Mark Stanford is part of a three-man coaching team for Dubbo Rhinos first grade this season and like most in his position does not like to see his team beaten the way they were by a red-hot Dubbo Roos side last Saturday.

After leading 31-3 at half time, the Roos went on with the job in the second half and won 62-3 to confirm their top of the ladder rating.

But like all coaches, Stanford had to look for positives from the game for his players especially with a semi-final position still a possibility.

The Rhinos dropped from fourth to equal sixth after the loss on Saturday. They should beat Parkes at Apex Oval on Saturday, but then hit the road to Orange City and Forbes in the remaining two games.

The young blood in the Rhinos camp is where Stanford sees the future.

He had a new captain on Saturday with Mark Reynen injured. Breakaway Tim Barrett got the nod.

He is just a young guy but got the backing of his coach as one of the players who gives 100 per cent every game.

“Tim Barrett is having a great season and his form particularly in the past four weeks has been exceptional,” Stanford said.

“He is a quality player, everyone looks up to him and he’s a very good club man.

“He runs the ball, leads by example and talks to the players - he was an ideal choice as captain for us in this game.

“Tim is only relatively young and hopefully he will be around the Rhinos for a long while yet.”

No doubt at training this week the Rhinos coaching staff of Stanford, Glen Gallagher and Paul Hausia would have plenty to say to their players and a lot of work to do to try and arrest the current losing streak.

There were no two ways about it, the Rhinos were found wanting all over the park on Saturday.

“The Roos have the ability to expose the 50-50 plays, when you push the pass or your kick doesn’t go out on your own lineout feed, you pay the penalty. You can’t afford to do that,” Stanford said.

“When you make those 50-50 mistakes or set piece mistakes, they can punish you.

“What you have to do against them is dominate possession, but you can’t do that by giving them the marginal ball.”

As a contest on Saturday it was a pity the Rhinos lost key players, especially No.8 Aporosa Duwailea, who has an intimidating presence and often puts opposition players off their game.

As well, Claude Gordon was seriously ill in hospital, Alex Frail was spending a week on the sideline through suspension and Mark Reynen was out injured.

“We do miss Aporosa, but while he is a very good player, we are a squad of 30 blokes and it is a team game,” Stanford said.

“Unfortunately we’ve had players come in and out of first grade all year and that makes it hard to get the right blend.

“When that happens everyone else has got to lift another 10 per cent.

“We have a lot of young guys in the club and most of them have been part of our junior system learning the game in Colts.

“We’re a young team, unlike Bathurst and the Roos, and we’re also a light team.

“When these guys get a bit older and more experienced we’ll have a very good club.

“This season shows it is the turnaround for our club and we’ll build on this over the next few years. We don’t expect to be world beaters this year but we’re going forward and that can only be good for us and for us in attracting new players to the club.”