The Maitland Pickers will employ a first come, first served ticketing system for Saturday's historic President's Cup clash against Dubbo CYMS Fishies.
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But in great news for fans who are not lucky enough to be among the crowd of 500, the Pickers in conjunction with the NSW RL will live stream the match from Maitland Sportsground from 3.30pm
The Pickers started the competition in a blaze of glory beating Ron Massey Cup heavyweights Wentworthville Magpies 32-24 in Sydney. Dubbo CYMS were impressive despite going down 32-16 to North Sydney at North Sydney Oval.
"I came across Dubbo CYMS in 2018 when I was coach at Wests and they defeated us 16-14 in the Challenge Cup. They have a great record in that competition and in their own comp where they have dominated for a number of years," Pickers coach Matt Lantry said.
"I watched their replay against the Bears and they are a big physical team.
"We started very well in this comp, but there is no letting up. It's a challenge each week."
The Pickers take pretty much the same team from last week into this week's game. Pat Mata'utia is unlikely to be recovered from injury, but Henry Penn is available.
Saturday's game kicks off at 3.30pm and will be preceded by four Newcastle RL fixtures between Maitland and Central Newcastle, starting with women's Blues Tag at 10am.
Pickers president Frank Lawler said the club would use the same ticketing system used by the Cessnock last week when they hosted Maitland.
Patrons will be given a ticket number on entry to the ground and return it when they leave, allowing for waiting fans to take their spot. The Goannas catered for more than 700 people over the day while always remaining below the Covid restriction of 500 people.
"It's probably the best option we have at the moment and the good news is that we have been able to secure a live stream of the game on our Facebook page.
"I think we can count on our fans understanding that numbers are restricted. There will be some delays as we need to meet Covid-19 contact details of all people entering the ground and we need to keep social distancing inside and out the ground."
MAITLAND: 1 Daniel Langbridge 2 Elijah Rasiga 3 Matt Soper-Lawler 4 Gary Anderson 5 Willis Alatini 6 Chad O'Donnell 7 Brock Lamb 8 Sam Mataora 9 Alex Langbridge (c) 10 Jayden Butterfield 11 Cooper Jenkins 12 Cal Burgess 13 Sam Anderson 14 Henry Penn 15 James Taylor 16 Faitotoa Faitotoa 17 Ben Ireland 18 Peter Wilson
