The lesson in all of this is that:
Every averagely talented back rower with connections to laughably influential people within the club should be shown the door whenever they ask for a release. Releasing players when they ask for it is always the best thing to do, because your actually rooting out the problems you have in your club by doing so.
Playing for the Knights is both a job and a rare honor, both of which are fleeting and extremely rare. People expecting it are grooming themselves for disappointment. Clint had extremely high expectations of what he was going to be offered.
Im sure Clint's ego is well inflated, and his moral sense reassured in the wake of the Kirk Reynoldson affair and Clint's own success as a guest star for Melbourne. However, we all know the truth.
The truth is that Clint Newton no longer plays in the best Rugby League competition in the world for one of its most foremost clubs...the Newcastle Knights. He will never play for NSW, and he will never play for Australia. He has been rolled over into the retirement league. That is the truth in all of this. He played a side-show claytons part in winning a premiership, it was hollow, and it will always feel hollow to him no matter how much merchandise he shipped out to people. The irony is that of the two sides involved with Clints future, the Melbourne Storm was the only club that didnt offer him a contract for next season. To be honest, to me that is just piss funny.
His petulant reaction to what can only be described as Smiths indecision in offering him a new contract is one of the strangest incidents and clearest displays of childish behavior I have seen in a long time. Clearly he was an opportunist, and used every possible half baked excuse he could to explain his behavior, but in the end, he walked out via his own free will, with no assistance from the Knights. If he wanted to open negotiations with other clubs for next season, he was free to do so. What he did however was treacherous, there was nothing at the Newcastle Knights that was in anyway making his life difficult or endangering his playing future.
Clearly, the incredibly immature reaction he has had to not being offered a contract when he had been expecting one thoroughly supports Smiths decision to allow Newton a release. See that is really the point in all of this. Clint Newton asked for and was granted a release one quarter of the way thru the season because, why? There is no reason that makes any sense. Clint likes to speak in terms of mateship and is often trying to toss Kirk Reynoldson up as fodder for his moral high ground. The fact of the matter is Clint, you walked out because you saw an opportunity for yourself and you had enough of the knights.
You see, the story from Brian Smith's perspective is amazingly different than Clints. Brian's is actually what you would expect from Smith, straight forward and to the point, with little or no emotion involved in his decision making. Smith doesnt waffle on about mateship, and loyalty like he is addressing a union rally outside a mine shaft like Newton does. Smith is very matter of fact, and talks in terms of running a football club and building a team. Clint asked for a release and we granted him one, as far as what was behind that, there is nothing more to tell. Newton carried on as if the Knights owed him something, for what? Had we somehow upset him by not knocking down his door with a new deal, why would we? Two broken legs and a whole heap of unfulfilled talent doesnt exactly make me want to start cutting cheques. Or was it because daddy was important and there should never be ANY reason to think that Clint wouldnt be offered a contract solely on this basis, ala Ben Anderson.
The way Smith tells it is like this:
He arrives in Newcastle. Clint is immediately welcoming and offers Brian assistance where needed. His relationship with Clint was good.
From that point the relation soured as a result of a lack of contract negotiation approaches from Newcastle to Newton. Now Clint wasnt the only player in that situation, there were several Knights players looking toward contract negotiations and the Knights werent forthcoming with a deal at all or when the players were expecting one. To be honest, I dont think smith was 100% certain who he was going to acquire as yet so he didnt know who he needed to retain. Fair enough imo, it would be lovely to retain all of the players you want to keep first then start buying externally but it just doesnt work like that. Retention and recruitment work hand in hand, and had we secured Jason Ryles for next season im sure we would have let another couple go too. The point is the club was transitioning and people demanding contracts and special treatment just werent going to fly with Smith.
Lets point out some facts about the team as they stood this year, they had lost the best player in the world, and some say the best ever. The side had shown a clear lack of ability when not playing with Andrew, that point had been proven more times than its even worth mentioning. With him they were top 4 contenders, without him they languished at the bottom of the table. The group was performing at a 2nd rate level, and with Andrew gone it was clear that the team wasnt going to be successful in its current shape.
So Clint starts to get really annoyed, obviously feeling as though he should somehow be treated differently to everyone else, and having witnessed his ego recently I can see why Smith's lack of arse kissing in his direction would have really put his nose out. So he thinks the Knights dont want him, which wasnt true.
He goes to confront Smith in relation to his contract and Smith basically tells him that they werent decided on what was going on. The Knights NEVER told Clint he wasnt wanted, he was never shown the door. Clint Newton, disgruntled with contract negotiations with the Knights decides to look elsewhere, he speaks to Melbourne and the opportunity for a position this year with them comes up. He goes to see Smith and asks for release. Smith put it in so many words...When someone wants to go, let them go. There is no point holding someone back that isnt interested in staying, and there is no point stopping people from taking up other opportunities as he may not have had one in Newcastle next season.
So Brisbane destroys us by 70 points and clearly something is wrong. Clint then farewells the club in a post match interview. Note he didnt reference the fact that his last game in red and blue was a disgrace, and it was all his doing. No, he would much rather that the media insinuate that it was Smith's fault for missing 60 tackles against a run of the mill Brisbane side. What was wrong wasnt that Smith was destroying the team, or that morale was down because of Smith. The fact was that the players were upset that their team mate was walking out on them for little or no reason.
Now the really funny part of this story is now, after all of the acrimony and retelling of the story to suit the:"Clint Newtown Champion of the Proletariat" persona. After Kirk Reynoldson has been thrown up as his reason for leaving, which at that time wasnt even an issue. The Knights all of a sudden finalise their list for 2008 and guess what? They offered Clint a deal, lol. So much for Smith hating him and not wanting him at the Club right? Smith looked at the list. saw he was available and said make an offer, that was his job.
Had Newton not of been an egotistical child, he would have had a deal. He again offers Reynoldson up as his reasoning to not go back to the Knights, but again, its more about burying yourself into such a hole of total bullsh*t that you cant ever go back because it would be too embarrassing to accept it was all your doing in the first place.
I believe that in the end, it was the best possible result for the Club.
