Lamb inspires Pickers to play with freedom in 44-6 derby win against Bulldogs

Lamb showed the way with slick passing, pinpoint kicks and sublime runs which would have bamboozled far more experienced defences than the young Bulldogs.

It was just the performance the Pickers Old Boys were wanting and the cheers for each Pickers try and big hit in defence resounded across the ground.

This was a special win for old and current Pickers and the team song belted out from a packed function room after the game.

Selected as man of the match by the Old Boys committee, Lamb said the team had been determined to play well in front of the Old Boys.

"The Old Boys Day, you can see how much it means to us. We've been playing like dog .... for the past few weeks but come this week all of us just wanted to put our heads down, we wanted to rip in as much as we could," he said.

"We know the history behind the club and we know how much it means to everyone. Our job now is to do what you did back then."

Pickers coach Matt Lantry said he was wrapped with the team's performance on a big day for the club when they wore a heritage jersey in homage to the teams from the 1950s and marked the club's respect for former president John Newcombe with a memorial tribute on the back of the jersey.

Lantry said it was an even performance with very pleasing contributions from the bench as well as strong performances from a number of players returning from injury.

He said Lamb produced one of his best games of the season and showed his real class, but maturity in dealing with attention from the Bulldogs in defence.

"He was clearly a target of Kurri too. He received a number of penalties for some attention in the tackles. He handled it really well and I thought the referee did to," Lantry said.

"The way he managed the game and set up creative plays, I thought it was of his best games for us this season.

"We identified pre-game that we didn't want to force the issue because our timing might be a bit out and we probably were a bit tentative.

"At half-time Brock (Lamb) said 'we need to release the shackles a little bit and play a bit freer and things will happen for us'.

"We went three tries in a row in quick succession, but in saying that I thought it was off our first two defensive sets.

"Pete Wilson led the kick-off chase and a great shot from the kick off and that set the theme and momentum for the second half with our defensive desire.

"We played a little more carefree with the ball and some of the passes stuck and we executed some really good tries."

Lantry was full of praise for the Bulldogs' performance, particularly in the first half with their pressure leading to several Pickers errors.

"We knew they were going to be good. It doesn't matter where Maitland and Kurri sit on the ladder at any point of time it's always a tough contest," he said.

"We knew we had to get up for that, we knew we had to respect our opposition.

"We knew if we could just keep chipping away and stick to the process an opportunity would come along when we could get one try and then potentially two and that's the way it worked out.

"Credit to Kurri they turned up and competed hard and they forced us into some errors. We had eight errors in the first half which was disappointing.

"Whether that is down to not playing for two weeks and we've had just one field session in that time, so it was always probably going to be a bit clunky and not our prettiest game of footy, but the way the boys dug in and defended those eight errors was the best part."

Looking forward the Pickers will be welcoming fullback Dan Langbride and forward Faitotoa Faitotoa to the line up meaning a reshuffle in the line-up with Matt Soper-Lawler moving back to the centres and Lincoln Smith back into the forwards rotation with Peter Wilson who is a lock-in on the bench.

It leaves potentially just one spot on the bench.

There were some significant performances from Taj Ridley and Harry Whitfield getting significant minutes from the bench and backs James Bradley and Will Niewenhuise both playing with real confidence and greater freedom.

"Rids (Ridley), Harry Whitfield, Ethan Edwards, when he is in the group, they are probably getting around that 20 to 25 minutes max, because our starting pack has a great ability to play long minutes and be good under fatigue," Lantry said.

"When we got the opportunity to see how these guys played under fire and fatigue they held their gloves up. I was really proud of our bench. I thought they took the game to another level in that first part of the second half.

"Jimmy (Bradley) has carried some niggles this season and it has interfered with his ability to really open up and play pretty free. That week off last week did him the world of good and you could see he is just a natural football player.

"I thought Will (Niewenhuise) played really confidently today. That first try he just backed his strength. He is not tall, but he is quick and powerful.

"What I like was that in the past couple of weeks he might have been pushed into touch but this week he just backed his strength and took the fullback on one-on-one and came over the top to score the try.

"He also made a great catch under all sorts of pressure. I thought that was Will's best game and he will take away some confidence from that.

"I think we've got the best three in the competition for contesting the high ball. Matt Soper-Lawler will 99 per cent of the time come up with a clean catch and James and Will are really competitive in the air.

"It's probably an area where we can improve our game a bit more in targetting them in offence on play five."

Maitland Pickers 44 def Kurri Kurri Bulldogs 6

Maitland: Tries: Brock Lamb 2, Chad O'Donnell 2, Will Niewenhuise, James Bradley, Harry Whitfield, Gary Anderson. Goals: Brock Lamb 6

Kurri Kurri: Try: Ethan Fowles 1. Goals: James Smith 1.