Paul Kent: Mitchell Barnett reveals what led to his send-off for elbow to the head of Chris Smith

Knights hardman Mitch Barnett admits ‘I got it wrong’, but nights spent in jail, assault charges and a young man making poor choices complicate matters, PAUL KENT reveals.

A defence for Mitch Barnett, hopefully sometime before his public execution.

Barnett was sent off Saturday for a stray elbow that took down Penrith’s Chris Smith and caused a lot of people around the game to scratch their heads and wonder what, in particular, had got into Barnett’s head.

Some have compared it to Clint Newton’s elbow on Ashton Sims in 2004, which earned Newton 12 weeks. Others have dug as far back as Les Boyd’s elbow on Darryl Brohman in 1983, which cost Boyd a lot more.

Barnett was immediately referred to the judiciary. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

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Mitch Barnett is sent off for his hit on Chris Smith. NRL Photos

But like most things in rugby league it is a lot more complex than most hanging judges might prefer. Nothing confuses the mind like context, which is something the judiciary must consider.

So when Barnett heads to the judiciary on Tuesday night he will plead guilty but argue it was not an act of thuggery but of technique gone wrong.

“The point I want to get across is there is a difference between being deliberate and being careless, and I accept the punishment for careless, but there is no way I went out there to deliberately assault someone,” Barnett said on Monday.

It began over the summer when the Knights, who had a lot of questions they needed to ask themselves, sat together to work out what kind of team they were.

There were criticisms that they did not match the city’s DNA, working-class men from the steel town, with more than a little steel inside.

So the Knights decided they were going to be a stand-up team and that, unlike some teams who choose to dive and milk a penalty, they would instead do all they could to stay on their feet and in the game.

So defensively they have adopted a Melbourne strategy of check and release. It makes sense, most of the Knights coaching staff have Melbourne in their bloodlines.

The Knights were caught short on the left on Saturday so Barnett found himself defending tighter than usual.

Clint Newton floors Ashton Sims in 2004.

Newton copped 12 weeks for this hit.

As the ball spread to his left an alarm went off.

“I’ve kept my eyes on the ball and there was a threat of them scoring in the corner so I am going a bit faster than usual,” he said.

“Cluney [Adam Clune] was coming out of the line and I had to fill that space.

“Then out of the corner of my eyes I saw Chris Smith at the last second and I braced for contact and tried to push through him at the same time.”

Here was his check and release.

The idea was to push through Smith, instead of collapsing like he had been shot from the stands and hope for a penalty, and to continue moving across in defence.

The forearm was the weapon of choice.

“I can’t shy away from the fact I got it wrong,” Barnett said.

The contact was high and with the elbow and Barnett was gone.

Barnett will argue for himself on Tuesday night. Not for innocence but as a young man who got it wrong but for the right reasons.

As part of their search for identity over the summer the Knights held a connection day, a day of deeply personal stories they shared with their teammates.

In their stories, they hoped, they would find understanding, and in understanding they would find forgiveness.

Mitch Barnett in the sheds after being dismissed. Picture: Fox Sports

Teammates knew Barnett was a hothead. An impulsive player who often acted and then drowned in regret, driven by aggression and anger and other explosive motives.

There in front of his teammates Barnett dug deep into his past to a moment that made his heart grow cold

“I’ve done a lot of work with welfare officers and counsellors in the recent space just with techniques on breathing and stuff,” he said.

“I know it sounds silly talking like this but it helps me think before I do.

“My main reason for change is if I was going three or four years ago I would be out of the game now and in strife and have nothing next to my name.”

He went further into his troubled past.

Nights spent in jail, assault charges. A young man making poor choices.

He calls it a “chequered past”, which leans to understatement.

He realised his problem needed more than he could find in himself, he told teammates, when he was in the dock one day and the judge, as they do, was dressing him down.

He was arrested over a fight, a night spent in jail.

“He just said ‘if you had of hit this police officer we would not be having this conversation, you would be going to jail’,” Barnett said.

The judge told him he was an impressive young man but that it also did not give him the right to act like some young men do, which is to break out in violence, and as the judge spoke, and in the background under the judges words, Barnett heard the soft cry of a broken woman.

It was his mother, hearing her hopes disappear, and from there he fights each day to change.

If a man could not correct his life for his mother then, really, what kind of man is he.

Originally published as Paul Kent: Mitchell Barnett reveals what led to his send-off for elbow to the head of Chris Smith