Paul Kent: South Sydney’s Book of Feuds stirs the plot for Latrell Mitchell’s season-ending tackle

Souths were the authors of their own demise against the Roosters as both teams lost the plot. But the plot that needs to be deleted is from the incendiary Book of Feuds, PAUL KENT writes.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 27: Latrell Mitchell of the Rabbitohs reacts after scoring a try during the round 24 NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium on August 27, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

As fresh chapters of the Book of Feuds are rushed to the printers for the latest edition, figuratively speaking, is it fair to ask whether the Rabbitohs finally outsmarted themselves?

The Book of Feuds was commissioned some years back and regarded as something of an inside joke around the game, a cheeky record of the tremendous evils the Roosters had inflicted on South Sydney in more than a hundred years of rivalry.

That it came with a theatrical twist added to its cheek.

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The Book of Feuds turned very ugly with Latrell Mitchell’s hit on Joey Manu.

A purposely placed layer of dust would be blown from its pages before some distant sin the Roosters delivered upon them would be read aloud to the Souths players.

The only people who could ever take it seriously were South Sydney, but they did.

Then somewhere along the line it all turned real, the rivalry turning spiteful.

Now, with Latrell Mitchell suspended for the rest of the season, it might be worth Souths asking whether they have been the authors of their own demise.

Everybody around Mitchell knows he is a highly emotional player and that, if left unchecked, it can often get the better of him.

Instead of allowing Mitchell to drown in the emotion of the rivalry between the two clubs, with the added jolt of being a former Rooster himself, the Rabbitohs should have understood their player better and instead spent the week levelling his emotions.

The Roosters, for instance, were always on alert whenever Mitchell played and his father was in the grandstand, knowing that it meant so much for him to play well that he often stepped over the line, his emotions spilling over into irrational acts.

It was all there to see again last Friday, where more than a few lost their cool.

While the rivalry was always genuine, it has stepped up in recent years until, ultimately, it ended up where it was on Friday night when one man ended up in hospital and another, a friend, disqualified himself for the rest of the season, giving himself no part in his team’s premiership chase.

Joey Manu’s face will be one of the sad reminders of the Roosters-Rabbitohs clash.

Joey Manu went to surgery and Mitchell was suspended for six weeks, his season gone.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson had to cool his bench after Mitchell hit Manu.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves abused Mitchell from the sideline and had to be calmed.

In the final display of the farce it has become, the NRL said it will not investigate because no official complaint was made. Yet plenty of behind the scenes phone calls were made by South Sydney types to fuel the accusations.

In all, it was a costly error from the Rabbitohs, their sour joke finally gone bad.

It has come back to injure the Rabbitohs and their premiership chances.

Coach Wayne Bennett did his best after the game to suggest Souths can still win it all without Mitchell, but it was the only choice he had.

And true, they can still win, it will just be a whole lot more difficult.

The overlooked irony for the Rabbitohs is that when the two clubs played earlier this season it was the Roosters who failed to handle it emotionally and suffered for it.

Both sides lost on Friday.

Mitchell had no idea of the damage he had done.

He was shocked at the damage he caused Manu.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves had a run-in with his former Roosters teammate, Latrell Mitchell.

There was a brief moment shortly after, when he recognised the damage to Manu’s face that he had caused, that he reached out to stroke it, as if in apology.

He was quickly pushed aside by angry Roosters.

Mitchell was red-lining emotionally, the tackle clearly emotional effort.

Mitchell came across the field and charged Manu with some ferocity, his shoulder smashing Manu’s cheekbone.

The tackle has been defended in some quarters, experts claiming how the tackle happened at such speed, while trying to save a try, gave Mitchell no other choice.

It is a rubbish claim.

We cannot, on one hand, marvel at the split-second decision making of athletes at high speed, acrobatically catching a ball and scoring in the corner, for instance, and then make excuses when it fails.

While nobody would suggest Mitchell intended to fracture Manu’s cheekbone, or even hit him high, it was a reckless action.

Roosters captain James Tedesco addresses Latrell Mitchell. Picture: NRL Imagery

Most agree Mitchell arrived with an intent to hurt Manu, if not injure him, by colliding hard into him.

Just a week earlier it all went right for Mitchell when he crashed into David Fifita metres out from the try line and stopped him in his tracks.

How did this one go wrong? Maybe he was too emotionally charged to check himself.

Mitchell was sin-binned but came back on to score a try, slamming the ball down next to the head of Fletcher Baker.

Again, it was an emotional response. The angry slam made Mitchell look unsympathetic and petulant.

Once the game was over Mitchell tried to find Manu in the dressing room, unaware he was being readied for a trip to hospital, and was abused by Roosters enforcer Waerea-Hargreaves.

He turned and headed back to his dressing room.

Many lost the plot Friday but, when it finally cools down, maybe the plot that needs to be deleted is from the incendiary Book of Feuds.

Originally published as Paul Kent: South Sydney’s Book of Feuds stirs the plot for Latrell Mitchell’s season-ending tackle