Latrell Mitchell is staring down the barrel a lengthy stint on the sidelines following Friday’s dangerous tackle on Roosters star Joey Manu.
South Sydney Rabbitohs fullback Latrell Mitchell is staring down the barrel a lengthy stint on the sidelines following Friday evening’s high tackle on Sydney Roosters centre Joey Manu.
In the 57th minute of the Round 24 clash at Suncorp Stadium, Mitchell was sin-binned and put on report for a dangerous tackle that sent his former teammate to hospital.
Given the heavy contact of the hit and his history at the NRL judiciary this year, where he was earlier suspended for four weeks on a grade two dangerous contact charge, Mitchell is facing the strong possibility of a premature ending to his season.
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“This has ramifications. Oh my goodness,” Fox League commentator Dan Ginnane said.
“Now Latrell Mitchell has been charged three times this year. He gets no benefits when it comes to discounts.”
Penrith Panthers great Greg Alexander elaborated: “That does look bad. That looks like a cheekbone injury. That was awfully swollen. I know his eye puffed up but underneath the eye is swollen as well.”
Former Roosters teammate Cooper Cronk believes Latrell’s season could be over.
“He has already had one similar charge with David Nofoaluma in Round 6 and missed four weeks,” Cronk said on Fox League.
“He has got priors. I think Souths have to make the grand final for Latrell to play again. You think about it next week is one. Finals week one is two. They win that or lose that’s three and preliminary final is four.
“That is four weeks takes you to a grand final. He is that important. Latrell Mitchell played the house down tonight in terms of his performance, but he is going to miss the majority of this season to come.”
The rugby league community reacted with fury at Mitchell’s dangerous tackle, which left Manu with a suspected fractured cheekbone.
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield tweeted: “The NRL cannot allow Latrell Mitchell to play again this year. It was both reckless and deliberate. Can’t believe he got only 10 minutes. It’s a disgrace.
“The person in the bunker and the referee need to be stood down for as long as Latrell is suspended. Steve Chiddy, who missed the Kaufusi hit on Matterson, was stood down for a month. The same should happen.”
The Australian’s Brent Read posted: “Can’t buy into the argument that if you played the game, you will understand things can go wrong. Fact is if it goes wrong, you get suspended. You don’t need to play the game to understand that. Go hard, go soft. It doesn’t matter. Get it wrong and you pay the price.”
Fox League commentator Warren Smith tweeted: “I think it’s fair to say, had the bunker and the referee got the Mitchell high tackle punishment correct, none of the crap that’s happened since would have occurred. None of the officials from this game should be involved in the finals.
“Remember, it was only a few weeks ago that the Mitchell tackle on Manu would have been an automatic send-off. The crackdown was a four week farce, and what has happened since proves it.
“The game has been turned inside-out over the past 12 months with so many rule changes and interpretation twists that the fans don’t know what’s happening and neither do in-game officials.
“We’ve gone from the bunker not knowing how to react sufficiently to foul play, to the NRL’s massive over-reaction for four weeks until they couldn’t stand the criticism anymore, and now back to wherever the hell we are now. The officials are lost, and so is the game.”
AAP reporter Scott Bailey posted: “South Sydney’s season copped a far bigger hit tonight than the Roosters’. At best, Latrell won’t play again this season until the grand final. Absolute madness.”
In a bad-tempered post-match press conference, Roosters coach Trent Robinson said the performance of the match officials was “laughable”.
“It took Joey to stand up and stick up for himself with a depressed fracture of the cheekbone and they still didn’t want to do anything about it. Henry Perenara in the bunker didn’t stop play. Ashley (Klein) asked them to play on and then the players went at it again. Then they missed it again,” Robinson fumed.
“Perenara is up in the box doesn’t do a thing about it for 30, 40, 50 seconds. It is a common theme this year about the NRL and bunker not looking after our players. The guy is off in hospital and they send him for ten in the bin, ten in the bin. It was laughable. A guy will finish the year for a late shot on the head.”
He said the referees “didn’t know what they were doing”.
“How do you send that for ten in the bin? A guy will finish the year based on a late shot to the head, and it’s ten minutes in the bin? You cannot make decisions, if that’s your decision,” Robinson said.
“Get out of there. If you can’t do it, get out of there. Or just get rid of it (the bunker) completely. Get rid of it completely. If you cannot do the job, get out of there. It’s shown that the NRL bunker cannot do their job this year. It’s been a farce, an absolute farce.”
The Rabbitohs secured a crushing 54-12 victory over the Roosters on Friday, their 19th win of the 2021 premiership.
No NRL team has ever conceded 50 points in a match and won a premiership.
– with Joel Gould, NCA NewsWire
Originally published as ‘Madness’: Rugby league community fumes at Latrell Mitchell’s dangerous tackle