Sure he may have been handy to all the action but he has not seen much of it.
Barnett (62) is hanging up his boots as a jack of all tradesman around firstly Carisbrook and then Forsyth Barr Stadium.
He has done it all: helping out on the ground, working the clock and even filling the ice baths — or wheelie bins as it is at the stadium.
He laughs when people tell him how close he gets to the game and the action.
"A lot of people ask me ‘what did you think of the game?’. How they saw me down on the ground, getting a great view of the action," he said.
"I have not watched a game, properly anyway, for the last 20 years. Sure I have seen parts of games and that but I do not sit down and watch the game. I just have other things to do."
Barnett has been a man around matches for most of the professional era, starting out on the ground and then moving into match management and logistics as the game got more involved.
He started off in 1997 when talking to Otago Rugby Football Union chairman John Spicer who mentioned Mark Perham, the new groundsman at Carisbrook, needed a hand.
He helped clean seats and, as he got on with Perham, the work continued.
"In those early days we had to replace lots of divots after every game. Something like 15 to 20 divots every game. That was, basically, because the ground was rubbish.
"Then we had that really bad year with the ground, I think it was 2004, when it just got so bad. They had to sand slit it. Before the game against Southland we had to go out and we were pulling the mud off the ground. And it stunk. Jeez, did it stink."
There were other incidents at Carisbrook, having to stand by the terrace and protect the players when things turned ugly when the Australian cricketers were playing.
One night a trailer on which a band stood to play broke down right beside the pitch and could not be moved.
"Paddy O’Brien was the ref and he told us we had to stand by the trailer with tackle bags and if any players got close we had to react."
Thankfully, a truck came along and moved the trailer about 20 minutes into the game.
The job was about having things under control and working well within a team.
"It used to be about three people doing it all. Now we have 12 of us working at the stadium.
"It is all about time. Sky TV dictates everything and they have to be to time. You can’t even afford to be a minute out."
He enjoyed the move to Forsyth Barr Stadium and said it was a super stadium.
"Where are the knockers now? It is a great stadium. The players when they come here, the referees, they all love it.
"But they made two mistakes when they built it. They never had a tap on ground level and they never put in ice baths. Reckoned they couldn’t afford it.
"So now we have to get four big [wheelie] bins and fill them up. We put the cold water in and Wendell [Highlanders trainer Andrew Beardmore] puts the ice in.
"Now the referees, except Glen Jackson, have ice baths too."
A New Zealand derby has the team starting about noon for a 7.35pm kick-off and they leave the stadium about an hour after kick-off.
Barnett, who is a meter reader for Trustpower, has never been paid once for the rugby job — he just loves the work. He said those minutes in the build-up immediately before kick-off were vital for sponsors and teams.
Highlights were the 2011 World Cup and the Welsh test in 2016 when he was rugby operations manager.
Guys such as Mike Reggett, who worked with overseas teams, and Neville Ives, the long-time baggage manager for the Highlanders and Otago who had just stood down, did years and years of hard work, he said
He would come along and fill in when asked but it was now time to stand back and get to watch a game for once.
"It’s time to move on. I’ve really enjoyed it but you are better off getting out on your own terms then being told to go."