Old Bulldog Mitch Cullen is now Maitland Picker at heart

Now a Maitland premiership player and living with his family in East Maitland, Cullen says he is wrapped he made the move and happy to see Kurri hopefully rising back up the ladder with the signing of former NRL star Blake Ferguson and a number of other highly credentialled players.

"It's different to say, but it doesn't feel weird, it feels right for me," Cullen said of lining up for Maitland against Kurri Kurri.

"There's no bad blood there. I made the decision purely based on football.

"I'm grateful for my time at Kurri and what they did for me and proud of what I did for them.

"I don't think I've let anyone down.

"I'm happy playing footy again and looking forward to Saturday.

"There's a lot of players there who I haven't played with, so it's not like I'm playing against my best mates.

"To me it's probably just another game on the calendar, but for a lot of people who have been involved at Kurri it will be different to see me out playing for Maitland.

"They'll be coming wanting to see Kurri win and I'll be doing my best to wreck that party."

By the end of his time with the Bulldogs, football was no longer fun. When he arrived for his first training session with the Pickers mid last season he realised that he had enjoyed himself just training with some mates for the first time in a long time.

Cullen had socialised with Maitland players over the years, but had become good mates with a number of Pickers including Chad O'Donnell while playing representative football with them with the Newcastle Rebels and NSW Pioneers.

"From the start they were so welcoming," Cullen said of arriving at Maitland.

"I had a family at a young age, the Pickers suit me so well as everyone is so family orientated.

"They welcome you, your partner and the kids.

"Everyone goes to the club after the game. Just that whole footy environment.

"You've got time with the boys, but then you've got the time with family as well to go back and celebrate a win.

Cullen said he was pleased to see the Bulldogs being far more competitive.

"They've done a good job of recruiting and they needed to," Cullen said.

"There's a lot of history to the club and you don't want to see them down the bottom of the ladder every year.

"They look like they've found the right players. It was good to see them go so close to that first win against Wyong.

It was probably heartbreaking for them, but it's good to see them put themselves in a position to win and they will get some wins this year."

Cullen said the competition promised to be even closer this season

"This is my 14th year and I believe this will be one of the toughest years of rugby league in the Newcastle comp.

"Everyone's picked up good players.

"Maitland's been at the top for the past four years or so and I think everyone is trying to emulate what they've done."

Cullen said the Pickers ball handling was below par against Northern Hawks who pushed them in round one.

"I don't think we ever felt like we would be beaten, but played some good footy and challenged us," he said.

"We played some decent footy, but what came after that is what let us down with a lot of dropped ball and uncharacteristic errors.

"We dropped four in a row after half-time and then two penalties. We wasted about 15 minutes of footy."