Western Suburbs made Maitland pay for a below standard performance smashing them 44-0 in front of a big crowd at the Maitland Sportsground on Sunday.
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Wests were as impressive as the Pickers were disappointing and Maitland coach Luke Dorn admitted the signs were their from the first half.
Stout Pickers defence and poor Rosellas handling kept Maitland potentially in the game at 12-0, however, it was one-way traffic after half-time.
Maitland struggled to get the ball out from their own end and the only time the ball went into Wests half was from the restart of play after a try.
The first try in the second half came within six minutes after the break and was immediately followed by the second off the next set.
Wets maintained in excess of 80 per cent possession.
"We were totally starved of the ball in the second half. We couldn't maintain possession when we got it," Dorn said.
"We probably only got to our kick two or three times in the half and I don't think we got within their 20."
Dorn said the team were bitterly disappointed with their performance and in shock to an extent.
"We are going to have to sit down and have a look at what happened, but it wasn't just the second half we were well off the mark in the first half.
"Only our defence and handling errors by Wests in the first half kept the score to 12-0.
"But the signs were there. We drifted completely away from our game plan.
"We didn't go about any of the things we had talked about before the game or worked on in defence.
"What's really strange about it is that we trained really well on Friday."
The Pickers were without halfback Tyler Perrin, fullback Isaac Upton, wing Elijah Rasiga and hooker Jarrod Smith, but Dorn said it did not make the difference.
The Pickers have next week off as representative football returns to the Maitland Sportsground with the Newcastle Rebels playing Sydney Ron Massey side on May 11.
But they will need to find form quickly as they have a Coalfields clash against Kurri Kurri at The Graveyard next.
"It doesn't get much more testing than Kurri at Kurri," Dorn said.