THREE tries in the opening half hour helped Maitland to a 24-10 win over Central on Sunday in a rain-affected opening round of the Newcastle Rugby League.
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The Pickers' victory at St John Oval was set up by their three early tries but secured in the second half after Central staged a comeback shortly before halftime.
The home side reduced Maitland's 16-0 lead to only six points before the break with two tries in the space of a few minutes from centre Randall Briggs and fullback Cameron Anderson.
Central continued to threaten after half-time but a couple of errors halted their early attacking opportunities. Errors on the wet track ultimately prevented both sides from adding any extra points until Maitland kicked a penalty goal in the 58th minute to extend their lead to eight points at 18-10.
A high tackle from the restart gave the Pickers easy field position and after Central made an error in the next set, winger James Bradley scored Maitland's fourth try.
Brock Lamb kicked the conversion from the sideline to give his side a commanding 14-point lead, which they held onto until full-time.
"Most of our first half was really good but then [we] put ourselves under pressure with back-to-back penalties and some errors," Maitland coach Matt Lantry said.
"Central snuck two in ... and then we defended our way to a win, basically.
"We dominated field position and dominated possession [in the first half hour] and that was the main message at halftime, to try and replicate that for a similar block of time. If we can do that week to week, we'll be pretty tough to beat."
Lantry said Central proved they would be a team to beat this season, singling out their centres as danger players.
"They'll be thereabouts at the end of the year, there's no doubting that," he said. "Like any side, you need to keep players to stay healthy. Kiah Cooper challenged us on our right edge. He was a real handful. And then Timanu Alexander on the other side was a real challenge as well."
The first-grade competition's four other games were all scheduled for Saturday, but only two went ahead.
Cessnock made a winning start under coach Harry Siejka, defeating 2019 premiers Wests 14-10 at home.
Wyong secured bragging rights from the year's first Central Coast derby, beating The Entrance 16-12 at home in what Tigers coach Jamy Forbes described as "atrocious" conditions. "It's probably the wettest I've ever seen a game," Forbes said. "But no excuses, we knew it was going to be like that."
Experienced Tigers centre Shaune Corrigan injured an ankle and will likely miss several weeks, Forbes said.
Kurri's home game against Lakes and the Macquarie and Souths match at Toronto were both washed out.
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