Smith and McKinnon have become close. The full details of their conversation will remain between them but my understanding is that Smith is not impressed with the way McKinnon has been forced to deal with any negative feedback.

McKinnon remains strong. He is not devastated as some want to portray and he's not backing away from his views, nor is he embarrassed to have them. His view is that none of this would have happened if Cameron Smith had just said sorry.

That's the main thought that has been running through his head for the past week.

Smith may have been knocked back in the early days – but then so were Alex's teammates. Everyone was, apart from Wayne Bennett and the family. The rake wouldn't be copping it and wouldn't be in a war with the Nine Network if he apologised in a private message or a phone call at some time in the last 15months.

Smith is a decent, caring man who made a mistake on this one. Simple as that. To say that the story was planted to cash in on Origin or, worse still, to put Queensland off their game is laughable.

From the moment the McKinnon/Smith conflict started to catch fire last Sunday the Blues knew they would be in for a torrid night in the Origin arena. They got a hint of what was to come when the Queensland team moved its media opportunity so that Smith would not have to face questions on the matter.

The Blues knew straight away that the Maroons were in siege mode. They were very concerned that somehow Queensland would think they had anything to do with what was being heaped on the Maroons skipper.

The Blues boasted a number of McKinnon's closest mates, but at no point was there any thought of using Alex as motivation – how could they when a good friend of Smith's, Ryan Hoffman, was in the Blues side. They were very aware of that.

As a mate, and not in any attempt to take sides, Paul Gallen sent Smith a text to check on him.

Gallen knows what it's like to be at the centre of a major controversy. He's lived in that world for two years – and he knows how isolating it is.

The Storm and the Knights were in conversation about what was to come. Newcastle clearly knew what was in the story. The club has been fully supportive of McKinnon and his right to express his opinion.

They were aware of his view of Smith's reaction on the field. McKinnon expressed the view in the program that he did not know of any attempt by Smith to contact him and compared that to Jordan McLean - who sent him a text message in the months following the tackle. 60 Minutes checked that he was accurate in saying that and was assured as much by the Knights, through media representative Tara White and player representative Anthony Quinn.

McKinnon was asked on Monday by one of his closest allies if he knew of Smith's attempts to contact him and he said he didn't. The chat among footballers is that Smith did try – and Hoffman was part of the process. This column was told it was two attempts.

As one employee of the Storm said to me this week: "You get knocked back twice – how many times are you expected to ask?"

Smith is sure to clear that up.

What is also interesting is the suggestion that 60 Minutes caused the rift and that Smith has been blindsided by these revelations.

The McKinnon book already had a chapter on this scenario ready for publication. The book was written long before 60 Minutes got near him.

The only reason the story ran this week was because the book was to come out in round 19 – what was going to be a Rise for Alex round – and 60 Minutes wanted to get in first. To say that Smith was sideswiped is also hard to swallow. He knew long before Alex blew up that there was a problem. Here is part of the interview with Liz Hayes that didn't go to air, with McKinnon describing how he felt and what he was experiencing in the moments after the tackle.

Hayes: You're feeling very panicked? McKinnon: Yeah. I just – Yeah. I just got, like I just got claustrophobic. I just felt very vulnerable. Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. I just I felt very vulnerable and I just couldn't breathe, and –

Hayes: It's silent?

McKinnon: Yeah.

Hayes: But then you hear some voices? McKinnon: Yeah. Um, I remember just laying there and I remember everyone being – coming in over me and I just remember hearing Cameron Smith and Willie Mason, just they were arguing and that's – I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I just could hear that um, I could just hear Cameron Smith go up to the ref and just saying, um he's done it to himself, he's trying to get a penalty. I just remember being, just obviously angry because of that, and –

Hayes: So in that vulnerable state?

McKinnon: Yeah, I was just angry.

Hayes: You're boiling?

McKinnon: Yeah.

Hayes: You're furious?

McKinnon: Yeah, I ...

Hayes: In fact, you say something.

McKinnon: Yeah. I said, yeah, are you serious, pretty much. Yeah. You could elaborate on that but.

Hayes: A colourful version of that!

McKinnon: Yeah.

Hayes: But you, but you're so angry you feel the need to say –

McKinnon: Yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't happy. Um –

Hayes: In all of that, it's interesting because are you aware now that you can't move?

McKinnon: Yeah.

Here's an item I wrote from March 30 last year, six days after the incident:

Cameron Smith gets it right nearly every time – the way he plays, the way he leads and the way he communicates. There is no better skipper in the competition and he may well be the greatest to have played his position. On Monday night, he got it badly wrong. With a player lying in a brace on a stretcher, it was not the time or place to query a referee's decision, or to state his team's case. The way he talked and made his point was perfectly reasonable. It was considered and respectful. It just should not have happened. His competitiveness should have been placed in his back pocket for a minute and absorbed the situation, and realised it was not right – even though he had no way of knowing what would unfold. The red flag which should have triggered the mute button was the neck brace. Smith was given the opportunity to have his say on the matter at a media conference in Perth on Thursday. He chose not to comment and was unwilling to be drawn on the matter when contacted directly by this column.

At the time of writing that column, like Smith I was aware that the McKinnons were angry with the Storm and the Melbourne captain.

It may be why he didn't want to talk or apologise and it may be why a short time later at an Origin launch at the MCG he refused to do a one-on-one interview with me.

Dave Smith and his media minders intervened – so long as we only discussed Origin. In other words – McKinnon was off limits.

Smith was also asked about whether he had talked to McKinnon at another media conference. The NRL turned the State of Origin captains call into a Rise for Alex launch. Smith was asked if he had talked to McKinnon – the answer was no.

He did say: "He obviously was doing it really tough there for a while, as we all were. I think all players in the game were."

And as for 60 Minutes doctoring the vision they showed Smith of the tackle and what was said on the field – the fact is that they got the vision from The Footy Show – who had previously been sent the vision from Fox Sports for use during a Rise for Alex special. The words that were "left out" of the on-field Smith comments where he said that no one wants to see what had just occurred have also come in for criticism.

I've been told that Alex saw the full version of what Smith said to the referee. 60 Minutes will have their say on that in time.

They will also need to explain why Smith was not asked to represent himself in the episode. They have previously said it was because this was McKinnon's story.

Smith's comments came just before he continued to protest about the penalty and McKinnon's role in the tackle. But surely an admission that something serious had happened would seem to fly in the face of arguments that he didn't know something out of the ordinary had happened.

Mbye's bye baby

Des Hasler loves Moses Mbye for many reasons – one of which is what a great team man he is. And, right on cue, the team man delivered again. He and partner Maddy had their first child last Sunday – on a bye weekend! Baby Mya Kate, who weighed 3.2kg, and mum are doing well and went home Tuesday. A compassionate Des gave Moses a couple of days off and only had him attend Belmore for field sessions ahead of Friday night's clash with the Broncos.

Pumping iron

Guests at the Blues' hotel who were planning a pre-game gym session would have been intimidated. There doing his stuff was NFL hopeful Jarryd Hayne – who looked like he has swallowed Paul Gallen, and nearby was surfing champion Sally Fitzgibbons.

Lowly Origin

There was an Origin reunion for the players who took part in the famous first game in 1980. Strangely the Pinkenba Hotel, a workers' pub in an industrial area of Brisbane , was the choice. The function was very well run but you would have thought the NRL could have taken the players and the event to a big hotel in town and really celebrated the men from 35 years ago who played such a big role in making the game what it is today.

Danny Weidler is a Channel Nine reporter