Richie Barnett: Warriors struggle with great expectations

Krisnan Inu has the chance to show he's a true first-grader. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

Same old Warriors. I've been hearing a lot of that since last Saturday's loss and it bugs me. I know there was a lot of expectation around the Warriors and people are disappointed with their first-up effort.

There's nothing wrong with being critical but plenty of the people who have bagged the Warriors after the let-down against the Eels haven't even bothered to look at the facts.

Watching the game from the sidelines, I was extremely frustrated with the refereeing. From the side, it's hard to tell exactly what is going on, so I went home and looked at the tape of all the decisions - and it wasn't pretty.

The Warriors were never going to win that game based on what was dished out to them. If you understand how the game flows you could see that clearly. Every possible decision went in favour of Parramatta. We're not talking one or two crucial decisions here. More like four.

There was Simon Mannering having the ball knocked out of his hands after he'd regathered a chargedown; Glen Fisiiahi getting knocked over from behind as he went to play the ball after a break; Fish going up for a high ball in the corner and looking like he didn't touch it but it being ruled a knock-on that led to a try; a hit on suspicion from Russell Packer for a penalty under the posts that made it 8-0.

Not once did the Warriors get a hand up. Factor in Manu's injury and some poor early ball control and they were really up against it from the get-go. That said, they have to learn from their mistakes. They have to improve their kick pressure and support their back three. That becomes even more crucial now everyone has seen the mistakes made by Lance Hohaia and Fish.

Parramatta put plenty of pressure on Brett Seymour and James Maloney early on and the Warriors should learn from that.

They didn't pressure Jarryd Hayne enough - and when you let him launch those spiral bombs, life at the back becomes pretty damn hard. Spiral bombs go way-up and, as they drop, they swerve away from you. They are so difficult to catch that even the best will have problems with them.

There was also plenty of indecision between Lance and Fish. One thing you learn as a youngster is that if the ball goes your way you take ownership and go and get it. If you start thinking "I don't want to take it", you get yourself into awful sorts.

It doesn't help when you've got Hayne spiralling the ball about 1000km into the air.

Manu's injury provides a great chance for Krisnan Inu to prove his worth. He needs to show that he is not going to sit on the bench but is going to be a first-grader. He will have been disappointed last week but that disappointment needs to be turned into showcasing his talents against the Tigers. Hopefully the Warriors look to cross-kick because Inu can jump. He'll fancy his chances up against Matt Utai.

With Fisiiahi forced out after failing a concussion test, it becomes a big game for Kevin Locke. He'll certainly be tested by Lote Tuqiri, and can expect plenty of high balls coming his way.

The Tigers didn't look much like the Tigers of old against the Bulldogs. They tried to play a safe, structured game. That was probably because last year they dropped a lot of pill early in the season. It's hard to know how Tim Sheens will approach this week, but Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah didn't have the influence he would have liked. Expect them to be much better tomorrow night.

The Warriors should look to exploit the opportunities around Benji's defence. He's improved a lot in recent years but he still rushes up and leaves holes. Feleti Mateo is just the sort of player who can expose that.