Thurston's brutal call on Latrell as Rabbitohs fullback set to be rubbed out by NRL

Yahoo

25-04-2025

Johnathan Thurston has predicted Latrell Mitchell will be suspended after the South Sydney star was sin-binned for a high tackle on Sua Fa'alogo on Friday night. Mitchell hit the Melbourne Storm winger in the head with his shoulder after Fa'alogo passed the ball following a break.
Fa'alogo fell into the tackle due to the wet conditions, but Mitchell still made heavy contact with his opponent's head - who failed his HIA and will now miss next week's match against Canberra in Magic Round as well. Opinion is heavily divided on whether Mitchell should be suspended, with many of the believe he didn't do much wrong and tried his best to lower his body to avoid high contact.
But the fact the hit was so late will work against Mitchell, as well as his poor disciplinary record. The Rabbitohs fullback was charged five times last season, including a three-game ban for dangerous contact to the head of Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson.
Considering his poor record and the 'loading' he'll have from previous charges, it's hard to see how Mitchell won't be banned. And according to Thurston it might be a multi-week stint on the sidelines.
'He comes flying in, pretty aggressively,' Thurston said on Channel 9. 'Direct contact to the head. I think he does have a case to answer – it could be a couple of weeks.'
Andrew Johns pointed out that Mitchell had a duty of care because Fa'alogo had already passed the ball. "Latrell Mitchell just spears into Fa'alogo, who is looking for Tyran Wishart on the inside," he said. "Oh Latrell Mitchell. He could be in serious trouble."
On Fox League, commentator Dan Ginnane said: 'That doesn't look pretty for Latrell Mitchell, who has a wretched history when it comes to the judiciary. He's been found over a dozen times guilty.
'And if that holds up, he's going to miss time. That's pretty ugly. That looked a hell of a lot worse than those slow motion (replays).'
But Greg Alexander suggested there were mitigating factors because Fa'alogo slipped. "Sua Fa'alogo was two feet off the ground by the time Latrell hit him and we're watching in slow motion, which makes everything looks worse,' Alexander said. 'Very hard to change. Latrell had bent his back. If Sua Fa'alogo stays at normal height, Latrell hits him in the waist.'
Storm coach Craig Bellamy and five-eighth Cameron Munster were also quick to defend Mitchell. "I just think in the game now, there's a lot of, when people get hit high, they're dropping," Bellamy said in his press conference.
"I don't know whether ... sometimes, you can't control that. I know it's a dangerous place to go to pick ones out that you think could or couldn't have controlled it, so I don't think anyone's going to go there, but I don't think there was too much malice in it. But I only had a quick look at it."
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Munster added: "I know we're trying to protect a lot of players with obviously the head knocks and stuff, but I'm probably on the side of Craig. It's slippery out there, it's wet, force on force, a lot of speed.
"Sua's very quick, Latrell's very big and I don't know where you want Latrell to go there. Sua's obviously trying to engage him to be able to pass and he slipped over, so I feel like sometimes it's hard to get yourself out of those positions when you're fully in and into the contact."
Souths are already missing the likes of Cody Walker, Cameron Murray and Jamie Humphreys, and can ill-afford to have Mitchell on the sidelines again as well. Melbourne's 24-16 win saw them remain in second place on the NRL ladder, while the Rabbitohs have dropped out of the top-eight.