Paul Kent: Latrell Mitchell’s ‘daring’ tactic embarrasses the NRL

The NRL’s empty chase for consistency with the intervention of the bunker has added to the confusion in the game, and Latrell Mitchell made the most of it, writes PAUL KENT.

Souths superstar Latrell Mitchell.

On Sunday afternoon Latrell Mitchell paraphrased from The Book of Lombardi, telling us: “I’ve been bashed down 10 times and I’ve got up 11.”

It was stirring stuff, to be sure. Midday movies are built on such stuff, with a soft focus and inspiring soundtrack.

Alas, by Tuesday morning a fresher version emerged, which went something along the lines that Mitchell was bashed down six times, laid down four and got up 11.

A couple of penalties were tossed in for good measure, which all seemed to be worth the cost.

The truth is no longer the truth in rugby league nowadays, at least as you and I grew up identifying it.

This is no knock on Mitchell, who shines like a 100-watt bulb and is just about everything you want to see in rugby league nowadays.

Latrell Mitchell waits for referee Ashley Klein to make a call after a tackle.

Still, it doesn’t mean you could take to the bank every sentence that is being uttered.

Or should.

Mitchell confused even himself on Tuesday when he tried to explain his version of what happened on Sunday, when the absurdities of what the game has become were revealed.

It was the old yesterday I was lying, today I’m telling the truth defence.

Specifically, Mitchell responded to the moment in the game when he suffered what appeared a glancing blow at best while being tackled, the kind that wiped the hair from his forehead.

Instead of rising to play the ball, though, he slowly placed the ball on the ground, took a knee, and looked at referee Ashley Klein to see what he was going to do about it.

One option was Klein could have blown the whistle for a knock-on in the play-the-ball. You simply can’t leave the ball on the ground in front of you like that.

Instead, he fell foul of where the game is heading, referees second-guessing themselves on the field knowing they have the safety blanket of the referees bunker to call upon.

Latrell Mitchell defended his on-field actions on Tuesday.

The bunker checked it out and identified the incidental contact.

“I didn’t do anything, I didn’t lay down,” Mitchell said on Tuesday, which was technically true. “I got up on my knee and looked at the ref thinking pretty much ‘what’s going on’.”

Regardless of the details, whether he was actually laying down or kneeling, the effect was the same.

Mitchell’s knee and his refusal to get up and play the ball gave Klein enough time to blow the famous short whistle, which gave the bunker enough time to replay the tackle and decree some contact was made, and then inform Klein that under the rules a penalty was called for.

Mitchell could have played the ball.

His inquisitive look at the referee suggests he wasn’t truly hurt enough to stay down. It happened several other times as well.

As he continued to mount yesterday’s defence, he conceded he was aware of the bunker’s increased role in on-field decisions — while in the same moment denying he exploited them.

Latrell Mitchell copped plenty of attention from the Roosters. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

“Well, the bunker has taken over the game … but that’s the game of rugby league at the moment,” he said. “You can call it as it is but we don’t lay down for penalties, we don’t look for it. It is what it is.

“Like I said, I had a situation happen in that game. For us now, it’s not to focus on what’s happened or what everyone is saying, it’s about what we can do today and tomorrow.”

The take away from all this is that the clubs have once again found the bubble in the carpet.

When the NRL realised the video bunker had a chance to review a tackle when a player stayed down to see if a foul had occurred, players quickly realised this and began laying down no matter how incidental the contact.

It was an opportunity to get ahead of what was happening on the field.

Right up until the clubs became aware of it. Having pushed down the bubble in one area, the clubs are now popping up in another.

Referee Ashley Klein and Rabbitohs skipper Cameron Murray. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

It has got to ridiculous extremes now, like on Sunday when Klein saw not much at all in the contact on Mitchell but his refusal to play the ball, daring the bunker to step in, which took the bait and stepped in and ordered a penalty to Souths.

For all the venom in the game, this was not part of it.

But the bunker had no choice because another absurdity in the game is the empty chase for consistency, with the short betting saying that if the bunker had not intervened then somebody would have found a previous incident where it did and the bunker would have been lambasted for its inconsistency in decisions.

At some point we have to concede that discretion and consistency cannot coexist in rugby league.

Yet the commentary around the game — from not just the media but the coaches and players and fans, as well — swings from one end to the other, depending on the purpose.

If memory says an incident is similar to a previous incident, we want consistency. If we don’t believe it was worth a penalty, even though, technically, it should be, we want discretion.

The worst thing is the game does not know what it wants so no clear message ever emerges from headquarters.

The solution isn’t eliminating the bubble, but explaining it so fans accept it.

The league simply reacts from one incident to the next, preferring this and wanting that, confusing us all, including Latrell Mitchell.

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