Moving on from a painful episode

MITCH Barnett says his brainfade elbow incident will “always be in the back of my mind” as he prepares to make his return from a six-week ban against the Bulldogs on Friday.

He said he had to watch the tackle one last time to “get closure”, having studied the elbow on Penrith’s Chris Smith “1000” times before his judiciary hearing.

“I got the tackle wrong,” Barnett said. “It’s all I can think of. I didn’t intentionally go out to do that. It was something that happened. I’m not denying it looked ugly. It could’ve potentially been very bad. I don’t know why I watched it again. I just wanted to see it and move on. The incident is not a reflection of who I am as a person. I made an error of judgment and got it completely wrong.

“I knew I was going to get a heavy punishment. Once I spoke with Chris and he said he was all right I felt better.”

Barnett reached out to Smith the day after the round 3 incident in Bathurst. While the Panthers back-rower avoided serious injury, he has not played first grade since.

“I apologised and he just thanked me for the apology,” he said. “It was brief but he seemed like a bloke that didn’t hold a grudge. It means a lot for me for him not to carry it.”

Barnett said that while his own journey had been hard, it was the on-field cost to his teammates that had caused im the most anguish. His side were taking the contest to the defending premiers with the scores level before Penrith finished 38-20 winners after his first half send-off. The Knights are now in the midst of a seven-game losing streak.

“Every morning when I see the boys struggling and coming into training I reflect on what I’ve done,” Barnett said. “It hasn’t been good to watch and makes me feel horrible.”

Barnett was named on Tuesday to make his return.

“I feel good,” he said. “I hope my influence on the side can help us turn a corner.”