But the North Otago head coach can see the positives in blooding some young talent and developing them for the future.
Forrest is gutted at what was a frustrating season for the Old Golds, finishing in ninth place with two wins from eight games.
"To be that team that’s missed out on playoffs, that still hurts," Forrest said.
"But it wasn’t from a lack of effort, from the coaching group or the playing group especially. More just gutted for them."
He acknowledged his side was not at the Meads Cup level this season, but they could have been among the Lochore Cup playoffs had they not let a couple of close games slip.
"We could’ve been there.
"If we had've been there, I think we would’ve done some good things in the finals, but we weren’t."
The Old Golds played some champagne rugby and some "dumb rugby" in other patches.
The opening 32 minutes against South Canterbury was some of the best rugby Forrest had seen from a North Otago team in a long time.
"We still say it — if we had gone into [halftime] 28-5 up, and not 28-17, we honestly thought we would have won that game."
That game and their wins against Wairarapa Bush 69-19 and against Buller 55-14 were among the highlights.
"We just needed to go out like that and Buller had been a bit of a bogey team for us in the past."
Halfback turned second five Tini Feke was phenomenal — "for me he’s the best 12 in the competition" — and young Fergus Read, who came from Wanaka, was busy in the tight five.
But the Old Golds’ lack of fitness, poor option taking and execution, and inexperience saw them struggle to close out games, he said.
Their 24-18 loss to East Coast and the opening 16-14 loss to Horowhenua-Kapiti were hard to swallow.
"That first up one, that was hard to take. That was even hard to watch.
"We didn’t play good rugby at all, pretty much for 80 minutes."
Co-captain Mat Duff is the most experienced Old Gold on 86 caps. Prop Jake Greenslade is the next cab on 49 caps and then it drops back to halfback Jake Matthews on 30 games.
Underneath, the Old Golds were relatively inexperienced and that showed when they called on 19 debutants.
"We do usually have a big turnover, but not this big," Forrest said.
"We lost a lot of guys last year . . . we lost a lot of experience."
While some might look at 19 debutants as a looming number, Forrest said they were young local players who stood up throughout the season.
Management planned to invest in them during the off season with various programmes, and gym memberships, to prepare them for 2025.
"They’ve all now realised . . . [they] are actually up to the Heartland level.
"They have a big future within the North Otago jersey."
It has been a big year for Forrest, who started coaching back in January when he returned to Excelsior and guided them to their first Citizens Shield title since 1997.
The Old Golds were yet to review their season and Forrest would reassess his future.
He was grateful for all the support they received, and planned to take some time out to pick up the golf clubs and spend time with his family in Otematata.
"I’m realistic around where it’s at.
"I still love the jersey, still love the team and love North Otago rugby. We’ll just see."
There is still change afoot for North Otago.
Long-serving chief executive officer Colin Jackson is retiring from the role after 20 years at the end of next month.
Forrest, who has worked as a game development officer for the past 13 years, said Jackson would be sorely missed.
"He’s a huge part of my career, my everything, on and off the field. He’s just a good friend.
"He’s going to be truly missed within the office."
