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The Maitland Pickers Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Maitland, New South Wales formed in 1955. They currently play in the Newcastle Rugby League competition. Their nickname was originally the Pumpkin Pickers but is now abbreviated to just the Pickers.

History

The Maitland Pumpkin Pickers were formed from a merger of Maitland United and Morpeth-East Maitland in the 1942 season after Maitland City struggled to field teams. During the 1940s, Newcastle Rugby League experienced a drastic change when the league was reduced from 10 to 8 teams after Morpeth-East Maitland made a departure at the start of the 1942 season and Eastern Suburbs folding before the semi-finals. It was decided the defunct Morpeth-East Maitland, would merge to form the Maitland Pumpkin Pickers. In 1933, Maitland won their maiden premiership.

The dominance began in the 1950s when Australian Representative, Don Adams led Maitland played in seven consecutive grand finals, winning three premierships in a row from 1956 to 1958. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Pickers continued to dominate, having made it to the grand final five consecutive years (three titles and two runners-ups).

In the early 2010s, Maitland found another period of success winning back-to-back premierships beating Cessnock 24–8 in 2010 and beating Western Suburbs 19–18. The Pickers were also minor premiers in two consecutive seasons between 2010 and 2011.

2015 and 2016 were difficult years for the club finishing with the wooden spoon in consecutive years, winning 3 out of 14 games in 2015 whilst concluding the 2016 season picking up only 1 win.

Name Origin

The term "Pumpkin Pickers" was a sarcastic reference to the players bringing goods to the markets to sell when they went to games by train.

Notable Juniors

• Greg Bird
• Luke Dorn
• Peter Dimond
• Andrew Everingham
• Brad Miles
• John Graves
• Chris Houston
• Marvin Karawana
• Kel O'Shea
• Gavin Quinn
• Terence Seu Seu
• Frank Stanmore
• Ryan Stig
• Mark Taufua
• Sione Tovo
• Brock Lamb
• Terry Pannowitz
• Jim Morgan
• Pasami Saulo

See also

References

1. GOFFET, NEIL (5 February 2008). "Stars shine bright as local league grows". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
2. "History – Maitland Pickers Rugby League (CRL) – SportsTG". SportsTG. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
3. Callinan, Josh (16 August 2015). "Maitland Pickers top 20 players". The Maitland Mercury. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
4. Callinan, Josh (10 April 2019). "Newcastle Rugby League team-by-team season previews – Maitland". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
5. "History – Maitland Pickers Rugby League (CRL) – SportsTG". SportsTG. Retrieved 5 August 2018.

External links

• Official website

v t e Country Rugby League (NSWRL)
Federation	Country Rugby League (former) New South Wales Rugby League (current)
Representative Teams	Country Origin (City vs Country Origin)
CRL Divisions	Canberra George Tooke Shield Central Coast Illawarra Macarthur Newcastle Northern Rivers Western
CRL Groups	Region 1: (2, 3) Region 2: (4, 19, 21) Region 3: (9, 20) Region 4: (10, 11, 14) Region 5: (7, 16)
CRL Cups	Barwon Darling Hastings Mid West Newcastle & Hunter Outback Western Riverina Woodbridge
Illawarra Teams	Berkeley Eagles Collegians Corrimal Cougars Dapto Canaries Helensburgh Tigers Thirroul Butchers Wests Red Devils
Newcastle Teams	Central Charlestown Butcher Boys Cessnock Goannas Kurri Kurri Bulldogs Lakes United Seagulls Macquarie Scorpions Maitland Pickers South Newcastle Lions The Entrance Tigers Western Suburbs Rosellas Wyong Roos
Group 7 Teams	Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles Berry-Shoalhaven Heads Magpies Gerringong Lions Jamberoo Superoos Kiama Knights Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs Nowra-Bomaderry Jets Shellharbour Sharks Stingrays of Shellharbour Warilla-Lake South Gorillas
Other Cups	Clayton Cup Presidents Cup NSW Challenge Cup
Former Competitions	Groups: (1, 5, 12, 13, 18, 19 (Southern Tablelands), 19 (Canberra)) Crookwell Kennedy
Related Articles	List of CRL clubs Maher Cup

v t e Rugby league in New South Wales
Federations	New South Wales Rugby League (Women's) Country Rugby League (defunct; now a division of NSWRL) NSW Physical Disability Rugby League
Representative competitions	State of Origin series Interstate Series (defunct) City vs Country Origin Women's City vs Country Origin
Representative teams	New South Wales Blues City Origin Team Country Origin Team New South Wales Residents New South Wales Women New South Wales U20's New South Wales U18's New South Wales U16's
NRL clubs	Canberra Raiders Canterbury Bulldogs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Newcastle Knights Parramatta Eels Penrith Panthers St. George Illawarra Dragons South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney Roosters Wests Tigers
NSWRL Junior Representatives	Jersey Flegg Cup S.G. Ball Cup Laurie Daley Cup Harold Matthews Cup Andrew Johns Cup Tarsha Gale Cup Lisa Fiaola Cup
Metropolitan Competitions	NSW Cup NSWRL Women's Premiership Presidents Cup Ron Massey Cup Sydney Shield NSWRL Conference Competitions Metro Open Age Gold Central Northern Open Age Central West Open Age Cronulla A-Grade Parramatta Open Age Penrith A-Grade South Sydney A-Grade Junior Competitions Balmain Canterbury Cronulla Manly-Warringah/North Sydney Parramatta Penrith Open Men's South Sydney A-Grade St George Sydney Roosters JRL
Country Competitions	Clayton Cup Presidents Cup Leagues: Barwon Darling Canberra George Tooke Shield Central Coast Hastings Illawarra Macarthur Mid West Newcastle Newcastle & Hunter Northern Rivers Outback Western Western Riverina Woodbridge Groups: East Coast 2 3 Greater Northern 4 19 21 Riverina 9 20 Western 14 South Coast 7 16
Discontinued competitions	NSWRL premiership Amco Cup Groups: (1, 5, 13, 18, 19 (Southern Tablelands), 19 (Canberra)) Crookwell Kennedy Shield Newtown JRL NSW Challenge Cup NSW Tertiary Student Rugby League Sydney Combined Competition Sydney Metropolitan Women's RL
Related Articles	List of clubs

• Rugby clubs established in 1955
• 1955 establishments in Australia
• Rugby league teams in Newcastle, New South Wales
• Maitland, New South Wales