Reaching 50 NRL games is a big deal for any player.
It's the first milestone in their career on the field and the beginning of many to come.
Mitch Barnett is set for his half century when the nib Newcastle Knights take on the Gold Coast Titans at home this weekend.
The 24-year-old admits he had dreams of one day playing just one NRL game, but to reach 50 in the leagues toughest competition is something special..... although you wouldn't know it.
The road to 50: Mitch Barnett
"Just found out then," Barnett laughed.
"I am still a while away from where I want to be but it's a great little milestone for myself personally.
"I'm sure everyone says it, they don't imagine playing one game let alone 50, but it's an honour and I couldn't be happier to do it at this Club."
The imposing lock, who had a standout season in 2017 earning himself the Danny Buderus medal and Gladiators award for the Club, admits he's stoked to have notched up his 50 right here in the Hunter.
"I see myself being here for as long as I can be, I love this Club, it is pretty much my hometown Newcastle," Barnett said.
"The longer I can stay here the happier I'll be, and I just want to put in a good performance for the boys."
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The Wingham product has so far made 16 appearances for the Knights this season, with an impressive 457 tackles made and 16 tackle breaks.
A consistent force in the forward pack, Barnett maintains he was happy to see the return of big man Daniel Saifiti and leader Mitchell Pearce to help guide their side to a much-needed win against the Parramatta Eels on the weekend.
While not pretty, the Knights forward was happy they could grind out a two-point buffer by the final siren.
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"It wasn't one of our best performances, but the pleasing thing is we got the win, because we've been trying to get a win for a while now," he said.
"It was good to have Pearce back but saying that we didn't want to slack off, thinking just because he was back, he was going to do it all.
"Even though he had a really good game for us, I thought our effort on kick chase was a lot better this week, although we need to tighten up a few things around the ruck and if we can do that, I'm sure the boys are very confident heading into this weekend."
Sitting 11th on the ladder, Barnett said the Knights are still on the hunt for a top eight spot.
Although, their focus is on every individual game.
"We want to just build on last week's performance and just trying to get a few results go our way," he said.
"It would be nice to make the eight, it's something we are holding on to, but in the short term we are just trying to take it week by week."
Injuries being the Knights biggest challenge.
"We haven't had much luck with injury, we lost junior (Mitchell Pearce) for a big part of the season, Daniel Saifiti, Tautau (Moga) and then obviously Slade (Griffin) so there's been a few, but that's no excuse," Barnett added.
"We just haven't been as clinical as we wanted to be and haven't got the results, but there's still plenty of footy left this season."
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