Maitland Pickers storm to huge grand final win

On an emotion charged afternoon at McDonald Jones Stadium, the Pickers walked off the field at half-time ahead 38-0 with the match as good as won.

Lincoln Smith scored a first-half double while Daniel Langbridge starred, scoring two tries and creating havoc for the Lions left-edge defence.

Coach Matt Lantry said it was one of the better first-half perfomances he'd seen.

"It couldn't have gone any better, we've been looking for that sort of performance all year," he said.

"We were hoping we would find it on grand final day and to see the guys come out and execute the way they did, I've been coaching for a long time now and I haven't seen a more clinical first half than what we got."

Brock Lamb was awarded player of the match. The Pickers halfback had a hand in all of Maitland's tries and scored one himself with a great individual effort in the 30th minute.

Matt Soper-Lawler and Gary Anderson also scored tries in the five minutes before half-time to put the game beyond the Lions. Luke Knight scored late in the second-half to cap the eight tries to two win.

"I thought Brock Lamb was outstanding, Alex Langbridge out of dummy half, so was Dan (Langbridge), Chad (O'Donnell), our spine combined really well," Lantry said.

The Pickers mentor said the team is one of the best he's coached.

"It's a great footy team to coach but what I love about this group is they're so connected, they've got great friendships away from footy and that just helps your environment," he said.

"It's about our players but it's also about the partners, the families, the kids - they all embrace each other and enjoy spending time together and we'll celebrate with them tonight."

Teams observed a minute's silence before kick-off in honour of former Pickers player Brett Christiansen, after the Maitland legend passed away less than 24 hours before kick-off.

Pickers president John Gorman said the news had rocked the club.

"It's sort of touched everyone, we all knew Crito, I actually had a beer with him two Friday nights ago after we set up for the Souths game at home, to find out last night - devastating," he said.

"It was good to see some of his family and his kids down here today."

Gorman praised the depth of the club and the development work of Lantry and the coaching staff.

"Ever since Matt's come back in his main focus has been on working on bringing the juniors through, we've got probably the best relationship we've ever had with the junior affiliates," he said.

"The playing group themselves, they're welcoming the kids to come in, the kids want to be a Sammy Anderson or a Brock Lamb now whereas probably five or six years ago they wouldn't know who the Maitland first grade side was."

Western Suburbs defeated Maitland 14-6 in the reserve grade decider. In a tight final, the Pickers led 6-4 at half-time but were unable to hold out the Rosellas in the second-half with Wests crossing for two tries.

The Pickers were minor premiers, losing only the one match during the regular season. Captain and hooker Jarrod Smith retired after the match, playing his 124^th and final match for Maitland.

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