March 3, 2025 • 9 mins
The Warriors will be hoping what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas - as the team faced a thorough defeat to the Raiders.
The Canberra side beat the Warriors 30 - 8.
NRL commentator Richie Barnett joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildegrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A somewhat brutal reality check for the Warriors in Las
Vegas yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
The Camera Raiders triumph in Vegas. They have come here
with a mission and they have run over the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
They did. Indeed, the Warriors going down thirty points to
eight to the Canberra Raiders in Las Vegas, conceding five
tries to two and being outclassed in pretty much every
area of the game. Let's bring in form a Kee,
longtime rugby league professional and Skysport rugby league analyst Richie Barnett.
Always good to chat rugby league with you. Richie, how
worried though, should we be about that first up performance
(00:49):
from the twenty twenty five New Zealand Warriors.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, I mean you'd certainly be worried about the performance.
Being the first up game in Las Vegas. You know
that all the hype was real and the tone was
spit for a fantastic matchup and what what we had
last year was incredible, but they didn't deliver as we'd expect.
And there was one side camera who were incredible, to
be honest, and the Warriors were just suffocated.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
It was really concerning what will be taking up most
of coach Andrew Webster's thinking time on the flight home.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh, there was certainly the execution part, but I think
without their go forward and their territory, it was really
difficult and that was because of Camera's brutal defense and
they just basically, you know, over that period of the game,
they just wore them down physically in the attack and
physically in defense. So they'll be concentrating on really getting
(01:43):
the yardage game going, getting into the territory where they
can attack straighten up the defense. They were very much
east to west. They weren't direct enough. We saw that
in the trial matches where they were really executing their
set pieces and their shape looked really, really good. I
thought Metcalf played really well in the pre season in
terms of squaring the set piece up and there was
(02:05):
a nice balance. It just seemed to fall to pieces,
and I guess you know, when you're up against a
side who was probably one of the fittest team on
the well in the comp and also the youngest. They're
the youngest side in the competition. Believe it or not,
They've lost quite a lot of their strike power over
the last year, and so as the Warriors, but they
performed extremely well.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
When a team like the Raids is dominating you like
that physically, when the Warriors had the ball, what's the
best way to combat that.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
It's interesting and it really is. It's just an aggressive approach.
They really do have to match the energy. But when
I look at it, actually, when when I start to
delve into it, they have really traditionally in their forward pack,
it's pretty straight up and down. Kirk Capewell, you see
the Cordy who just runs directed. There's no real footwork
in the way they play. Most of them don't have
(02:57):
a step with Aidan Fanila Blake's gone, so there was
a player that actually could step through. Most of them
run direct. There's no real footwork, late footwork at the line.
Most of the forwards actually in the camera, Raiders are
a prototype that has got one strength and secondly that
footwork of the line late that gets them through the
(03:17):
through the line, and they're really physical. For some strange reason,
they are very very strong players. I couldn't believe it.
I couldn't believe what I've seen, and I don't think
it gave it just justice when you're actually watching the
bout how physical that game was.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Indeed, well you talk about the writer's stepping through the
defensive line. The Warriors missed forty tackles twenty eight in
the first half alone, Richie, how do you explain that?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, it's this young fellow called Tamali and he got
weeks at fallback in tomorrow and Chris sebast In Chris.
Somehow they have got the strength to get through. They
were throwing numbers at them. They would have three or
four tacklers in there and they'd still get through one.
It's an attitude. Secondly, it's energy. Thirdly you've got to
give it back to them as well. Sometimes you've got
(04:09):
to pivot a little bit too. It looked like that
was again very pedestrian in the way it is. It Actually,
the game actually unfolds as you start to win the
battle of the Ruck, and once you start winning that
things are different. Then you start to question everything in
your seeing as we are questioning everything now what needs
to change? And then we start to look at the
spine what are they not doing? Well, you can't do
(04:31):
anything if you're not going Fortyre, not winning the ruck
and you're not being physical in the ruck, and so
there's so many facets to where they lost the game,
and it all combines to a really average game where
you just can't win anything. The kicking game, they were
back at the forty kicking and most occasions, that's why
it looked pretty boring because they were kicking on the forty.
