"It wasn't our best win but considering it took us four hours to get down here it wasn't bad," Pickers coach Matt Lantry said of the draining but successful road trip to the south coast.

"We got taken to the wrong ground to start with which wasn't ideal. It put us under pressure time wise.

"And when we got there it was bloody windy and ridiculously cold.

"We (the coaches) were standing up the back of the grandstand and it had an open back on it. The wind was all but blowing us a seat or two down the stand, it was that strong.

"They were shocking conditions to play in.

"We started the game a bit slow and you could probably put that down to the travel. It probably took us 20 minutes to get into the game."

Down 4-0, Pickers front-rower Jayden Butterfield led the response with tries either side of the quarter-time drinks break to give the Pickers a 12-4 lead at the break.

"Butts only ran five metres for both but he'll tell you it was 25. But he got a double which was really good to see," Lantry said.

"The way the boys responded at that quarter-time drinks break was excellent. We probably squandered a couple of opportunities late in the first half. I think we dropped the ball three times inside their 10.

"We'd like to think we will tidy up those errors."

Given the conditions it was always going to be a challenge to retain the ball but the positive for the Pickers coach was that Maitland managed to defend the majority of their second-half errors conceding just one try after the break.

"In the second half we had some errors down our own end and it just relieved the pressure on Thirroul, but in saying that when we got opportunities down the other end we capitalised on them to get out to 30-10," Lantry said.

"I think what we are finding is that we are consistent in what we are doing.

"There's no off-weeks for us. We know it's a short competition and we need to be up each and every week and so far the boys have really applied themselves to that.

"We are really impressed with the desire to defend our own line and turn them away after making errors."

Lantry said Gary Anderson was one of the stand outs for the Pickers.

"Gary Anderson was one of our best, he troubled them all day on the right edge," he said,

"He gave one try away which he probably could have scored from and when he crossed later it was a really good reward for a top performance.

"It was a welcome return by James Taylor as well, I thought our bench had a real impact in the game this week.

"James Taylor and Faitotoa Faitotoa were really good when they came on in the middle for us.

"They lifted our energy a bit and got us going forward."

Results fell Maitland's way on Saturday with West Illawarra and Glebe playing out a hard-fought 18-all draw to give the Pickers a three-point break on the chasing pack, which North Sydney Bears could reduce to two with a win over Hills.

The Pickers host West Illawarra and the Bears over the next two weekends, before a road trip against Glebe to finish to the home and away season.

"We've earmarked the next month as a great challenge for us but we've got one from one so far with the win over Thirroul.

"We've got West Illawarra next week. The had an 18-all draw with Glebe, so they're stamping some authority on this competition that they are going to be real contenders as well.

"Two big home games in a row with Wests Illawarra and then North Sydney Bears.

"I'm sure that will bring some real die-hard Bears fans to the Sportsground to see their team run around in the black and the red."

Elijah Rasiga and Daniel Langbridge also scored tries for Maitland and the kickers were on song in tricky condition with Brock Lamb landing three and Chad O'Donnell two.

Do you know you can subscribe to get full access to all Maitland Mercury stories? Subscribing supports us in our local news coverage. To subscribe, click here.