Rugby League: Barnett leads war of words

By Peter Jessup

Richie Barnett found out that Kiwi rugby league boss Frank Endacott wanted him to shoulder the honour of the national captaincy in the tri-series 24 hours before the rest of us.

Long-term leader Matthew Ridge had called a halt to his international career, former skipper Stephen Kearney had been relieved of the job to allow him to concentrate on delivering his best game, last year's leader, Quentin Pongia, was ruled out of the tri-series starting next Friday because of a bad knee and then back-up Jarrod McCracken broke an arm.

So on the Sunday night after the NRL grand final, Endacott, orange juice in hand as others celebrated or commiserated, sat down and considered all contenders and weighed the pros and cons.

He had not settled the matter by Monday when he flew home, but on receiving a call from Kearney to ask who the captain was, he was far enough down the track to be able to say "not you, Steve."

Endacott opted for Barnett, who was his vice-captain last year, over Robbie Paul, who has led Bradford to the Euro Super League grand final, and his brother Henry, who was Junior Kiwi captain in 1993 when Endacott was their coach.

"It's a great honour and it was a great surprise," Barnett said yesterday after flying to Auckland to join the Warrior-based Kiwi squad members.

He trained alongside Kiwis Logan Swann, Joe and Nigel Vagana, Terry Hermansson and Warriors team-mates returning from holidays ahead of their first pre-season meeting next Monday.

Also in ahead of Sunday's Kiwi assembly are Tony Puletua, from Penrith; Lesley Vainikolo, from Canberra, who arrived last week; and Kearney, who was over for Stacey Jones' wedding last weekend. Jones returns from honeymoon in Fiji on Friday.

Grand final winners' ring secured, Kearney is on a high and happy to lend all the support he can to Barnett as the Kiwis seek their own gold.

He and Barnett stretched through their warm-down next to each other with an ease that shows they are comfortable, and that was in tune with the general atmosphere.

Barnett knows all the players well, Endacott having settled on a stable player base to take him through to November's World Cup, and is happy with the balance between experience and youth.

The Kiwis have four players straight from the grand final to match the Kangaroos' four, plus the Pauls playing in Europe's grand final.

"The young blokes have been playing well - extremely well, adding enthusiasm - and we've gone hard against the Australians for five or six games now," Barnett said. "We go in now confident we're a chance to win every time."

His Australian counterpart, Brad Fittler, has been moaning recently about the length of the season, pointing to next season's start a month early to allow a grand final a week ahead of the Olympic Games opening on September 15, and suggesting the tri-series be postponed.

By comparison, Kiwi prospects have been telephoning Endacott to assure him of their fitness and training schedule.

Barnett believes that psychological commitment to the series could be a decider.

"We've got a real willingness to win and the one team we want to beat above all is Australia," he said of their first opponents at Ericsson Stadium next week. "I think we're more committed."

Barnett knows rugby league supporters have long been waiting for the player strength with which the Kiwis could meet the Kangaroos on a 50-50 basis.

He said: "We know people are sick of losing. We have to stand up and put the results on the board - tri-series, World Cup, whatever."

Now 28 and with 14 tests after starting on the wing in 1995, the new captain might have thought about asking for a job at his favoured outside centre spot, where he has enjoyed playing for Sydney City.

But he accepts he will probably be at fullback, a position inherited when Ridge was injured in October last year, and he adopts the attitude he wants from the team - any black jersey is a good one.

His City contract runs for two more years. Barnett said he had thought about the Warriors before signing on with Sydney City but the club was not cohesive at the time.

He would certainly look at joining 1999 team-mate Ivan Cleary, who he rates a great buy at Auckland before retirement.

The new skipper makes no apologies for cliches in his assessment of what will happen in the tri-series opener.

He said: "It will be won in the forwards, holding possession will be critical; it'll be tight, as always."