A four-try haul to gun fullback Tyme Dow-Nikau was the highlight as the Maitland Pickers thrashed Lakes United 44-6 on Saturday.
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Maitland scored three tries in the opening 15 minutes and led 22-0 at half-time before going on with the job after the break.
The win sees the Pickers jump Central Newcastle into fourth place after the Butcher Boys lost 34-18 to Macquarie.
Pickers player-coach PJ Ellis said a team meeting following their disappointing loss to Port Stephens last weekend was the catalyst for the turnaround.
“Obviously last week was very disappointing, it was a much better effort this week,” he said.
“We got together as a group and voiced how we were going and what we needed to improve on and what was going to work for us.
“We let everyone have their say and we’re starting to work together.”
Terence Seu Seu returned to his favoured position at hooker to help lead his team to an impressive 38-point win.
“Terence back at dummy half, that’s his best position and where he’s happy,” Ellis said.
“That’s where he’ll stay now, he helped get us going forward and you don’t want to be changing too much now at this time of year.
“We’ll stick with what we’ve got and hopefully build on this.”
As well as Seu Seu and Dow-Nikau, Ellis was happy with the direction offered by his halves Luke Clydesdale and Billy Towers.
Ellis said his team’s fast start and ability to go on with it after half-time were pleasing.
“We spoke about it at halftime that it was a great start but we needed to keep going,” he said.
“It was a good 40 minutes, we were patient and our go forward was good.
“It was a great team effort across the park and a much better effort to last week.”