{"id":606789,"date":"2026-09-21T04:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606789\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T04:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:06:10","slug":"warriors-v-knights-co-captain-mitch-barnetts-emotional-goodbye-to-new-zealand-after-nrl-finals-exit-to-newcastle-at-eden-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606789\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors v Knights: Co-captain Mitch Barnett\u2019s emotional goodbye to New Zealand after NRL finals exit to Newcastle at Eden Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visibly shattered, Barnett said he is disappointed to have ended his time at the Warriors with another NRL finals loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been emotional, man. Some people saying some nice things about me in there, like that\u2019s been hard, but yeah, just very grateful for the opportunity I\u2019ve had at this club and the people in it. <\/p>\n

\"MitchellMitchell Barnett of the Warriors reacts after the side’s loss to Newcastle. Photo \/ Brad Roberts<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel so many people that have done so many things for me and my family, especially of late when we\u2019ve needed them, so I just really appreciate everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnett told The Big League Podcast he is particularly attached to the Warriors supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many people, so many fans say so many nice things about me and my time here. It\u2019s been overwhelming the support I\u2019ve had here. <\/p>\n

\u201cI played for Australia down in Christchurch a couple of years ago, and we were the away team, obviously. Coming off the bench, I\u2019ll never forget the cheer I got. I know they might have been wearing black jerseys that day, but they\u2019re Warriors fans. They\u2019re a great fan base, and they\u2019re the best in the comp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher-Harris paid tribute to Barnett.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously devastated we couldn\u2019t get the job done for him and the other boys that are leaving the club. But it\u2019s been really, really good to get to know Mitch on a personal level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe admire each other\u2019s work and how we go about our business, and it\u2019s been really cool to be co-captains alongside each other, just growing together in that space. <\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely going to cherish our moments that we had together and what we got to do throughout the year and how fun it was. We\u2019ll have a couple of days to chat to each other and enjoy some moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Fisher-Harris has paid tribute to fellow co-captain Mitch Barnett. Photo: Andrew Cornaga \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Barnett said he has definitely grown as a person and a player since joining the Warriors.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like Webby [coach Andrew Webster] and Cam George have had a massive impact on my life. Just really helped me every day. It\u2019s just been a special journey. I came over with my wife and my eldest son, and we grew our family here and my second son. It\u2019s just a special part of my life; I just can\u2019t put into words how special it is to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnett admits the Eden Park result<\/a> is one of the more crushing moments of his playing career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s why it\u2019s so hard to put into words. You\u2019re closing the book on this journey when I definitely wasn\u2019t preparing to.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about his pride in his tenure at the Warriors and all they achieved this season, Barnett said it is hard to talk about.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ll reflect on one day, but just for the time being I don\u2019t think it\u2019s time to be reflecting on anything like that. Just want to get around each individual that\u2019s had an impact on my time here and thank them and talk to them. I\u2019ll look at that stuff later.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result was marred by three controversial officiating decisions<\/a> late in the contest. It saw disgruntled Warriors fans pelt the referees with cans and bottles<\/a> as they exited the field.<\/p>\n

Centre Leka Halasima was the Warriors\u2019 standout performer, scoring both the team\u2019s tries despite playing with an injured hamstring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visibly shattered, Barnett said he is disappointed to have ended his time at the Warriors with another NRL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,1975,149286,282952,9689,27604,138465,8142,16719,35702,298905,49640,3174,25284,78719,87833,117,111,2653,139,577,69,32956,8143,72726,213,1886,61,3006,80],"class_list":["post-606789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-at","tag-barnett","tag-barnetts","tag-brisbane","tag-cocaptain","tag-depart","tag-eden","tag-emotional","tag-exit","tag-fanbase","tag-finals","tag-goodbye","tag-hailing","tag-knights","tag-mitch","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newcastle","tag-newzealand","tag-nrl","tag-nz","tag-outgoing","tag-park","tag-prepares","tag-sports","tag-support","tag-to","tag-warriors","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}