NRL 2024: Latrell Mitchell struggles in return as Dragons win 28-14 over South Sydney Rabbitohs

Latrell Mitchell had a night to forget in his return from suspension, as Dragons stars Zac Lomax and Jaydn Su’A pressed their claims for Origin selection after heaping more misery on Souths.

Latrell Mitchell had a night to forget in his return from suspension, capitalised by an air swing that led to a Dragons try. Picture: Getty Images

St George Illawarra continued South Sydney’s season from hell with a 28-14 win at Kogarah Oval on Saturday evening.

And it was a rev up from coach Shane Flanagan that sent the Dragons forwards into overdrive.

It was smart by Flanagan given Souths have been struggling in the middle of the field all season.

Dragons prop Francis Molo took on the South Sydney forwards and won with a tough display in the middle.

He was well supported by Jack De Belin who came off the bench to run for more than 130m from 17 carries.

Zac Lomax produced some moments of brilliance, scoring a try and kicking his second two-point field goal of the season so far. Picture: Getty Images

Flanagan knew where the weakness was.

“We’ve put a focus on our back five for eight of the nine games so far but I really put the heat on our middle forwards today to stand up against the South Sydney pack and get over the top of them and I thought they did that,” Flanagan said.

The home side wasn’t dominant but was in control for most of the match as Ben Hunt and Kyle Flanagan killed the visitors with their short kicking behind the line which resulted in two tries.

Flanagan wasn’t as comfortable in the coaches’ box despite the fact his men never looked in danger of losing.

“You’ve got to be careful against sides with Cody, Latrell and Jack Wighton in them,” Flanagan said.

“We’re not at that point just at the moment where we can defend a 12-point lead and put the cue in the rack and just roll set after set.

“I thought Souths competed very hard but there were some moments that I thought we won more than they did.

“I thought we fought for longer to get the result.”

While Jaydn Su’A put up his hand for a Maroons recall. Picture: Getty Images

The win keeps St George in touch with the top eight which skipper Ben Hunt said was a pass mark heading into a bye next weekend.

“If you told me at the start of the year that if we went into that bye at five and five we’d probably take it,” Hunt said.

“We’ve been pretty up and down and patchy but we’ve shown we can play good footy at times but we can switch off for little periods.”

The positive for Souths is they play the Cowboys, Parramatta and the Titans in the next month which are winnable games.

They’re just struggling in the forwards which isn’t helping Cody Walker who is also without his halfback.

“There’s some sad boys in there with the loss and they’re disappointed but it was an improved performance and we’ve just got to build on that and hopefully things will turn,” Walker said.

The Rabbitohs have become the first club to concede at least 28 points eight times through nine matches of an NRL season.

Latrell Mitchell had a night to forget in his return from suspension, capitalised by an air swing that led to a Dragons try. Picture: Getty Images

HE AIN’T A FULLBACK

Latrell Mitchell isn’t a fullback.

Jack Bird’s try in the 26th minute was evident of that.

As the Dragons spread the ball wide, Mitchell was just jogging across at fullback.

Had he been rushing across like Dylan Edwards does all the time, he would’ve had a great chance to stop the try.

In the 59th minute Mitchell didn’t get across again in time to stop second rower Jaydn Su’A diving on a ball to score off a grubber kick.

This has been happening for years. Go back and watch the highlights of the 2022 preliminary final.

Souths coach Ben Hornby wasn’t too critical of Mitchell but acknowledged he made a few errors.

“He wasn’t too bad. He had some nice moments, but again, there were a couple of kicks he didn’t clean up,” Hornby said.