Richie Barnett: Big crowd will be tonic Warriors need

Hopefully more than 20,000 will turn up tonight. Photo / Dean Purcell

Opinion

The Warriors have reached do-or-die time and need a big crowd at Mt Smart Stadium to back them against the Broncos tonight.

Win this game, and the Warriors are in the finals and could make the top four. Lose, and things are looking grim by my reckoning.

The home crowd support will be so important in a tense battle. The Mt Smart crowd average was 13,000 last season but the numbers have been even less this year, despite an excellent season.

The recession has hit hard, and I suspect there has been a hangover from last year's awful season.

Hopefully, more than 20,000 will turn up tonight. The Broncos are a great attraction, Friday night games draw a good range of people including the corporate crowd, and this should be a dramatic make-or-break game.

A big crowd, urging the Warriors on and putting pressure on the referee, should be the factor which helps swing things the home side's way.

A couple of crucial penalties can turn a match and a big crowd roaring for the offsides has an influence.

Brisbane are not the glamour team of old and without Darren Lockyer, who has missed the last two games which resulted in defeats for Brisbane, they are missing the man who steers this young team around.

A new generation of Broncos is emerging and in a couple of years' time these players could give this mighty club another golden era.

Matt Gillett is a youngster who has emerged from virtually nowhere, certainly to those of us from outside Queensland, to turn the game's head.

He is a terrific ball player and Brisbane will use him as a third receiver, as the Roosters use Braith Anasta.

Brisbane play a different game to what is standard procedure in the NRL.

Other teams like to smash the ball up the middle to set up their attacks but the Broncos go side to side more. They get the ball two wide and then turn it back in, often utilising Israel Folau's power, aiming to catch lazy defenders out.

As for the Warriors, Sam Rapira returns to the starting lineup which is a huge plus. Rapira is outstanding at landing on his front and quickly playing the ball.

The weather may also prove to be a slight advantage for the Warriors, as the Broncos have been training in warm conditions.

The crowd factor is the big one though. So I urge people to get to the ground for what should be a titanic battle.

The fans can play their part in getting the Warriors into the top eight.