The Maitland Pickers are outright second on the Newcastle RL ladder after notching a commanding 40-10 win over Western Suburbs on Sunday, May 21.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Pickers are two points behind Cessnock who remain the only undefeated team left in the competition.
The Rosellas briefly challenged the Pickers on Sunday afternoon at Harker Oval before Maitland scored a string of second-half tries after Rosellas forward Brock Gardner was sin-binned for the second time.
Pickers winger Will Niewehnuise scored a first-half double while five-eighth Chad O'Donnell scored a try either side of half-time.
The Pickers were coming of a fiery 23-16 win over Macquarie Scorpions - lock Sam Anderson was sent-off and James Taylor and Alex Langbridge went to the sin-bin in the grand-final rematch.
Maitland coach Matt Lantry praised his side's resilience in defence.
"We probably had a period of time in the first-half where we were under the pump a little bit, Wests were coming at us and were leading 10-6," he said.
"We're just comfortable in defending for long periods of time and that takes a long time to develop that, there's a lot of trust in our group."
Maitland put Western Suburbs under immediate pressure when halfback Brock Lamb kicked an early 40/20. Winger Will Nieuwenhuise scored in the corner from the resulting set.
The Rosellas hit back soon after through fullback Ngangarra Barker and took the lead on 27 minutes when centre Stephen Widders scored after the Pickers failed to clean up a kick.
Maitland then hit-back, scoring back-to-back tries through Reid Alchin and Chad O'Donnell to lead 18-10.
Western Suburbs were in further trouble a minute out from half-time when Gardner was sent to the sin-bin in an unhappy afternoon. A darting run saw Nieuwenhuise grab his second in the last play of the firts-half.
The Pickers defence turned Wests away at the start of the second-half before Gardner was given his marching orders. Maitland's James Bradley and O'Donnell then scored tries to seal the result, Lamb landing six from seven conversions with the boot.
Lantry said the return of Alchin to the side from the Newcastle Knights NSW Cup team added quality to the side's left edge.
"He just gives us another dimension to our attack that enabled us to move Pete Wilson into the middle," he said.
"I thought that little combination between Chad, Matt Soper-Lawler, Will Niewehnuise and Reid on the left edge makes us a little bit more dynamic and we'll look to carry that forward into The Entrance this week."
Maitland host The Entrance at Maitland No 1 Sportsground on Saturday, May 27.
The Pickers scored a try in the dying minutes to snatch an 18-14 win in reserve grade. Jarrod Smith scored a double for Maitland with Jye Ireland the other try scorer. The Pickers remain undefeated after eight rounds.
In other news:
Ben Carr
Starting out as a reporter in Lightning Ridge in 2005, I returned to journalism in 2023 after 15 years spent in event production and technical services. Passionate about community news, contact me on ben.carr@austcommunitymedia.com.au or ph: 0484 524 000
Starting out as a reporter in Lightning Ridge in 2005, I returned to journalism in 2023 after 15 years spent in event production and technical services. Passionate about community news, contact me on ben.carr@austcommunitymedia.com.au or ph: 0484 524 000
