‘He’s not a fullback:’ Andrew Johns reveals big concern for Latrell Mitchell move
Latrell Mitchell is expected to line up for the Indigenous All Stars at fullback this weekend, but Andrew Johns says he’s making a mistake.
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Latrell Mitchell is expected to line up for the Indigenous All Stars at fullback this weekend, but Andrew Johns says he’s making a mistake.
Mitchell switched from Bondi to Redfern this summer, with the sole motivator of his move appearing to revolve around his desire to play fullback.
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The two-time premiership winner has often said the No. 1 spot is the one he grew up playing and knows best.
Even speaking before the Indigenous All-Stars match, Mitchell said he hopes to replicate hero Greg Inglis and “change the game” at fullback at new NRL home South Sydney.
“There are different fullbacks. You have Teddy (Roosters’ James Tedesco) and there was Billy Slater - little nippy fellas,” Mitchell said. “But Greg changed the game for big fullbacks. I am not a little nippy fella so I want to be smart, I need to be in position earlier.
“Guys like Teddy, they can whip around and run around corners and that’s how they are.
“For me I want to change the game for a big fullback.”
Mitchell also said the whole point of moving on from the Roosters was “to go and challenge myself”.
Mitchell will be taking notes from Indigenous assistant and former North Queensland No.1 Matt Bowen on the finer points of fullback play ahead of the All Stars clash.
Johns, however, thinks that Wayne Bennett’s plan to shift Mitchell there risks reducing his impact and devastating ability to turn a game on its head.
“He’s only been there back training for about a month, but he’s an out and out centre” Johns told WWOS.
‘He’s not a fullback, for me the workload of a fullback will dull his effectiveness.
“Fullbacks run probably twice as far and more intense than a centre.
“If I was coaching Latrell, I’d bring him into fullback in cameo roles, purely in attacking situations – dropouts or scrums or penalties.
“I just think coming out of his own half will be wasted doing a lot of that work around the middle of the field. He’s the best strike centre in the game.
“In the grand final, the Roosters are paddling, they’re going backwards, they give him the ball, flick pass, Tupou, Tedesco scores. Nobody else in the world can do that.”
NSW coach Brad Fittler, who sat alongside Johns in the debate said he could see Mitchell making a success of the switch.
Late last year, Fittler said: “There’s obviously challenges playing fullback.
“I’m gathering he’d have to get a little bit fitter and if you look at the ground they cover at the moment, fullbacks, it is a tough job.
“You wouldn’t go into that lightly.
“But you look at Greg Inglis, he’s not the most aerobically fit bloke.
“Jarryd Hayne, they all did really good jobs at fullback.
“He’ll make it his own if he ends up playing there, I’m sure.”
Originally published as ‘He’s not a fullback:’ Andrew Johns reveals big concern for Latrell Mitchell move