New Broncos star back after horror injury

"I could feel it. I heard all the cracks and I felt my whole face move. It was just incredible."

To allow the swelling to ease, doctors had to wait 24 hours before operating on the player.

For Barnett and his wife Carrie it was an agonising period. "I burst into tears when I saw him," she said. "I couldn't say anything. It was horrible. Only I could have recognised him."

It is incredible, then, that Barnett, who had several metal plates inserted into his cheek, has emerged with no permanent scarring.

He said: "It was all internal. All through the mouth. No scarring whatsoever. But my jaw was wired for two months after the operation. I couldn't eat fluids, so mainly sucked on custard and stuff of that consistency - soups, milks, watery stuff. After that I started trying to eat properly and trying to get my weight back as I'd lost about 14 or 15 kilos.

"The tracheotomy was probably the worst part of the operation. I had a hole in my throat and they had to give me oxygen through a tube in my neck for the seven days after the operation.

"It was awful: having to deal with the pain and the breathing. Bedridden for a week and getting sore. It was a nightmare. That is the best way I could describe it. A nightmare."

Amazingly Barnett defied medical advice and returned to training a couple of months after his operation, targeting last autumn's World Cup for his comeback. A combination of surprise and apprehension greeted his selection for New Zealand's opening game against Lebanon. Everyone wondered whether the team's talisman would return shorn of his powers.

The concerns proved unfounded. New Zealand won easily, Barnett scored two tries and was named man of the match.

It was the first victory in a long psychological struggle for Barnett that has proved as hard to win as his battle for fitness.

Barnett said: "The Lebanon game was awesome for the way I felt. I had a lot problems mentally over how I'd come through the games. I didn't sleep properly for a couple of weeks, thinking about it.

"I didn't tell the other players or the coach. It's something you have just got to get through yourself. I've forgotten about it now. Because I got through the World Cup without any problems, I knew I didn't have to worry about it after that."

Not surprisingly, Barnett believes he has emerged from the ordeal a different person, able to better appreciate life's more important gifts.

Enjoying life in London, the 30-year-old insists he can help drag the Broncos to a higher standing in the Super League, but knows, now, that failure to do so would not be so bad.

"It's made me a lot stronger and made me look at things in life a lot differently. There's more to life than making money or playing rugby. I think the most important thing in your life is your health. Without that, basically you've got nothing."