New Zealand Warriors stand-in captain Mitch Barnett has revealed that the idea of resting from Friday night's game against the Canberra Raiders never crossed his mind.
Barnett made his Origin debut for the New South Wales Blues on Wednesday evening off the interchange bench, having been in Michael Maguire's extended squad for Game 1 and 2 of the series.
The forward, who stood in as captain for an understrength Warriors during what ended in a two-point loss against the Raiders, played 47 minutes during his debut for the Blues, having come onto the field early for Angus Crichton who suffered a head knock.
The 47 minutes in an exceptionally physical contest didn't leave Barnett looking for a way out of the game against the Raiders though, saying that the loss hurt.
"Feeling it at the moment. I'm probably more just disappointed in today's result, it hurts a lot that one," Barnett said during the post-match press conference.
"Nah. It didn't even cross my mind. Where we are at, and I consider myself a leader of this club, that's the first thing I wanted to do. Back up.
"I wouldn't be where I was without the boys in that locker room, so the best thing I can do is back up."
The game, which saw the Warriors continue a worrying trend of slow starts, had the Warriors 14-0 down at one point before they came back, and fell short due to a late missed conversion from next to the uprights.
Barnett said the club should be going better than they are.
"We have the footy to do it, but we are just hurting ourselves with early errors, crucial errors, and poor last plays. If we just fix that, we will give ourselves a better shot," Barnett added.
As it stands, the Warriors sit in 12th place on the ladder and will likely need either five or six wins from their final six games to make the finals.
