Brad Takairangi’s plan to halt Roosters superstar Latrell Mitchell
He weighs 109kg and stands 194cm. And Eels centre Brad Takairangi is going to need every bit of muscle and power to stop the unstoppable — Sydney Roosters superstar Latrell Mitchell.
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He weighs 109kg and stands 194cm. And giant Eels centre Brad Takairangi is going to need every bit of muscle and power to try and stop the unstoppable — Sydney Roosters superstar Latrell Mitchell.
“I’m probably one of the biggest centres in the comp and I’ll have to use it this week,” Takairangi said.
Mitchell has been colossal during his past three games against Parramatta.
He has run for a combined total of 377 metres from 34 runs, scored a six tries, made 20 tackle busts and six linebreaks.
He scored a hat-trick against the Blue and Golds last year and he only ran the ball 10 times.
Eels’ right-side centre Takairangi will be tasked with trying to contain Mitchell’s brilliance at ANZ Stadium on Friday as unbeaten Parramatta face their biggest test this season.
And he plans on rushing the 21-year-old at every opportunity.
“You have to cut down his time,” Takairangi said. “The more time he gets with the ball the more destructive he can be.
“He is a big strong thing — he is up there with the best. He is strong and has good feet for a big boy. He absolutely killed it last year.”
Although he’s played almost 150 NRL games, Takairangi is yet to go up against Mitchell directly.
“I haven’t faced him player to player yet,” Takairangi said.
“It will be a good challenge. He is very skilful and we’re going to have our hands full. I can’t wait for it.
“We have to work as an edge together, solve things together, not one-out and stick to our systems.
“He (Mitchell) and Joey Manu were probably the benchmark centres last year. They come off an outstanding year. For our edge, it’s going to be a big challenge. We want to test ourselves against the best and they are definitely up there.
“We worked hard on our defensive principles over the pre-season. You don’t actually meet that much one-on-one but to you want to test yourself against the best.”
Eels centre Michael Jennings remembers a young Mitchell coming through at the Roosters during his time there between 2013 and 2015.
“He is a great young talent,” Jennings said. “He’s a good kid. When I was at the Roosters, he wanted to learn and was real disciplined. He wanted to have fun and you can see that in his game.”
Jennings has backed Takairangi’s ability to read the game and handle Mitchell’s dangerous running ability.
“Defensively, Takkas is really good. That’s perfect for us down the right edge. It will be a great challenge for Takkas but he is up for it,” Jennings said.
Parramatta has kickstarted a winning season in Sydney’s west with successive wins over Penrith and Canterbury.
“It’s a good start, man. We trained really hard over the off season so it’s good to see a couple of results go our way,” Takairangi said.
“We still have a lot to improve on but it’s better than two loses in a row. We will have to be good to beat the Roosters this week but it’s something we’re looking forward to.
“It has been a while since Parra has won two in a row. It’s very promising but we have to keep getting better each week and go from there.”
Despite their unbeaten start, the TAB has Parramatta juicy $3.15 outsiders with the Roosters $1.37 favourites.
Originally published as Brad Takairangi’s plan to halt Roosters superstar Latrell Mitchell
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