The Blacks are only five points clear of Nelson Bay on the ladder after an upset 21-14 loss to the Gropers on Saturday.

"We were well off our game and once again it was a similar scenario to our loss to Uni with the Bay a bit more enthusiastic and hungrier for the win," Blacks coach Luke Cunningham said.

"It's got us into an arm-wrestle for that fourth spot now. We can't afford to have any more of those off games.

"We now only have a five-point buffer over the Bay in fifth spot and we need to win against Southern Beaches to give us some breathing space going into that last round against Merewether.

"Nelson Bay have Wanderers at home this weekend, so certainly a winnable game for the Bay.

"We must min and win with a bonus point on Saturday."

With two rounds remaining, Maitland face Southern Beaches away and finish at home against top side Merewether, while Nelson Bay play top four sides Wanderers (home) and Hamilton (away).

The Blacks cause against Nelson Bay was not helped with fullback Pat Batey concussed early in the match

"I felt we started the game well and then we lost Pat Batey to concussion. Pat's a major voice in our team so we lost him and I had to reshuffle the backline as a result of that," Cunningham said.

"I had to bring Ryan McCormack back on after he had played 70 minutes in second grade and that was within the first 10 minutes of first grade.

"We were very disjointed on the weekend, we didn't play with any structure that we intended to and it was a very quiet team performance across the park.

"Normally we are a pretty vocal team, but on the weekend it was pretty non-existent."

Cunningham said Cal Viser had a really great game, Sam Callow played really well and Mick Taylor at inside-centre had a great game as well.