Inside the opening 10 minutes of Saturday's round two clash the former Super Rugby playmaker laid on two of the opening three tries and scored the other himself, inspiring the defending premiers to a lightning-fast, 19-nil lead.

Naturally, considering it was first appearance since linking with the greens, the early raid sent the Endeavour Oval faithful into a frenzy, even more so after Emus crossed for another two tries to one to lead 33-7 at the half-time break.

The Platypi fought hard to outscore the hosts 19 to five in the second half to reduce the final margin to just 12 points, but after Emus' rampant start an air of inevitability had fallen over Endeavour Oval long before the visitors' resurgence.

Forbes skipper Andrew Hubbard admitted as much too, although he was quick to say how pleased he was with his troops' effort in sticking to their guns.

"The first 10 minutes were rough, we just weren't switched on and Emus turned it on. But we fought hard to work our way back into the game and we put together some good periods of rugby," he said.

"Emus rolled a lot of their reserves on towards the end of the game and I think they had a few out as well, but even so, it's tough to get back into games like that so there's still plenty to take out of it."

The defending premiers were missing regulars Scott McLean, Nick Hughes-Clapp and Michael Graham, and also had four debutants in their starting XV in Digby Cooper, Ant Carver, Angus Sharpe and, of course, Roberts.

That's where co-captain Charlie Henley's focus was after full-time, along with heaping praise on second-rower Sam McLean, who celebrated his 100^th top grade appearance for the club with a rousing victory.

"I can't speak highly enough of Butchy (McLean), he's a bloke who always gets the job done and he did again [on Saturday], I'm glad we could get a win to mark his milestone properly," Henley, who scored a double in the win, said.

"Gus was huge in that opening period and was strong afterward, our other debutants were all really strong too and so were the guys who came off the bench. Honestly, we probably gassed a little bit in the second half but the win's positive.

"What we produced in the first half is the rugby we want to play, not so much in the second half. But we can work from that and it's good to get on the board."

Bouncing back from last week's nine-point loss to Bathurst Bulldogs, it took just 60 seconds for Roberts to put Tom Joseph through a gaping hole for the winger to score next to the sticks.

Roberts scored one of his own just two minutes later, leaving Forbes prop Rusi Lawanikula on his heels and grasping at air with a right foot step into acres of space under the sticks.

In the eighth minute, the former Melbourne Rebel launched a double cut-out ball in front of his centres to hit winger Harry Cummins on the chest, who duly crossed in the corner.

Nigel Staniforth nailed two of those three conversions, landing one more after Henley scored his first before coming from the field with a hip injury. He didn't return, but it doesn't appear to be serious.

Henley grabbed another before half-time and Andrew Sarr scored for Forbes too, before Joseph grabbed his second while Lawanikula, Tom Menzies and Tom Maguire all crossed in the second half for the Platypi.

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