Fittler, Barrett provide confidence boost for Burton
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What a difference five days can make.
There was no man more eager to get back onto the Campbelltown Stadium turf than Matt Burton on Friday night but it was a pair of former five-eighths who provided the confidence boost for his starring display in the win over the Warriors after his field goal woes against Newcastle five days earlier.
Burton revealed he received a call out of the blue from Brad Fittler earlier in the week before Trent Barrett gave the 20-year-old a friendly ultimatum at training 24 hours before their clash with the Warriors.
The pair's efforts seemed to have an instant effect on Burton, who concedes he struggled to sleep on Sunday night after missing five one-point opportunities in golden point last start.
"I wanted to take it back and re-live the moments and nail down on it but that's footy sometimes and you've just got to bounce back," Burton said.
"There was a bit of head noise the past couple of days but it was an unreal performance to come back and get the two points.
"The [Fittler] call helped with my confidence. It was a pretty good chat."
Match Highlights: Panthers v Warriors
Barrett, who is an assistant coach at Penrith, left it until Thursday to pull Burton aside at training to work on his field goals.
"He said I've got four kicks and he's not letting me go until I get them," Burton said.
"I kicked all four [but] it plays on your mind a bit and was in the mind to get a bit of redemption."
Burton's two-try effort against the Warriors has thrown a spanner in the works for Ivan Cleary with the Dubbo junior pushing a case to partner Nathan Cleary in the halves.
Livewire five-eighth Jarome Luai produced an improved effort on Friday night with an individual try of his own.
The looming returns of Dylan Edwards (hamstring) and Tyrone May (suspension) are also expected to cause a selection headache.
"Obviously Romey [Luai] is a very good footy player and it's going to be hard to more game time," Burton said.
"I'll keep working hard and hopefully get more time in the six jersey."
