IT may have been pushed to the back of people’s minds simply through the factor of time, but Forbes Platypi coach Phil Prior says that “a little bit of Bali” still lives in his players as they prepare to play for a Central West Rugby Union grand final spot tomorrow.
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In 2002, the infamous bombings on the Indonesian island claimed the lives of three Forbes players – Greg Sanderson, Paul Cronin and Brad Ridley. However, in the face of that tragedy the club came out and claimed the premiership the following year in what must rank as one of the great Australian sports stories.
With a sprinkling of players remaining from that premiership team, once again Forbes has emerged as the big story of 2009 as they have knocked off a succession of well-fancied opponents in their run to tomorrow’s preliminary final against the Bathurst Bulldogs.
With wins over Narromine, CSU and Dubbo Kangaroos in recent weeks as well as thrashings of lowly Parkes and Dubbo Rhinos, all of a sudden the Platypi loom as a genuine threat.
“We still have guys like ‘Hubbo’ [Andrew Hubbard], Murray [Fraser] and ‘Mox’ [Greg Moxey] so there is still an element of the Bali boys, as coach I can see that and we definitely have that backs-to-the-wall attitude,” Prior said ahead of the grand final qualifier.
“We’re not too flash the Forbes side, we’re all about chipping away at the rock because we haven’t got the big flashy players that some of the other teams do. We have to make do with what we’ve got.”
Initially, most pundits had Forbes pencilled in as “the best of the rest” behind three powerhouses in Narromine, the Bulldogs and ’Roos, with CSU the side capable of producing a finals upset.
The Platypi have strung together seven wins in eight matches to prove otherwise and their threat must now be treated seriously by the ’Dogs.
“It has come back to player regularity,” Prior explained.
“We’ve battled to keep the same 15 on the paddock most of the season, we’ve lost players to injury, weddings and other things but in the last six weeks we have started to gather some momentum and have been pretty solid with out team.
“We are pretty confident that we can put in a bold showing, most experts probably wrote us off but we’ve gotten this far, now it is about turning up to play, being prepared and having that keenness.”
Prior admits that in his eyes, the Bulldogs have been the strongest team all season despite the fact that Narromine won the minor premiership – an opinion probably aided by the fact that his team halted the Gorillas’ winning streak but were unable to go close to Bathurst in two meetings.
“Bulldogs are strong all over the park, we’ve made no secret all year of the fact that we think they are the best team we’ve played,” he said.
“We need to ensure we don’t make mistakes, they will make you pay if you do that. Pretty much the only defensive pattern you can play against a team with that sort of strike power is a close up-and-in style, make your one-on-one tackles.
“They have a pretty strong back three in their forward pack.”
Forbes are expected to be at full strength for the clash at KC Laird Field tomorrow afternoon.
FORBES: 1 Ashley Acheson, 2 Greg Moxey, 3 Craig Parsons, 4 Steve Walker, 5 Murray Fraser, 6 James King, 7 Matt Coles, 8 Andrew Hubbard, 9 Troy Howe (c), 10 Charlie Dwyer, 11 Nick Ryan, 12 Daniel Bayley, 13 Jayme Sherritt, 14 Sam Ridley, 15 Simon Murphy.