They couldn't challenge their kick, so they weren't building pressure
(04:52):
off the kick. So everything was just a real Munday watch,
wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It was, Yeah, And you landed on such a good
point about the halves and whether we can assess them
or not without a platform. But how did you assess
the performance of Chanelle Harris Devita and Luke Metcalfe. No
Seawn Johnson anymore, he's a big loss, But what about
these two?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I just think you can't even really gauge it when
your forwards are not going forward to now had three runs.
I think Luke metcalf had three runs. And they'll direct
thing with both of them there. They run the runners
of the ball, so you're not going to get creativity
as such, but they'll only be effective if you're going
forward to winning that battle. So there wasn't really anything.
I thought Chanelle's kicking game was pretty good considering we
(05:36):
was kicking it from Luke had obviously not a great
game on that right side they tried to. If we
saw what they they were constructing, it was very very
east to west, you know, and in the trial match
I saw something that was quite different than what I've
seen in a while. They executed it well. There was
nice synergy and balance between what they were doing in
(06:00):
the pre seasons, but this one here just looked like
they were starting new. They didn't know each other's play.
I know that you build chemistry and combination, but to
start the season off then from in the Battle of
the Ruck, that's concerning.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And to build chemistry and combination you have to play
together often, don't you. But do you think Andrew Webster
will be attempted at all to think about Tomighty Martin
in one of those positions?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I reckon there's a huge consideration what I do have
an issue with, And like anything, when you leak, we're
not in that Battle of the ruck. You get exposed
on the enders, you know, decision making. As much as
we've got real young, talented, robust runners such as Leo Tower.
They were pretty he was exposed early, you know, when
they scored the first try Sebastian Chris and the left.
(06:51):
And that was a real real simple thing for me
where an experience comes into play. He turned, his body
was in front of the defender inside. He turns by
the inward, so he was stuck. He was gone then
and there, and they scored a try, which is the
first try of the game, which have been saved, and
that's the start of the game for the for the
camera wires, it's those decision making from youngsters, which is
(07:13):
concerning for me because when you're on a when you
when things happen for you, it's easy to defend. But
when things are you're against the war, that's when the
true defenders come out. And I just wonder if they
start to look at Harper to come into the side
or experience center, because they've got an experience on the centers.
That's where all the defense, that's where all the attack goes,
(07:34):
that's where all the decision makers have to be really
really strong.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Do you reckon? He'll stick with Roger too? Us to
shake on the wing?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, made he was He carried the bore ten hundred meters.
He was the only one that featured really highly out there.
They're back three. I think we tell them scored about
to measured about two hundred meters and we struggled. I
think there's about three or four forwards that actually got
over one hundred meters, So just highlighted maybe they I
think they should. They wouldn't stick with the side. I
(08:03):
think they've They've got an opportunity to actually prove people
wrong and show because I've trained that way for that side.
I don't think they'll change much in it. They just
need to show up in terms of their attitude, their directness,
their physicality, their grit. Just like what we saw in camera,
they were gritty. That's their identity. That's our identity as
(08:23):
an organization is to be gritty and uncompromising. And that's
exactly what the Worries need to bring to the next
game against Many, which is going to be a very
difficult game for them to turn around, just.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
To finish, just to finish. Do you reckon the occasion
got to them at all?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I struggled with understandings the occasion. Did they had ample
time to get settled, to go through the first days
and have a bit of fun and wallow and all
the lights and the sentry overload. I personally think that's
an excuse. I personally think that you know, you're looking
at a camera side that's way and experience, and we're
(09:05):
experience enough to go on there and do the job.
