And now the duo are urging Indigenous athletes to channel Pemulwuy’s spirit to become the modern-day fighters against racism and inequality.

Mitchell has picked up the baton from Anthony Mundine and Adam Goodes to become today’s athlete-activist calling out racial abuse and raising awareness of Indigenous issues, though it has come at a personal cost.

The 23-year-old has received shocking racist comments on social media and resulted in two men being charged by police. One, 25-year-old Daniel Hudson of Lake Munmorah, pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass and offend at Wyong Local Court last Wednesday.

Mitchell has received hundreds of abusive messages, yet instead of ignoring them, made the courageous stand to call them out. And now he is asking his Indigenous sporting peers to follow his lead.

“We are like Pemulwuy, that’s how we’ve got to think about it, we are the warriors that are leading from the front,” Mitchell said.

Pemulway was the most feared Aboriginal warrior in the late 1700s, fighting British colonisers for 12 years before he was shot and killed in 1810.

Pemulway’s silhouette was featured on the back of South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Indigenous jersey, worn by Mitchell and Cody Walker in Saturday’s evening’s match against Parramatta.

Before the game, Mitchell and Walker spoke about their pride in their culture and the challenges they’ve faced, in an interview with Fox Sports journalist Jake Duke.

WE CANNOT BE SILENT

Mitchell said he no longer wants Indigenous athletes remain silent about abuse they receive.

“I didn’t second-guess myself, you’re either in it or you’re out, you’re silent or you’re not,” Mitchell said.

“That’s the choice I made. For the next generation coming through, you’ve got to own it, you’ve got to be resilient.

“You’ve got to know what’s coming, but then again sometimes you’re not going to know what’s coming, that’s when it comes back to the character-building.

“We don’t want to go backwards anymore.

“It felt like Aboriginal sportsmen and women just haven’t shown what it’s like to be Aboriginal and proud and stand up for their rights. Me and Cody are starting to set the precedent for that now.”

Mitchell, who joined Souths last year from Sydney Roosters where he won two premierships, has inspired Walker with his fortitude.

“He’s such a big figure in our game, great athlete, he’s only 23 and he just cops it,” Walker said.

“He’s played over 100 first grade games, he’s played for Australia, NSW, won two comps, top pointscorer and he’s 23.

“It’s a credit to him that’s he’s still the same Latrell that I’ve always known. I admire the strength and resilience that he’s shown but there’s a learned behaviour from our ancestors it’s all we’ve really known; if something beats you down, get back up and go again.

“That’s why his story is so amazing, when I was 23 I didn’t have a job, had nothing going for me.

“When you start to work out where you were at 23, this guy has played over 100 first grade games, he’s a voice for our people, he’s a strong leader in the community, I was far from that at 23.”

SENSE OF PRIDE

Mitchell said: “If I retired tomorrow I’d be proud of myself, I’ve done enough in the game not to have to do it anymore.

“But I do it because I love the game, I love the teammates that I have now, I’m at a great club where I can be myself and be black, in a proud Aboriginal community of Redfern.

“I’ve always had Taree, but I’ve always had to drive to it to be there and reconnect every time.

“Through my career coming up, I’ve seen so many black fullas be quiet and just go with the flow, that’s why they never copped anything.

“I don’t want to be that player. I wanted to find out where I could take myself, I’ve always had a great role model in my father, he wasn’t perfect all the way through but I can look back and say ‘Dad’s taught me everything I know’.

“That’s why I am the man I am today, because of my father.

“My obligation now is to make them into women, leaders, and powerful people in the community. If they can see their father doing it while they’re growing up, I’ve done my job.”

Both Mitchell and Walker are most proud that they’ve empowered their fellow Indigenous people to find their own voice.

“Especially when they say ‘You have a voice,’ I get goosebumps,” Mitchell said.

“We went out to Bourke and they said ‘We can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing for us because we can’t talk for everyone.’ We have the platform where we can do that.”

Walker added: “If you look at articles across social media when I stood up for the anthem, the majority of the comments were all racial comments.

“It’s just reality.

“On the other side of that is the congratulations and support you receive from different communities, it outweighs any of the backlash.”

ABUSE COMING FROM KIDS

Mitchell was staggered to have received racial abuse from children, but refused to accept it regardless of the age of the perpetrators.

“The sad thing is that sometimes it’s kids, it’s unbelievable,” Mitchell said.

“I wanted to teach a few a lesson by sharing it to show everyone what people are like, and after the backlash they copped they back pedal and apologise but there is no excuse to do that.

“The way I thought about it that calling people out on social media was a waste of energy, but I wanted to set a standard for people to call it out.

“After the first few, I just had enough and it kept going on and on.

“There’s a whole hate crime unit at the police that are happy to help. I went down that avenue and I haven’t copped anything for a long time now, four, five weeks.

“I just couldn’t stand to see it, you see it happen a lot with the Poly [Polynesian] boys too, and they’re starting to call it out as well so it’s a good knock-on effect.”

Mitchell and Walker want all Australians to take an interest in Indigenous culture, and believe this is the key step to achieving equality.

“It’s a culture problem, there’s people that can teach black history, you just have to stop being ignorant about it and just embrace it,” Mitchell said.

“You just have to go out of your way to learn and the more you know the better off you are, that’s how I look at it.

“I’m so proud of who we are as Indigenous players today, there was a lot of steps backwards before we could go forward.

“We just want to show everyone that we want to be one and move on, and be ourselves in the public eye.

“We’ve got our own lives we’ve got family and we’re human beings as well, and being treated as animals isn’t what we want to be.”