Dubbo Kangaroos coach Paul Hausia has heaped praise on Forbes, labelling the Platypi the side to beat this season after a one-sided contest at Pioneer Oval on Saturday.
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The Platypi produced their best performance of the Blowes Clothing Cup season in round five while the Roos were arguably at their worst in the 42-7 drubbing.
Winger Tom Maguire scored a hat-trick in the victory but the performance had the fingerprints of outstanding halves Mahe Fangupo and Miniti Tonga all over it.
"If there was a perfectly structured team in the Central West, we played them yesterday (Saturday)," Hausia said.
"Everything they did just goes to show when you've got the team well-gelled and when your nine and 10 are working well together and control a team, everything falls into place.
"Mahe is a conductor. He owned that football field yesterday and it showed the quality of player he is.
"I dead-set reckon the Platypi will be a big contender for the grand final this year ... I just think Forbes is the team everyone at the moment needs to play like."
Hausia had nothing but praise for the Platypi and his counterpart Heamani Lavaka but admitted he and his players need to "take a long hard look at ourselves" after the heavy loss.
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The writing was on the wall for the Roos inside two minutes when winger Andrew Saar scored for the Platypi and the visitors never really looked like getting into the contest after that.
The hosts had the bonus point wrapped up by half-time when they led 20-0 and rather than be content with the lead, the ruthless Platypi went on with the job in the second stanza.
The Roos battled ill-discipline, particularly in the first half, and handling errors throughout the contest and the only highlight came when centre Johnny Mafiti scored midway through the second half.
"What it looked like to me was we were playing desperate football and you can't play desperate football against a quality team," Hausia said bluntly.
"Discipline is one of the biggest things I've always spoken to the players about, that and defence, but it all went out the window.
"Anything that could go wrong did go wrong and myself, the coaches, and players all know we're a better team than that."
Some serious reassessing will be done by Hausia and his coaching team this week after Saturday's loss sent the Roos to the bottom of the Blowes Clothing Cup ladder.
We've got to take that as a big lesson and take a long hard look at ourselves.
- Paul Hausia
Inconsistency has been the biggest issue for the Dubbo side this season and it hasn't gone close to fielding the same lineup two weeks in a row through the first five rounds.
Injuries have played a part but next weekend's meeting with Orange City now shapes as a hugely important one in the context of this season.
"We've got to take that as a big lesson and take a long hard look at ourselves because if we want to be contenders for the finals, playing like we did yesterday won't get us close," Hausia said.
While it was a day to forget for the Roos, the victory made an already special day even better for the Platypi.
Saturday acted as a fundraiser for former club president Tracey Prior, who is currently battling cancer.
Both sides wore special socks for the match while the huge amount of money raised through raffles and donations on the day will go to CanAssist Forbes.
"There's a lot to be said about rugby and the rugby community," Prior said after the match.
"It's great to be part of when the chips are down, thanks so much."
Elsewhere in the Blowes Clothing Cup on Saturday there was wins on the road for Orange Emus and Bathurst Bulldogs, defeating Cowra and City respectively.
- FORBES PLATYPI 42 (Tom Maguire 3, Andrew Saar, Daniel Sweeney, Matthew Coles, Andrew Hubbard tries; Sweeney 2 conversions, penalty) defeated DUBBO KANGAROOS 7 (Johnny Mafiti try, Hamish Gordon goal)