{"id":533437,"date":"2026-03-11T14:19:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533437\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:19:27","slug":"mitch-barnett-interview-on-warriors-exit-premiership-hopes-acl-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533437\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitch Barnett interview on Warriors exit, premiership hopes, ACL return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitch Barnett<\/a> has spoken publicly for the first time since his decision to leave the Warriors<\/a>, admitting it has been a “very tough” situation to navigate.<\/p>\n

The star front-rower, who is nearing a return from an ACL injury, was granted an early release from his Warriors contract last month<\/a> on compassionate grounds.<\/p>\n

Barnett will return to Australia for the 2027 season and beyond, as he moves closer to home on the NSW mid-north coast due to a sick child.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Powerful agent of Aussie stars rebrands after Epstein links<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Slater’s enormous call on ‘old-school’ Raiders youngster<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Surprise olive branch casts doubt over bitter ‘hatred’ claim<\/a><\/p>\n

A stack of clubs are in the mix to land the NSW Blues and Kangaroos forward.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell<\/p>\n

Mitchell Barnett in action for NSW.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Brisbane have emerged as one of the early front-runners due to Barnett’s relationship with coach Michael Maguire<\/a>, while the likes of the Eels, Dragons and Sea Eagles have also expressed interest in luring the tough representative enforcer.<\/p>\n

During an interview with Shaun Johnson<\/a> on Sky Sports, the 31-year-old admitted the situation had been difficult but was willing to leave it all on the field for the Warriors.<\/p>\n

“I won’t dive into any details with that but it has been very tough and I have worked with the club over the situation,” Barnett said.<\/p>\n

“I have to protect my family. I haven’t revealed any details, but the club knows I’m making the decision as a father and the support from social media has been unreal.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It hasn’t been an overnight decision. I will be going back to Australia at the end of the season but I am still here this year and keen to rip in. I want to go out on a high note.<\/p>\n

“I’m just ready to go. I don’t care what round it is, who it is, I’m ready to go. I have been ready to go since before Christmas. I have ticked some things off that I needed to.<\/p>\n

“Watching the boys run out there and do a job on the Roosters [in round one] has got me amped up. Wherever the team needs me to slot in … I’m ready to go.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mitch Barnett will leave the Warriors at the end of 2026.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

As for what he will bring to his next club, Barnett is adamant his age and recent injury issues won’t be a problem due to his work ethic on and off the field.<\/p>\n

“My game is not pretty,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I do all the small efforts and all the things that people don’t see really well.<\/p>\n

“I pride myself on trying to be tough and I just think I’d love to see that continue down through the generations. I’ve had a lot going on outside of my football with my family.”<\/p>\n

Barnett has played 177 matches across stints with the Raiders, Knights and Warriors.<\/p>\n

He was once seen as a hothead – something Barnett admitted in an interview with Wide World Of Sports last year<\/a> – before developing into a respected leader in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mitch Barnett has spoken publicly for the first time since his decision to leave the Warriors, admitting it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-533437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}