Matt Lantry and Chris Brennan reflect on the Maitland Pickers 2024 premiership winning teams' efforts
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00:00Mate, congratulations. Fantastic day for the club. Three grades came down, all won.
00:07Probably two of the grades didn't win as pretty as what we probably wanted to, but
00:13it's a massive effort for the club today. Yeah, definitely mate. Doesn't matter how
00:17you win them, as long as you win. And you know, I think in both, all three grades,
00:23you know, which showed probably how brave and gritty and resilient a team we are
00:29in first grade and we're in reserve grade and women, and that carries right across our club.
00:35Today is a huge moment for our footy club. It shows a real dominance within the Newcastle
00:40Rugby League. There's a number of clubs trying to emulate what we do and we take pride in that
00:46because we'll continue to set the benchmark and challenge ourselves to be better each and every
00:51year. Yeah, mate, when you bring three grades down, you're hoping. And we got three great
00:59results, but it just tells you we've been dominant in first grade, but today we're dominant in
01:06reserve grade and in the ladies. So it's a great effort. Yeah, mate, and two minor premierships to
01:12add to that, mate. Club championship. Yeah, club championship. You know, a host of wonderful
01:20players made and, you know, just it's a really proud day for our club and should be a proud day
01:25for a lot of our old boys as well. You know, just had Alan McNabb and Brian Burke in the room, which
01:29is, you know, wonderful to see that they've still got a connection with our club and I'm proud to
01:34see this next group go on and achieve the success that they've had. Let's go on to the first grade.
01:40When I first spoke to you, half of the bell went. You mentioned the word brave. Yeah. Gutsy.
01:48Um, I thought that that was the quality that what we showed today. Yeah, definitely, mate. Um,
01:54you know, we didn't play our best footy, best brand. The completions weren't great, were they?
01:59Not the first half, mate. I think of eight sets in the last 20 minutes, we'd only completed two,
02:03you know, six errors, gifted Central some field position. You know, pay some respect to Central
02:09as well. I thought they defended enormously well. Um, you know, we knew they would. We knew we had
02:14to be patient and just get into the grind and win field position. And, um, it sounds a bit
02:18cliche, but I thought we were doing that really, really well up until sort of that 20, 25 minute
02:23mark. Um, but then too, the pressure we put on ourselves with errors, mate, I thought we defended
02:27enormously well just to give up a try for kick, you know, um, you can probably cop a little bit.
02:33Um, I thought our systems and guys just honoring and doing that relentlessly for 80 minutes was,
02:37was really good. Cause just after halftime, we made two errors in our own 20 or 30. And we were
02:42back under the pump again and they still didn't score. Yeah, exactly right, mate. Um, you know,
02:47we, we probably burnt some petrol on our, our three middles to start with in that space because
02:53at a couple of errors we made post, post halftime, but come out the other side of that and then take
02:58our opportunities where, where, um, I think it was so scored in this left corner. Um, you know,
03:03and then, you know, probably just found our nose in front and again, got back to completing a little
03:08bit higher in appliance and pressure and it's a classic back into the groin matter. I thought
03:12you're starting three were outstanding, mate. Oh, good, mate. Yeah, no, they're, you know,
03:19they're going all the way with Betsy or Jimmy, to be honest with Sam coming back from the peg injury,
03:25you wouldn't have even known he's Mr. Game really. Nah, that's why we're always confident
03:29in planning, mate. Um, you know, it looks after himself. He's enormously fit. Um, you know,
03:34when he spoke to me about being right, it was always a matter of how we're going to get him
03:37back in. And it was a no brainer in the end to start him, uh, you know, not just for what he
03:41brings on the footy field, but his presence within our group and him standing there with
03:45a Maitland Pickers jersey on ready to go battle, go to battle gives everyone else confidence. And,
03:50um, right. Those three boys have laid the foundation for us all season long. And, uh,
03:54today was five years, five years, mate. Yeah. You know, Jimmy's a huge loss for us, but,
03:59um, you know, it's an opportunity to, for someone else to be part of that group and pave the way for
04:06hopefully our next sort of success. Let's play a little bit of tribute to the boys who played
04:11reserve grade and didn't play. Um, they played great in reserve grade. Um, yeah, it just shows
04:19you how good we are within the club itself. Oh, a hundred percent, mate. I mean, if you're going to
04:23want to have sustained success, a lot of clubs, you know, compete hard to win one competition.
04:28Um, and you might get lucky in doing that. Uh, but if you want to win, you know, multiple
04:33competitions over a short period of time. I think the key is you've got to have the right depth that
04:37can cater for when you do have injuries. And, you know, I had to probably make the toughest decisions
04:42of my coaching career to leave some guys out. Um, and it weighed heavily on our coaching staff,
04:49um, but every decision we makes within the best interest of the team and.
04:52Pez, Pete Wilson.
04:54Yeah, Eve Parry, Pete Wilson were two, two significant ones. And, uh, it's wonderful
04:59that they could still play a part and had a grand final to play in. Joe Barber's the other
05:03one, mate. He's been on the fringe of our squad all year. And we just spoke about, it's not 18
05:07players, mate. It's, it's a, it's a whole squad that gives you that opportunity at the back end
05:12of the year. And we need to, you know, ensure that we acknowledge those guys and the roles they play.