time and then worked their way back to lock the scores at 22-all.

The visitors were able to get in front again after kicking three penalty goals before a try to hooker Reuben Williams gave them breathing room at 36-22.

Forbes kept the pressure on and scored in the final play of the game to close the margin right up.

McHugh said the second-half performance was far from perfect. He praised his halves for leading by example.

“Hamish Gordon stepped up, he was hitting the corners and put Forbes under plenty of pressure with some high balls, and Jock Brownhill steered us around.

“Jack Jones was great in his second game, scoring two tries. I think he was a bit shell-shocked against Emus but he bounced back.”