Under-fire Warriors veteran Adam Blair has acknowledged the recent criticism dished out to him from coach Todd Payten, agreeing he didn’t perform well against the Sharks.
Blair played just 26 minutes in the 46-10 loss to Cronulla and in that time produced just 50 running metres and 16 tackles.
Payten ripped into Blair earlier this week in a radio interview, saying the 34-year-old was lucky to make the bench for this afternoon’s match against the Roosters and it was only his experience that had saved him from the axe.
But rather than dropping his head, Blair owned up to the criticism.
"[I had] a really off day," Blair told NZME.
"I'm my own worst critic when it comes to performance, and I knew that it was below par and where it should be for a person of my calibre and what I've done in the game.
"I didn't need Toddy to tell me my performance was bad - I knew it."
In fact, Blair was thankful for Payten spelling out his true thoughts on the performance.
"The honesty is the best thing about having good coaches around the place - that they're not afraid to tell you and not afraid to speak up and be honest.
"I've been around long enough – if you sugarcoat lot of things, how do you ever get better?"
Blair has been demoted to the interchange for the 5pm NZT match today with loan player Jack Heterington and rookie Jamayne Taunoa-Brown the starting props.
This afternoon’s game will also be the last for stars David Fusitu’a and Ken Maumalo, with the duo being two of the four Warriors confirmed to be heading back to New Zealand to be with their families early next week.
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