‘Quietest man in ruby league’: Latrell Mitchell ‘ban’ exposes vanishing act
Rabbitohs superstar Latrell Mitchell has quietly snuck under the radar with one act he has hidden from fans in 2025.
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Latrell Mitchell has quietly gone under the radar while taking a big step away from the spotlight this year.
The Rabbitohs star returned with a bang as he came up with several moments of magic in South Sydney’s win over the Roosters at Accor Stadium on Friday.
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The win was the Bunnies’ fourth of the season as Mitchell fired a stunning triple cut-out pass for Isaiah Tass to score a crucial late try to break the deadlock when it looked like the Roosters would run away with it.
Mitchell’s willingness to take control of the contest is further proof of just how special he is, with the superstar fullback starting at centre and then finishing in the halves.
Just about the only thing missing from the 27-year-old’s performance was a post-match interview.
Mitchell has rarely spoken publicly this year to the point that The Courier-Mail last month called him “the quietest man in rugby league”.
His move to avoid the TV cameras continued on Friday night where he did not speak to Channel 9 on camera despite his return from injury being the biggest talking point of the match. He was also awarded three Dally M points as the second best player on the field behind teammate Jye Gray.
NRL immortal Andrew Johns entered the Rabbitohs dressing room after the game, but didn’t come across Mitchell when doing his roaming reporting role for Nine — instead asking Rabbitohs players countless times about the return of their mercurial backline utility.
It has now come to light that the Rabbitohs have given TV and radio networks warnings that they should not expect post-game interviews with Mitchell.
Yahoo Sport Australia reports the club supports Mitchell’s decision to steer clear of interviews. However, the NRL club reportedly does not view Mitchell’s stance as a media “ban” because club officials have left the final word on interview requests to the man himself.
“He is keeping his head down and has our full support in doing that,” a Rabbitohs spokesperson has said.
Bennett said the exact same thing when speaking before and after Mitchell’s return to the field on Friday.
The seven-time premiership coach last week praised Mitchell for his quiet start to the year.
“He’s just grown up, accepted his responsibilities — young family, three young children — and I think its dawned on him that they need a good dad,” Bennett told reporters.
“He’s done that [grown up], he’s been showing you all that with the way that he’s physically presented himself, and he hasn’t been a headline for 12 months. He’s done great.”
It is a very different tale to 12 months ago when Mitchell left the NRL’s Las Vegas season-opening week with headlines surrounding his ugly post-match interview with Triple M.
Mitchell at the time insisted that there was no intent or malice in the expletive-laden radio interview he conducted with the network.
Mitchell said at one point in the interview: “I don’t care if I’m swearing, boys.
“Honestly f***, it was s***, the first bit, it was a hard game, f***.”
On the flip side of Mitchell’s more prominent media appearances last year, he was also widely praised for a raw, emotional interview he gave at the time explaining why he had acted as he did in Las Vegas — while also declaring himself available to play for NSW in the 2024 State of Origin series.
It appears fans will not be getting the good, bad and ugly of Mitchell in front of the camera any time soon.
The good news for Bunnies fans is that the lower-profile version of Mitchell appears to be rediscovering some of his best form and will be carrying it into Souths’ next clash against the Cowboys on Saturday.
Originally published as ‘Quietest man in ruby league’: Latrell Mitchell ‘ban’ exposes vanishing act
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