Maitland coach Matt Lantry predicted the return of an old-fashioned Coaflields battle and the Pickers and Bulldogs delivered in front of a big crowd at Maitland Sportsground on Saturday.
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While the fans could seek cover under the new grandstand, the players had to stand and deliver in wet and slippery conditions.
As the error count rose, so too did the endeavour and fanatical defence of both teams until Maitland finally ran out 20-0 winners.
"Both sides will be pretty happy with how they defended their errors," a proud Lantry said after the match. "Kurri really made us fight for everything.
"You could see Rip Taylor's DNA right across the Bulldogs. They are quite resilient and obviously building their game on being a solid defensive unit, which we found hard to crack.
"The other one is Bruce Gulliver (fitness coach) over there. They were very, very fit and fit sides have the ability to defend for long periods of time.
"They were really tough to put away. We were only 6-0 at half-time and 12-0 for a large portion of the the second half.
"We took a penalty goal with about 13 minutes left on the clock just to take it out to that 14 point margin, which meant Kurri had to score three times inside that last 10 minutes."
Lantry said both sides' commitment to the contest made ball handing even harder.
"It was tough going out there, the ball by reports was like a cake of soap.
"Any sort of loose carry or catch right into contact was basically forced upon by an error on both sides.
"Lots of mistakes, but I was really proud of how we actually stuck to the cause.
"I commended the group after the game on a really mature performance. It would have been easy to get really frustrated out there and get a bit negative with all the errors that were occurring and us not taking the opportunities that were presented.
"But I think we understood the situation, we got around each other when there errors were made. It's how you defend the errors.
"It was a really mature performance in that space and to then get the rewards later in the game with Sammy Anderson making a bit of a line-break through the middle and putting Lamby under the posts to secure what I though was a real, tough, gritty 20-0 win."
Reid Alchin and Sam Anderson scored the other two tries and Lamb kicked three conversions and a penalty goal.
Lantry said ugly wins like last week and tough, hard-fought wins like this week all counted and were vital in the early stages of the season.
"We don't need to be 9/10 or 10/10 at this time of year. We are looking for things we want to see consistently throughout the season and then as things progress and our combinations come back we will see an improved attacking performance," he said.
There were plenty of good contributors for the Pickers led by Gary Anderson, Sam Anderson and Matt Soper-Lawler
"Gary Anderson was good, he got our coaches award and three points. Sam Anderson was players' player," Lantry said.
"But I thought the difference this week from last was how good our back five were.
"I thought (Luke) Knight, (Will) Nieuwenhuise, (Ethan) Parry, (Gary) Anderson and (Matt) Soper-Lawler were very good.
"Matt probably played his best game in the last 18 months. He had a significant amount of intent in everything he did, carried the ball for over 140 metres.
"I was really impressed with Matty's game I thought he bounced back to a really good performance.
Lantry said Luke Knight, who filled in at fullback for Dan Langbridge who had an Australian Emus touch football training camp, had been a great addition to the team over the past 12 months.
"You lose Dan Langbridge and you've got the ability to replace him with someone like Luke Knight, it's fantastic.
"Probably not the best conditions for him, but Luke is just really reliable. There were a couple of situations when you were looking for someone and up turned Luke Knight.
"He has a great deal of versatlity, he can play, 1, 7 or 6 and jump in at 9 if we need him to. Last week we through him on at lock. He is one of our first picked every week."
The Pickers were also without skipper Alex Langbridge (work commitments), Lincoln Smith and Peter Wilson, but Lantry was delighted with the players who stepped up.
"Junior Tuivati and Dan Ticehurst played their first, first grade games this year and were really good off the bench. Joe Barber came in late for Pete Wilson, Harrison Spruce started at No.9. I was really happy with those guys," Lantry said.
"Jayden Wright made his club debut in first grade. He is a local junior who had come back to the club after playing first grade at Macquarie and wanted to play for Maitland.
"They want to be part of the environment, which is something we are really proud of. They are willing to bide their time until they get a chance."
In reserve grade, Maitland and Kurrri drew 18-all, Maitland won by forfeit in Under-19s and Kotara beat Maitland 30-18 in their Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League B-grade clash.
Maitland defeated Lakes United 26-16 in their women's tackle trial match.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
