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Cessnock coach Al Lantry says curbing Maitland dummy half Adam Clydsdale's influence will be one of the keys for the Goannas to beat the Pickers in Saturday's Coalfields clash.
The Goannas are defending their home turf and Lantry says the battle between Clydsdale and his own in-form hooker Paul Carter will be pivotal in the outcome.
However, Carter will need support as the Pickers have an array of other attacking weapons to unleash.
“They’ve got a lot of experience across the park and everyone knows you’ve got to shut the No.9 down, which is Clydsdale. They are a dangerous side,” Lantry said.
“Round one they really taught us a lesson and they are coming off a big win. They had a couple of losses and had the big win so they are going to be really hard.
“It’s a really important game for us and after losing last week we really need a win this week.
“They’re a side with so many points in them. You can’t give an inch with Maitland, they’ve always got second-phase play, they’ve always got blokes around the ball and Dorny has got them playing really expansive footy.
“You’ve always got to be around them as they’ve got those players with the second-phase such as Tilsey. They just get that arm out .
“They let it go for a couple of weeks, but they are very hard to score against. They close the game down a lot. Their inside defenders work for each other, so we are going to have to outclass them to get points on them because they do have very good scramble defence.”
Lantry said it was important for the Goannas to bounce back after their 26-14 loss to Central Newcastle on Saturday.
“We had a bad day at the office, we had plenty of opportunities to win it but just couldn’t close the deal on the day,” he said.
Lantry singled out forward Jacob McKendry, Carter and wing Connor Kirkwood for stand-out games in a losing side.
“Jacob McKendry has been one of our in-form forwards all season. He just went forward again, does his job and tries everything he can to help everyone else out as well,” he said.
“Once again Carts was there which he is every week.
“Connor on the wing had some moments of brilliance. Twice he nearly changed the game by himself.
“He took a kick and rand the length to score and then the other time one of their blokes made a break and Connor ran 50m to shut him down. The bloke lost the ball and Connor got it back for us.
“Moments like that can really change a game. He did his best but we just couldn’t capitalise on it.
“Marvin Filipo was good on his edge, but apart from them it was a bad day at the office for the boys.”
Lantry said the closeness of the competition meant every team was still in contention.
“I can’t see the competition staying like this too much longer. It’s only a matter of time before one or two teams start stringing some wins together and take off with it,” he said.
