The Pickers have rediscovered their mojo with a Maitland-like 28-10 win against Lakes United built on solid defence and strong incisive running and smart ball play.
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And with the return to winning ways, came the timely return of the oldest cliche in the books "we're taking it one win at a time", bring on Wyong.
Pickers coach Matt Lantry said the meritorious return to form after an indifferent month needed to be consolidate with a win against Wyong at the Maitland Sportsground on Saturday.
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- Maitland Pickers rediscover their mojo to defeat Lakes United 28-10
"Not looking too far ahead is probably a key factor we need to be conscious of," Lantry said.
"We set our season up by getting off to a really good start, but we got to the mid part of the year and we were treading water there for about a month. Our performances weren't great..
"I don't think we were looking too far ahead, but we are really focusing on backing up our performance last week against Wyong this week.
"Wyong will be pretty desperate to stay in touch with the top five. That's an important one for us."
After the low-point of a 20-16 loss to The Entrance two weeks ago, the Pickers players had some hard and honest conversations about what was needed to turn their season around.
It worked and from the first set the Pickers were hitting harder, making tackles stick and taking the ball up with real venom and intent.
The Pickers ran out 28-10 winners but it was a real test of strength and resolve which belied the first and ninth ranking of the two teams.
Gary Anderson, Chad O'Donnell, James Bradley, Reed Alchin and Matt Soper-Lawler all scored tries and Brock Lamb's kicking was superb landing four conversions.
The Pickers might have Peter Wilson this week after he was rested after some hamstring tightness, however, Pat Mata'utia is still probably another week away, returning from a hamstring injury.
Lantry said he was likely to continue to try some new combinations in the staring line-up.
"We had a look at Jayden Butterfield in the back row the other day. We started Dan Ticehurst in the front row," he said.
"So guys are still really playing for positions so they can use that for motivation over the next few weeks by putting some good back-to-back performances together to secure one of those starting berths in the lead up to finals."
