South Sydney Rabbitohs star Cody Walker has been singled out as the NZ Warriors' main tormenter after suffering their biggest NRL defeat of the season.
While the Warriors struggled to adapt to the wet weather at Mt Smart Stadium, Walker played as if he was back home in sunny Sydney, inspiring a resounding 28-6 victory.
The five-eighth kicked for over 300 metres, with a try-assist off his boot to set up scoring phenom Alex Johnston for his double a particular highlight.
And when the conditions worsened, Walker only improved, pegging the Warriors back with two forced dropouts to starve the home side of possession.
While the Warriors were ultimately their own worst enemy with several errors, hooker Wayde Egan saluted the Rabbitohs star for his performance.
"We gave them too much ball in good field position at the start of the second half, and they're just too good of a team," he told Three.
"Cody Walker tore us to shreds on the edges, and it's just really disappointing. We started off really well, and to let 28 points in is pretty disappointing.
"We had a couple of poor moments at the start of the second half and they capitalised. You can't give sides like that too much footy and we did that, and that's what cost us."
In what should have been an even contest, with little separating the sides on the NRL ladder, it was the visitors who strengthened their finals push.
Like Egan, Warriors coach Andrew Webster picked Walker out as the standout Rabbitohs player, demonstrating how the game should be played in wet conditions.
"Souths didn't come here to hit it up once," he said post-match. "They moved the ball and they kicked well behind us.
"I think Cody Walker particularly was just class in the way they executed their plan and their completions compared to ours were very good.
"You can see why execution had a big part in the win tonight."
Despite the adverse conditions, the Warriors are refusing to use it as an excuse, with the result seeing them slip to sixth on the ladder.
Egan revealed it's the most amount of rain he's ever experienced, but credited the fans for turning out in their droves despite the unwelcoming weather.
"It wasn't great, it was raining sideways at stages, but we can't blame the weather, they had to play in it too," he told Three.
"Credit to Souths, they were just way too good tonight, and we'll have to review it hard this week and get better.
"It's unbelievable, it's probably the worst day I've ever seen on earth, and you turn out with nearly the whole stadium packed out, it's just unbelievable.
"We've got the best fans in the competition, it's awesome."
