His team is putting the effort in, but not getting the rewards as their one win-three losses record shows.

Sunday's 28-16 loss to Central Newcastle was a case in point.

"There was no way there was a 12-point difference in that game," Edwards said. "It was tight and tough, and two of their tries came off bombs."

Clearly with a large number of new faces this season Cessnock needed time to settle, but that hasn't been the case with ongoing disruption. They went into the game undermanned - they recently lost their five eighth for the season, and they were also without a specialist hooker after Nick Lawrence withdrew due to a bereavement.

It meant that captain Steve Waetford, who started at fullback, actually finished the game in the not-too-familiar hooking role.

"It's a tough comp with a lot of teams evenly matched," Edwards said. "We just need a few things to go our way and we'll be okay.

"With the changes to the halves we need to work on our game management a bit - but that's to be expected."

With experienced Paul Carter slipping back into five-eighth, hopefully that won't take long.

It doesn't get any easier this week with Cessnock away to Macquarie who are coming off the back of a 34-4 thrashing of Lakes United on their home turf.

In the derby between Kurri and Maitland, the Bulldogs, after dominating the first 60 minutes, were forced to hold off a late Pickers surge to hold on 18-16.

Kurri captain Mitch Cullen celebrated his birthday with two tries.

The Bulldogs deserved the points, but two Maitland tries in the last 15 minutes - both converted from the sideline - made things exciting.

Even a last-play chip kick on the hooter from Maitland could have paid off with the Pickers regathering but unable to find support players.

The forward battle was immense, with the body contact clearly heard from the sidelines. But if there was a difference, it was the clever halves of Kurri - the veteran Jade Porter at halfback, and will-o-the-wisp five-eighth Jarom Haines.

Their ability to point their side around, to challenge the Maitland line and to find space to runners out wide, was the tipping point.

"Jarom's getting to the stage where he can take a game over," Bulldog coach Ron Griffiths said. "He showed that in the first half.

"I thought it was a polished performance," he said. "We were there for each other as a team, and I've been looking for that."