‘He'll be playing': Latrell Mitchell to play for Souths on Saturday as Keaon Koloamatangi cleared to take on Storm

News.com.au

6 hours ago

South Sydney has received a double boost with Latrell Mitchell set to back-up just three days after Origin, while influential front-rower Keaon Koloamatangi will also play despite initial fears he could need surgery on a nasty facial injury.
While those two are key ins, the Rabbitohs will be without injured duo Cody Walker and Campbell Graham for another week, while coach Wayne Bennett also confirmed Lewis Dodd would not start at five-eighth against the Storm.
Mitchell's inclusion is a big boost for a team fighting to stay in touch with the top eight, with the superstar fullback keen to play just days after the Blues were beaten in Perth.
'He'll be playing, he'll be captain of the team and he's all good,' Bennett said.
'It's really important for us with other players missing. He's happy and he wants to play, so that's good.'
The Rabbitohs have endured a horror run of injuries this year, with Bennett revealing skipper Cam Murray is about to start running again as he eyes a return later this year from an achilles rupture.
Koloamatangi has been huge for them since moving to the middle, with medical staff clearing him to play after he suffered a suspected fractured eye socket last week.
Keaon Koloamatangi has been named on an extended bench for the Rabbitohs this week - could he play just one week after suffering an eye socket fracture?
It’s not common but it’s been done before! Even if it isn’t quite this week I think SuperCoach/Fantasy players will be happy. pic.twitter.com/v4A64Qb3iO
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) June 17, 2025
'He didn't need any surgery and the doctor was quite confident that it won't be a problem for him,' Bennett said.
'He's happy and he's confident, so we'll go ahead and let him play.
'You can't question their toughness and their wanting to play for the club. They don't want to let the other players down if they can avoid that.'
Bennett confirmed Walker had signed an extension at the club for 2026 and isn't concerned about the veteran five-eighth who has battled several soft tissue injuries.
'Cody should be back next week and Campbell should be back next week,' he said.
'They were close today, but they just weren't right.
'It just happens sometimes that you have a bad run with injuries. Most of them have been minor, so we're confident (Walker will be fine going forward).'
Jack Wighton had a field day at left centre when the Rabbitohs went to Melbourne earlier in the year, but he'll shift to five-eighth and replace Dodd who was named in the halves but was unlikely to ever play there.
'I haven't really had a conversation with him because I told them on Tuesday that it probably wouldn't be the team anyway because I didn't know what was going on with Origin and other people's injuries,' Bennett explained.
'I only really announced the team this morning to the players, so they didn't know what they were doing.
'Cody trained with us on Wednesday and we thought he might have been playing.'