"You only play as well as you train" and "premierships are built on defence" may qualify as cliches but the Pickers are putting them into practice with great rewards.

Pickers coach Tony Howard said the defensive effort to hold Wests scoreless and claim a 6-0 victory on Saturday typified the side's resilience this season.

"We only scored the one try, but it was a great effort to maintain our defence as Wests are a very good side," Howard said.

"To get to this point undefeated we're obviously really happy with that.

"We have to consolidate over the next few weeks. We're halfway through the comp and the semi-finals are around the corner and given the quality of the competition this season you really want to finish top two."

Maitland have beaten recent power teams Central Newcastle, Wests and Lakes United along with a 30-0 win against Cessnock.

The Pickers play the Bulldogs at Kurri Kurri this Saturday, a game they were favoured to win last year but dropped.

"It's one of those games, that we need to make sure we go out and do what we have been doing. Defend well and be enthusiastic about what we are doing," Howard said.

Howard said the combination of some new players, enthusiasm and excellent number at training had led to the improvement this season.

"When you get numbers to training you can really hone in on things that you have done wrong or want to improve on," he said.

"They are applying themselves a lot more and I think the players who have come in have added a lot to the team as well."

The Pickers also face the Bulldogs in reserve grade and under-19s at Kurri Kurri on Saturday.

In games last week, Maitland defeated Wests 16-4 in under-19s and lost 30-10 to the Rosellas in tier one.. The tier two game was postponed.

The Bulldogs were beaten 36-6 by Souths in Blues Tag, the under-19s had a narrow 18-12 loss and in reserve grade Kurri lost 14-4.