Bradley five-try hero as Maitland Pickers smash Wests Illawarra

Pickers coach Matt Lantry said Bradley had been rewarded for his hard work in cementing a spot in the President's Cup team.

"He was on the end of some really good backline movements, but he has a knack of scoring tries," Lantry said. "He has the ability to put himself in the frame and he is a tremendous finisher with his speed and athleticism.

"He came here from Singleton and to be honest I didn't know a lot about him. It was more on the back of (under-19 coach) Jye Bayley's recommendation and he started with our first grade team in the local comp.

"He has just gone from strength to strength and done a tremendous job."

Matt Soper-Lawler, Cooper Jenkins, Chad O'Donnell and Jacob McCudden all crossed for tries. Brock Lamb kicked two goals and O'Donnell four.

The Pickers started strongly and never relented in their pressure in attack and defence against a Wests outfit which on form going into the match were the Pickers toughest opponent to date.

But the Maitland Sportsground lived up to its reputation as Fortress Maitland and the Pickers kept their second clean sheet at home and now have accumulated 134 points for and just four against in their three games in Maitland.

"I was really happy with the zero on the scoreboard," Lantry said. "We controlled the game for the complete 80 minutes.

"I was really surprised by today's result. I thought it would have been a tight, dour sort of affair as that's what Wests Illawarra are like.

"To start the way we did and respond to the challenge that we put to the boys throughout the course of the week is probably the most pleasing thing.

"It was our start which really blew them off the park

"We were 30-0 at half-time but it was what we did in the first 20 minutes which really set them back and they couldn't go with us."

The Pickers led 16-0 after 20 minutes but also had one try disallowed and blew another chance inside Wests' 20.

"It's probably an underestimated trip, the south coast one, we knew going down to Thirroul last week that we had a flat start to the game and didn't really find our feet until about the 20 minute mark," Lantry said.

"We felt if we started well we could really put them on the back foot."

While Bradley was outstanding on the edge, forwards James Taylor and Cal Burgess laid the platform in the middle of the park.

"James Taylor was great. He played the full first 40 minutes in the front row and got through to the 55 minute mark in the second half. To play 55 minutes straight was exceptional from James.

"You come to expect that a little bit from an experienced player, we asked him to carry that workload a little more this week to try and minimise the number of changes we made before half-time.

"He grabbed that and did a really good job.

"Cal Burgess was another one who played the first 40 and went through to the 50 minute mark. Probably those two up front were really good. I thought Jayden Butterfield was excellent as well.

"Our whole middle was really good. We challenged them because that's where West Illawarra's strength was. I thought they did a great job of holding them in the middle in defensive perspective and then coming out the other side and challenging them with their own carries."

Competition for spots is red-hot and in addition to Bradley, Will Neiuwenhuise, Ben Ireland and Peter Wilson are all pushing for selection.

"Every week while you are winning you are driving the fact that you can't be complacent with your own position in the team because there are guys like James Bradley, Will Neiuwenhuise, Benny Ireland, Pete Wilson waiting for their opportunity," Lantry said.

"I think we have shown since round one that we haven't been reluctant to make changes where we felt performances haven't been good enough."

Neiuwenhuise, another Singleton product, came into the line-up on Saturday and was solid in the utility role off the bench.

After starting in the front-row the past few games, Cooper Jenkins also came off the bench and gave the Pickers a real lift when he came on.

"Cooper came off the bench and was tremendous. He really responded this week after his performances over the past two weeks had been a little bit flat," Lantry said.

"It's tough for a young kid, you've got to keep in mind that he is only 19-years-old and went from the edge into the middle. It's unrelenting in that area so we started him off the bench to freshen him up a bit more and get that impact into the game from him and I thought he was really good on that right edge."

Excitement is building for next week when the Pickers host rugby league foundation club the North Sydney Bears.

It isa top-two clash after the Bears overcame the Western Rams 42-26 on Sunday.

"It's an exciting game. There's a bit of nostalgia about it, you look at Maitland as a club established back in 1955 but dating back as a comp to 1910 and North Sydney as an original club," Lantry said.

"Norths has a tremendous amount of history and there's probably a lot of Bears fans who believe they should still be in the NRL.

"We may never get the opportunity to see these two teams play again, to see North Sydney come and play here, it's not something you would want to miss."

In other games on the weekend, Glebe Burwood Wolves defeated Thirroul 36-18 and Dubbo CYMS 30 beat Wenworthville 10. Hills had the bye.

The Pickers sit on top of the table undefeated on 14 points, the Bears are second on 12, with Glebe third on 11. Wests Illawarra remain in fourth place on nine points and Thirroul are fifth on eight.