NRL 2021: Indigenous All Stars v Maori All Stars ends in draw
Latrell Mitchell is crucial to South Sydney’s NRL title bid and his return in the drawn All Stars game went better than planned.
NRL
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Latrell is back.
The NRL’s most electrifying player showed little signs of the hamstring injury that cruelled his 2020 season and sat him on the shelf for six months.
South Sydney fullback Latrell Mitchell made his return to the rugby league arena in Saturday night’s NRL All Stars, setting up a try and coming up with a few daring try-saving tackles.
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Mitchell managed over 60 minutes on the field across two stints for the Indigenous All Stars, a feat that impressed all including the centre himself.
The 10-10 draw at Queensland Country Bank Stadium proved the perfect tester for the 23-year-old as he eyes off a long charge through the 2021 season.
“I didn’t think I was gonna play that long to be honest but I got through it and had a lot more confidence in that back end last 20,” he said.
“I honestly can’t wait for 2021.
“I think the fitness was good too. My match fitness obviously was a bit better than what I thought it was going to be considering I’ve been out for a long time.
“I really enjoyed myself and the atmosphere was awesome and the Maoris really brought it and yeah, we didn’t get the win in the end but that’s how it is.”
The early combinations for South Sydney were also firing with Mitchell working well in the spine alongside Cody Walker while also setting up a try for Rabbitohs teammate Alex Johnson with a deft left foot kick.
“I just knew AJ was gonna run for it so I just did it. I thought I will just go for it and AJ came up with it but a kick is only as good as its chasers,” he said.
“(We were) getting our combinations (right). Me Cody and Alex. I’m really excited. You know, we’ve got the Mudgee trial next week, the Charity Shield, we’ll go into that really confident and build from tonight.”
Mitchell has become one of the faces of the annual All Stars fixture after he took over from Greg Inglis leading the Indigenous war cry before each clash.
It is one of the most electrifying moments when Mitchell stands tall in a circle of his teammates at the start of the dance, and this time in Townsville he took an extra second to soak in the atmosphere of the 20,000 people in the stands.
“I’m proud and honoured to represent my people, my family and where I’m from,” he said.
“I really enjoyed tonight. Our mob got behind us. No matter how far they come from, we were all one tonight and we’re really grateful for their support. I can’t thank them enough.
“I love it (in the circle). I can just feel the energy running through me when I’m standing up and leading the boys. I try and make sure to wait for everyone to be silent to build that energy.
“The things that you get out of that circle is something incredible. Then for me to go up and then show everyone my strength and show all our people that we can be as strong as one. I really enjoyed it.”
Marshall turns back clock in All Stars thriller
Form is temporary, but class, class is permanent.
And Benji Marshall proved it with the 35-year-old’s experience coming to the fore for the Maori All Stars in a match that strangely finished a 10-10 draw.
The Indigenous All Stars had an opportunity to go for the jugular in the dying stages with a penalty right in front, but bafflingly chose to shoot for goal and level the scores despite no golden point in the exhibition clash.
But it was still Marshall’s night after the halfback set-up the first try of the game and his kicking game proved invaluable in the wet conditions at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
It is a far cry from how the 324-game veteran started the year after he was left homeless for 2021 with the Tigers refusing to renew his contract.
But like so many players before him, Marshall was thrown an 11th hour lifeline by master coach Wayne Bennett, and if his efforts for the Maori All Stars are anything to go by, he will be quick to repay the faith.
Indigenous coach Laurie Daley praised his team’s effort in defence to hold on for the four quarters.
“I couldn’t believe we were in front of halftime, to be perfectly honest, I sort of blown away with the efforts in defense and then in the second half,” Daley said.
“They were under the pump all the time and Joshy Curran came across and made a try-saving tackle. I don’t know but I thought they always looked comfortable while defending.
“Obviously with the ball, we were disappointed but just, you know, they were passionate and they were hard and you know they threw a lot at us.”
TOWNSVILLE TURNS OUT
They might have had to wait almost 50 minutes for the first try of the match but it did not deter the more than 20,000 people who braved the wet conditions to watch on at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
The atmosphere was at its most electric during the pre-game rituals with almost all of the crowd hanging on every moment of a passionate Maori haka and Indigenous war dance.
They would erupt in a similar vein when a no-look Marshall pass sent Broncos wrecking ball Jordan Riki across from short range for the opening try and they maintained that spirit through to the end of the 80 minutes.
GOLDEN POINT PERPLEXING
Both teams were left scratching their heads at full-time after a shot at goal from the Indigenous All Stars levelled the scores and the match ended in a draw.
The two teams shared the Arthur Beetson Trophy despite the Maoris winning the clash on the Gold Coast last season.
Indigenous skipper Cody Walker admitted it was a simple communication breakdown between the bench and the middle of the field in the final minnutes.
But Daley said it was a fitting way for the contest to finish.
“It was pretty fitting that, yeah, I think when you look at it as an overall, I mean, of course we wanted to win. We would love to have won. But I think you just saw two passionate, proud cultures just having a crack right until the death,” he said.
