Richie Barnett: Former Kiwi and league commentator on the Warrior's loss to the Titans

Saturday’s match is one the Warriors will want to forget.  

The side was annihilated in NRL's round 16 by the bottom-of-the-table Titans 66-6 in the Gold Coast. 

They conceded 11 tries to Te Maire Martin's one.  

Former Kiwi and league commentator Richie Barnett told Mike Hosking “Around 70% of the crowd were Kiwis – basically a home game, but it was awkward to watch.” 

Barnett said “I don’t understand how a side can show so much effort in the past couple of years – and show up and get destroyed.” 

He said "Every facet of the game was poor."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Even for a person who's been watching the Warriors for
over a quarter of a century. Now you are delving
well into the memory banks to remember a mess like
the one that unfolded Saturday night, sixty six six thrashed
by the bottom of the table Titans. Officially it equals
the worst loss in the Storm a couple of years ago.
Former Keevy Richie Barnet's back with us on all of this. Richie,
morning to you, Good morning, right. I was expecting to

(00:20):
come back in the second half, like we've seen it before.
We play like crap in the first half. Somebody tunes
them up at halftime. You come back and there's a
bit of something there, and there was nothing. What they
hell went wrong?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Holy? I was actually at the game. Really difficult to see,
but you could just see that the energy levels actually
were just a little way short. I felt that it
just wasn't happening. I think their directness was poor, obviously.
The leaking of points through the middle on the edges
was just embarrassing. Actually, and we were just the whole crowd.

(00:52):
There would have been about SEVENTI deceve of the crowds. Yeah,
so they had homeground, just believe it or not, but
they just didn't show up and it was just awkward
to watch. It was frustrating, and people would to support it.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
How do you explain that given they played so well
mainly this year, then they went into their slump, then
they came back, and now they do this. I mean,
these are serious players, that Johnson and Harris and those guys.
These are seasoned professionals who must know that part of
the job is to turn up and turn on.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
There are so many questions that need to be asked, surely,
Like I just don't understand how a side can show
so much effort and what they've done in the last
couple of years and then show up to a game
where they just got destroyed by Tim actually put on
their best performance ever it a long time. They've had
the wobble season for a long time. They put on

(01:46):
a show that was just extraordinary football. But Matt's by
a side that just couldn't contain, couldn't provide the effort
every facet of the gamecuse he was poor.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
I feel sorry for Webster because he deserves better than that,
doesn't he Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
He does, But certainly the standard of the players they
must be walking out there going what happened there? What happened?
And you know, like, obviously it's got to be down
to attitude. Surely it has to be attitude. It's got
to be attitude or believe in the hype of what's
happening around them. I don't know, but I can't put

(02:21):
a finger on it. But all I saw on that
day was there was a lack of energy, commitment, directness
and how they played communication, all the above, every single
layer that you can think of as a player and
as a team culture was just destroyed in one life.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Anything that could have gone wrong, did Richie nice in sight?
Not that we want to regurgitate it, but there you go.
We'll have to talk about it after eight with the
lads as well. I suspect Richie Barnett with us.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
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Speaker 1 (02:51):
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