South Sydney’s decline suggests a return to the bad old days, with golden boy AWOL again.
Unlike Greg Inglis’s Rabbitohs fairytale, Latrell Mitchell is dealing with the responsibilities that comes with the number one jersey.
He came at Redfern overweight, with nagging injuries, and under a cloud of negative news. But he was a champion, a representative player at the state and national levels, and an Indigenous talisman. South Sydney understood this man might reignite a golden age.
He had debuted as a youth and won premierships as a centre, but his true calling was as a fullback. That is where the premium vehicles in rugby league are parked, and that is why they are so expensive. With number one on his back, the champion colt became
Greg Inglis, not Latrell Mitchell, arrived at Souths in 2011, moved to fullback in 2012, and delivered a premiership in 2014, the first in 43 years for a club plagued by wasted potential, bad luck, shady management, and poor on-field outcomes.
Those similar criticisms are being leveled against the 2024 Rabbitohs, who are lowest on the NRL ladder after a 1-4 start, putting coach Jason Demetriou’s career on the line this weekend. And where is his No. 1 star, Mitchell? Suspended again for a risky contact charge.
For rusty red and green machine members, it’s a sorrowful return to the bad old days. South Sydney’s slump may be their worst start to a season since 2008, but they went 0-7 before winning, and 0-12 before winning in 2006.
This is awful. Souths, the NRL’s most devastating attacking side , lacks flair and appears unhappy. Their Origin players are clearly out of form, and one, senior hooker Damien Cook, has recently been dropped. With an internal assessment underway and the season in free fall, heads are being sought. Mitchell’s melons, worth $875,000 per year, are the tallest above the parapet.
After Inglis provided the 2014 fairytale, Mitchell’s 2020 signing was supposed to cement a decade of Rabbitohs dominance. The NRL’s brightest star and its oldest club, none other than his father’s, with the NRL’s most extensive Indigenous history. Mitchell mostly came to play fullback.
Fullbacks are rugby league superstars. The No. 1 shirt carries both power and responsibility. They play behind the lines, diffusing high kicks and making try-saving tackles, but they spearhead their teams, inverting the arrow of attack to explode past the line.
Mitchell, meanwhile, has not produced in the same way that Inglis has. He also takes a lot of heat for it, with rival fans regularly booing and jeering him. However, statistics do important. In four seasons with the Roosters, he played 96 games and scored 65 tries. In the same period at Souths, injury and suspension have resulted in only 64 games and 34 tries.
Mitchell is not only playing less games and scoring fewer points with less effect, but he has also not been available for Souths when they needed him the most. He was injured when they fell one game short of the grand final in 2010 and suspended during their unsuccessful attempt to reach the finals in 2023.