So I think it's more an excuse than it is
to come up with some other ideas, because clearly they
didn't win anything in that game, and that's every facet
of the game. That's not because they were overwhelmed by it,
overwhelmed by not delivering.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Always appreciate your analysis, Richie, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Mate.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Here's Buddy good on you mate.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
That's Richie Bunnett, former Kiwi Rugby League analyst, astute observer
of the game, Sky Sport Rugby League commentator.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildegrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A somewhat brutal reality check for the Warriors in Las
Vegas yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
The Camera Raiders triumph in Vegas. They have come here
with a mission and they have run over the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
They did. Indeed, the Warriors going down thirty points to
eight to the Canberra Raiders in Las Vegas, conceding five
tries to two and being outclassed in pretty much every
area of the game. Let's bring in form a Kee,
longtime rugby league professional and Skysport rugby league analyst Richie Barnett.
Always good to chat rugby league with you. Richie, how
worried though, should we be about that first up performance
(00:49):
from the twenty twenty five New Zealand Warriors.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, I mean you'd certainly be worried about the performance.
Being the first up game in Las Vegas. You know
that all the hype was real and the tone was
spit for a fantastic matchup and what what we had
last year was incredible, but they didn't deliver as we'd expect.
And there was one side camera who were incredible, to
be honest, and the Warriors were just suffocated.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
It was really concerning what will be taking up most
of coach Andrew Webster's thinking time on the flight home.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh, there was certainly the execution part, but I think
without their go forward and their territory, it was really
difficult and that was because of Camera's brutal defense and
they just basically, you know, over that period of the game,
they just wore them down physically in the attack and
physically in defense. So they'll be concentrating on really getting
(01:43):
the yardage game going, getting into the territory where they
can attack straighten up the defense. They were very much
east to west. They weren't direct enough. We saw that
in the trial matches where they were really executing their
set pieces and their shape looked really, really good. I
thought Metcalf played really well in the pre season in
terms of squaring the set piece up and there was
(02:05):
a nice balance. It just seemed to fall to pieces,
and I guess you know, when you're up against a
side who was probably one of the fittest team on
the well in the comp and also the youngest. They're
the youngest side in the competition. Believe it or not,
They've lost quite a lot of their strike power over
the last year, and so as the Warriors, but they
performed extremely well.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
When a team like the Raids is dominating you like
that physically, when the Warriors had the ball, what's the
best way to combat that.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
It's interesting and it really is. It's just an aggressive approach.
They really do have to match the energy. But when
I look at it, actually, when when I start to
delve into it, they have really traditionally in their forward pack,
it's pretty straight up and down. Kirk Capewell, you see
the Cordy who just runs directed. There's no real footwork
in the way they play. Most of them don't have
(02:57):
a step with Aidan Fanila Blake's gone, so there was
a player that actually could step through. Most of them
run direct. There's no real footwork, late footwork at the line.
Most of the forwards actually in the camera, Raiders are
a prototype that has got one strength and secondly that
footwork of the line late that gets them through the
(03:17):
through the line, and they're really physical. For some strange reason,
they are very very strong players. I couldn't believe it.
I couldn't believe what I've seen, and I don't think
it gave it just justice when you're actually watching the
bout how physical that game was.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Indeed, well you talk about the writer's stepping through the
defensive line. The Warriors missed forty tackles twenty eight in
the first half alone, Richie, how do you explain that?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, it's this young fellow called Tamali and he got
weeks at fallback in tomorrow and Chris sebast In Chris.
Somehow they have got the strength to get through. They
were throwing numbers at them. They would have three or
four tacklers in there and they'd still get through one.
It's an attitude. Secondly, it's energy. Thirdly you've got to
give it back to them as well. Sometimes you've got
(04:09):
to pivot a little bit too. It looked like that
was again very pedestrian in the way it is. It Actually,
the game actually unfolds as you start to win the
battle of the Ruck, and once you start winning that
things are different. Then you start to question everything in
your seeing as we are questioning everything now what needs
to change? And then we start to look at the
spine what are they not doing? Well, you can't do
(04:31):
anything if you're not going Fortyre, not winning the ruck
and you're not being physical in the ruck, and so
there's so many facets to where they lost the game,
and it all combines to a really average game where
you just can't win anything. The kicking game, they were
back at the forty kicking and most occasions, that's why
it looked pretty boring because they were kicking on the forty.