“We made it extremely hard on ourselves, we didn’t have any good ball, we turned it over and we were ill-disciplined at times but their commitment to defend and just keep turning up for each other was good to see”
MASTERING THE CONDITIONS
All Stars coaches Daley and David Kidwell both said they would not back down from their game plans despite the looming wet weather.
They would both be left to rue their decision early with the teams coughing up the ball a combined 17 times in the first 40 minutes.
It would lead to a dour affair in the opening half with an Indigenous penalty goal the only difference between the sides at the break.
As the conditions began to ease in the second half, the game opened up with both sides going to their speed men on the edges.
DUO IN HOT WATER
Wests Tigers bad boy Zane Musgrove is likely to miss the opening round of the NRL season after a shoulder charge incident in the opening half.
Musgrove will find himself in hot water with the NRL judiciary, after he was sent to the sin bin in the 36th minute for a blatant shoulder charge on Indigenous All Stars back-rower Tyrell Fuimaono.
Musgrove played six games for the Tigers last season after he spent more than a year out of the game on indecent assault charges, which were later overturned last year.
The Tiger is not the only Maori player who could go before the judiciary with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak likely to come under the match review committee microscope for a late shot on Indigenous halfback Jamal Fogarty.
In an ugly incident midway through the first half, Watene-Zelezniak dived at the legs of Fogarty after he sent a bomb high into the Townsville sky. The NRL has put an emphasis on protecting kickers in recent seasons and could send an early message by punishing the Maori skipper.
Watene-Zelezniak was involved in another ugly incident later in the match when he hit Alex Johnston high in an awkward falling effort.
EXPERIENCE SHINES THROUGH AS MAORI ALL STARS RUN RIOT
While speed and agility can break open a game, when the rain begins to tumble there is no accounting for experience.
And it was the Maori All Stars experience in the middle of the field that dominated the Indigenous All Stars women at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Led by Queensland Maroons front-rower Rona Peters and steered by experienced halves Raecene McGregor and Zehara Tamara the Maori side proved too strong for their Indigenous counterparts running out 24-0 winners.
Peters was a dominant force in the middle of the park, running for more than 100 metres and bending back the Indigenous line with every carry.
The visitors landed two blows early in the first quarter before the rain took hold with halfback Tamara having a hand in both four-pointers. From their it was a case of simple, smart footy as their halves took control of the game.
NO HALF MEASURES
The Maori All Stars halves Raecene McGregor and Zehara Tamara worked tirelessly off the back of a staunch display from their forward pack.
At times it seemed the pair had an age to use the ball behind the advantage line, and picked out their ball runners with ease.
Tamara had the ball on a string in the first quarter having the final hand in two tries, while McGregor proved the perfect support scoring two of her own.
Their best moment came when they combined together off the back of a scrum in attacking territory to send young winger, and Raecene’s sister, Page McGregor in untouched in the corner.
Maori coach Keith Hanley said the experience in the halves, and throughout the squad was the difference in Townsville.
“We couldn’t possibly have scripted that. Obviously, still a very competitive contest and credit to the Indigenous side. They never faded, they never went away and we want to re-emphasise our love and respect for them,” he said.
“We are very fortunate, we have a spine who are a very gifted group and they certainly came together today and were all singing from the same theme song.
“The quality of depth that we have and I’m talking not just the skillset but the character of the people you are talking about, we’re very fortunate to currently have that in our group.”
WET COSTS INDIGENOUS FLAIR
They were held scoreless for the first time in the annual fixture, but it was not for a lack of trying from the Indigenous side.
They had their opportunities with the ball, and were impressive using their edge players to expose the slower Maori All Stars defenders.
They made more tackle breaks than the opposition and fewer missed tackles but were let down by their handling in the wet conditions.
The Indigenous All Stars made nine errors with the ball, with at least five coming inside the Maori red zone with the home side on the attack.
Indigenous captain Tallisha Harden refused to use the wet weather as an excuse for her side’s ball handling, but conceded it cost them any chance to get back into the game.
“We probably can’t even use the weather or the humidity as an excuse, you know we’ve been training in it the whole week,” she said.
“We had a moment in that first quarter to find out what the pace was like and how breezy the ball was. Bourkey (coach Ian Bourke) spoke about it before the game that there might be some errors, there might be some drop ball and we just had to play to the conditions.
“In patches there we really showed that we could string some really nice plays together but I think possession just hurt us in the end.”
HAIR-RAISING MOMENT
The energy in the Maori All Stars camp was ignited well before the opening siren when teenage forward Mya Hill-Moana defied her age to lead the side in a fearsome version of the haka.
It was a powerful moment of unity and strength from the Maori side that would form the foundation of their play style through the middle of the park.
Hill-Moana led the team on another emotional haka tribute to captain Corban McGregor after she took to the stage to accept the Fanning-Murphy Trophy in the post-match presentation.
Raecene McGregor collected the Trish Heina Medal for player of the match after her two-try effort. McGregor left the field midway through the final quarter after receiving a nasty head knock attempting to make a tackle on her line.
Hanley said there was some early concern for a neck issue, but the five-eighth had been cleared of any serious injury after the match.
MAORI ALL STARS 24 (Racene McGregor 2, Turner, Parker, Page McGregor tries; Zehara Tamara 2/5 goals) def INDIGENOUS ALL STARS 0
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