The Pickers captain’s comments came as the young Maitland side’s defensive frailties cost them victory after storming back to lead 30-28 against South Newcastle after trailing 28-6 at half-time.

Maitland’s inability to defend errors ultimately cost them the win with a dropped ball and penalty helping the Lions hit back with two late tries to win 36-30.

Tilse said playing at Coronation Oval was not an excuse for the Pickers’ mixed form, but a return to the new look Maitland Sportsground would provide a much needed morale boost.

Speaking on behalf of the playing group Tilse has called on Maitland City Council to finalise any legal requirements as soon as possible to allow the Pickers to play out of the new showcase arena.

“I’m not here to have a go at the council, if it’s something they can’t do we accept that, but if there is anything they can do to hurry things up it would be great,” he said.

“I don’t know the full details of what is holding us back, but I have heard it’s stuff like evacuation plans and red-tape stuff.

“Anything that could help us would be good and I’m sure the community of Maitland would love to get in for a real opening rather than just cutting of the ribbon.

“Obviously we’ve got our black tie ball this weekend coming up and it would be fantastic if we could play at the new ground to coincide with that.”

Maitland City Councillor and Pickers legend Brian Burke said he could understand the club’s frustration at not being able to play out of the new sportsground.

“The council is as keen as anyone to present their football team on the No.1 facility in the area, but council is not going to leave themselves open in terms of liability,” he said.

“There are a myriad of things, not just the playing surface, which need to be put in place for the facility to be considered operational.

“It’s not far away, all that council has to do now is sign off on the rules and regulations that they are bound by. What we are up to now is operational and is not in the hands of councillors.”

Tilse said all five grades were struggling to prepare out of the cramped conditions and on the hard playing surface at Coronation Oval.

“As captain I felt I needed to get some answers for the players, it obviously would have been better coming off a win so we’re not seen as whinging,” he said.

“We’ve got five grades who have been struggling out at Coronation and we’re doing it tough. Some of our performances haven’t been up to scratch, but I really think we need a bit of a lift.”

Tilse said he was keen to play on at the Pickers next year.

“I’m 32 now and I’ve got a fair few miles in the legs, so it takes a few days to recover after the games, even at this level it is a tough game and a good comp,” he said.

“I want to achieve something with the Pickers, we probably haven’t got to that point this year. I won’t lock in anything concrete but I’ll probably look to go around again. It certainly would be with Maitland not any other club that’s for sure.

“The players are a great bunch of blokes and all the people involved in the club have been incredibly supportive and welcoming.”

“The community is great, I’m a country boy from Scone, and I fit in here and enjoy it.”

Tilse said the team needed to get physically and mentally stronger and try to maintain their attacking style of play for the whole 80 minutes.

“We need to be a bit mentally tougher, I’m not sure if a couple of hard years have taken their toll and pricked the guys confidence,” he said.

“We need to pick up our resilience and be a bit tougher football team because we can play a pretty competitive style.

“We tend to go pretty well when we throw the footy around and maybe we need to start to do that at the start of the game and not go bash and barge at the start.

“There’s some big teams in this comp and we’re probably a bit out-muscled at times, we may need to look to the edges and play some expansive football which we did in the second half yesterday and it really paid dividends.

“It’s all about possession, if you can hold onto those periods and get the momentum that’s what it’s all about.”

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