They couldn't challenge their kick, so they weren't building pressure
(04:52):
off the kick. So everything was just a real Munday watch,
wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It was, Yeah, And you landed on such a good
point about the halves and whether we can assess them
or not without a platform. But how did you assess
the performance of Chanelle Harris Devita and Luke Metcalfe. No
Seawn Johnson anymore, he's a big loss, But what about
these two?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I just think you can't even really gauge it when
your forwards are not going forward to now had three runs.
I think Luke metcalf had three runs. And they'll direct
thing with both of them there. They run the runners
of the ball, so you're not going to get creativity
as such, but they'll only be effective if you're going
forward to winning that battle. So there wasn't really anything.
I thought Chanelle's kicking game was pretty good considering we
(05:36):
was kicking it from Luke had obviously not a great
game on that right side they tried to. If we
saw what they they were constructing, it was very very
east to west, you know, and in the trial match
I saw something that was quite different than what I've
seen in a while. They executed it well. There was
nice synergy and balance between what they were doing in
(06:00):
the pre seasons, but this one here just looked like
they were starting new. They didn't know each other's play.
I know that you build chemistry and combination, but to
start the season off then from in the Battle of
the Ruck, that's concerning.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And to build chemistry and combination you have to play
together often, don't you. But do you think Andrew Webster
will be attempted at all to think about Tomighty Martin
in one of those positions?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I reckon there's a huge consideration what I do have
an issue with, And like anything, when you leak, we're
not in that Battle of the ruck. You get exposed
on the enders, you know, decision making. As much as
we've got real young, talented, robust runners such as Leo Tower.
They were pretty he was exposed early, you know, when
they scored the first try Sebastian Chris and the left.
(06:51):
And that was a real real simple thing for me
where an experience comes into play. He turned, his body
was in front of the defender inside. He turns by
the inward, so he was stuck. He was gone then
and there, and they scored a try, which is the
first try of the game, which have been saved, and
that's the start of the game for the for the
camera wires, it's those decision making from youngsters, which is
(07:13):
concerning for me because when you're on a when you
when things happen for you, it's easy to defend. But
when things are you're against the war, that's when the
true defenders come out. And I just wonder if they
start to look at Harper to come into the side
or experience center, because they've got an experience on the centers.
That's where all the defense, that's where all the attack goes,
(07:34):
that's where all the decision makers have to be really
really strong.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Do you reckon? He'll stick with Roger too? Us to
shake on the wing?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, made he was He carried the bore ten hundred meters.
He was the only one that featured really highly out there.
They're back three. I think we tell them scored about
to measured about two hundred meters and we struggled. I
think there's about three or four forwards that actually got
over one hundred meters, So just highlighted maybe they I
think they should. They wouldn't stick with the side. I
(08:03):
think they've They've got an opportunity to actually prove people
wrong and show because I've trained that way for that side.
I don't think they'll change much in it. They just
need to show up in terms of their attitude, their directness,
their physicality, their grit. Just like what we saw in camera,
they were gritty. That's their identity. That's our identity as
(08:23):
an organization is to be gritty and uncompromising. And that's
exactly what the Worries need to bring to the next
game against Many, which is going to be a very
difficult game for them to turn around, just.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
To finish, just to finish. Do you reckon the occasion
got to them at all?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I struggled with understandings the occasion. Did they had ample
time to get settled, to go through the first days
and have a bit of fun and wallow and all
the lights and the sentry overload. I personally think that's
an excuse. I personally think that you know, you're looking
at a camera side that's way and experience, and we're
(09:05):
experience enough to go on there and do the job.
So I think it's more an excuse than it is
to come up with some other ideas, because clearly they
didn't win anything in that game, and that's every facet
of the game. That's not because they were overwhelmed by it,
overwhelmed by not delivering.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Always appreciate your analysis, Richie, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Mate.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Here's Buddy good on you mate.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
That's Richie Bunnett, former Kiwi Rugby League analyst, astute observer
of the game, Sky Sport Rugby League commentator.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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