The Maitland Pickers kept the free-scoring Wyong Roos scoreless in a hard-fought round 11 Newcastle Rugby League clash at the Maitland Sportsground on Saturday.
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It was just the performance Maitland coach Matt Lantry had wanted after a below-par defensive effort against Kurri Kurri the week before.
Led by Dan Langbridge, filling in for his brother Alex at dummy-half, the Pickers defensive line-speed smothered Wyong's attacking moves.
"The line-speed and defensive intent was the pleasing part which led to the zero on the scoreboard," Lantry said.
"It was one area where we were really poor last week in our desire and our energy and our intent.
"I think a few guys took it personally and it was nice to see them respond the way they did.
"I thought Dan was enormous, his defensive workload was terrific. There is a load a fullback but it's a running load, not a physical load with that constant contact. For him to jump in the front-row and get that done was enormous.
"The scoreboard probably didn't reflect how dominant we were over 80 minutes.
"We were still a little bit clunky with the ball and missed some opportunities and made a few errors, but I thought it was a really dominant performance over 80 minutes."
Langbridge and Reid Alchin were the standout performers in an effort in which everyone contributed.
"Reid Alchin was again a stand out," Lantry said. "I said to him at half-time when he looked a bit gassed 'are you all right?' and he said 'I'm cooked, but I'll keep going don't worry about me'.
"To play 80 minutes where you've got to rotate between the middle and the edge is a credit to himself.
"Today he went into the middle in about the 30 minute mark and didn't come back out to the edge until the 60 minute mark."
Brock Lamb's kicking game had the Roos on the backfoot, particularly in the first half with Wyong's back three were in all sorts of trouble and it was only a matter of time before Maitland made them pay.
It came at the 20 minute mark when a bomb was allowed to bounce and Will Nieuwenhuise was on the spot to score the opening try out wide.
Alchin scored the Pickers' second crossing beside the uprights shortly before the half-time break. Chad O'Donnell converted and it was 10-0 lead.
O'Donnell extended the lead with a try and a penalty goal in the second half
The Pickers starting forward pack of Jayden Butterfield, James Taylor, Faitotoa Faitotoa, Alchin and Lincoln Smith laid the platform for a dominant win.
And while it was a light-weight bench in terms of size and experience in comparison with the starters - Joe Barber, Harrison Spruce, Ethan Edwards and Luke Knight more than held their own.
"We were a light-weight bench and inexperienced but those boys held their gloves up I cannot give them a big enough wrap," Lantry said.
"I thought the platform was laid right from the start and the one thing you don't want when you go to the bench is go backwards and I thought our bench continued on with the level of intensity we built over the first half an hour and carried right through to the end of their stint.
"Particularly Ethan Edwards who only got his second shot at first grade this year and he just gave a quality performance. There's plenty of quality here, our future is very bright for those young lads coming through."
In other games The Entrance defeated Macquarie 20-4, Cessnock and Central Newcastle had a 26-all draw and Lakes beat Kurri Kurri 32-6. South Newcastle were home to Northern Hawks on Sunday.
The weekend's results leave Maitland on top of the ladder on 20 points, three points clear of Cessnock in second, Wyong third on 16 points and The Entrance fourth equal on 14 points with Souths.
Outside the top five are Macquarie on 12 points, Wests who had the bye this round on 11, Lakes and Central on 10, Northern Hawks 6 and Kurri Kurri on 2.
Maitland play the Hawks on Sunday, June 18 at Tomaree Sportsground.
Pickers smash Scorpions in reserve grade
The Maitland Pickers are four games clear at the top of the reserve grade table after smashing Macquarie 74-4 at Lyall Peacock Field on Saturday.
The Pickers ran in 13 tries to one with Riley Yates scoring a double and 11 other individual try scorers. Jye Bieman-King collected 22 point for the game with nine goals and a try.
Maitland are followed by Western Suburbs, South Newcastle and Lakes United on 16 points with Cessnock fifth on 14th and Northern Hawks sixth on 12.
The Pickers under-19s had the bye. They are third on the table with 16 points behind Lakes United unbeaten on 22 and Wests on 19,