A memorable day turned sour as the Maitland Pickers produced their worst performance of the year to be thumped 48-26 by Lakes United at Maitland Sportsground on Saturday.
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A huge contingent of Maitland old boys formed a guard of honour for the team as the Pickers paid special tribute to captain-coach Luke Dorn’s with a banner highlighting his career achievements.
However, things went south from there with not only the Pickers’ hopes of a minor premiership dented, but young halfback Tyler Perrin in doubt for the remainder of the season after suffering a neck injury in the second half..
The good news is that Perrin has full movement and feeling and was taken by ambulance to hospital after the match.
After the match, Dorn set about restoring his team’s confidence after the loss reminding them that they were sitting on top of the table for a good reason.
“I reminded the boys that just as a great win doesn’t make you a great team, a bad loss doesn’t make you a bad team,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the loss means that finishing top is no longer in our hands entirely, but we are well placed and are capable of taking out this comp if we play at our best.
“That starts on the training track this week and against Kurri at Kurri next weekend.
“No matter where they are on the table, playing Kurri at their patch is the toughest test in this comp and it’s just what we need.”
The result leaves Maitland in second spot on the ladder equal on 18 points with South Newcastle (first), who beat Central Newcastle 44-24 on Saturday, and Lakes (third). Central Newcastle are fourth on 17 points.
Lake host Souths next Saturday and if the Seagulls and Pickers win Maitland should finish minor premiers on points differential.
The Seagulls silenced the big home crowd early on Saturday with fullback Cody Robbins crossing for two converted tries within six minutes.
The Pickers hit back through a try to Perrin to trail 12-4, but Robbins crossed just minutes later for a hat-trick and set the tone for the remainder of the match of Lakes immediately matching any Pickers resurgence.
For one of the few times this season the Pickers line looked thin and Lakes repeatedly made big yards and created scoring opportunities with decisive runs from the ruck.
“They were very good around the ruck, we expected them to be, but they were extremely good and we just couldn’t handle them,” Dorn said after the match.
“They took the atmosphere straight out of the game early on with their enthusiasm and with their speed of play.
“We couldn’t catch our breath, we couldn’t get back in the game.
“The start was probably the most disappointing part, you’ve got to start big and start fast in big games.
“We might as well still have been in the sheds after 10 minutes the way we started and they made the most of every opportunity they got.”
Dorn said the Pickers had lost the penalty count but errors had been more costly.
“When our error rate is high we’re never really ever in the game,” he said.
“We probably lost the penalty count, but we don’t come in after a game and say we won because we were on the end of a winning penalty count.
“So it’s not why we lost.
“We compounded errors. When we did something good we dropped the ball or gave away a penalty.
“We just couldn’t get any rhythm to our game and they made the most of everything and punished us accordingly.
“We’d score a try and get a little something going on, we’d have a good set and then a good kick away and put them under pressure but on three ocassions we had a play two penalty. A high tackle or an offside or something along those lines.
“It took the wind out of our sails, any momentum we had just disappeared.”