Trent Robinson calls rumours Roosters are unhappy with Latrell Mitchell a “load of crap”

Latrell Mitchell’s underwhelming State of Origin performance quickly led to rumours that the Roosters aren’t happy with their star man — and coach Trent Robinson didn’t hold back in his opinion.

A week off will help the youngster bounce back. Image: AAP Image/Darren England

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Roosters coach Trent Robinson has lashed out at suggestions that the defending premiers aren’t happy with underperforming star Latrell Mitchell, labelling claims a “load of crap”.

Robinson’s strong stance comes only days after NSW coach Brad Fittler said the Roosters were frustrated with Mitchell, on and off the field.

The Tricolours star struggled in Origin I, prompting to Fittler to suggest his NSW centre has an attitude problem.

“I know they’re not that happy at the Roosters and there’s a lot going on in his life at the moment with managers,” Fittler said after the Blues’ 18-14 loss to Queensland.

“There always seems to be something other than footy.

“He’s a superstar; we all want him out there playing. He obviously needs to work on his motivation.”

It only took one poor game for stories about Mitchell to start. Image: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Robinson strongly disagrees with Fittler’s comments, revealing he contacted the Blues coach to express his disapproval.

Robinson was particularly angered by the suggestion that the Roosters aren’t satisfied with Mitchell.

“There has been a bit of talk about how we’ve felt about it, which pardon the French is a lot of crap,” Robinson said.

“So as a coach you are going to sit there and applaud everything that he has done for us and then he has a couple of down games and then all of a sudden you are unhappy with him.

Robinson isn’t listening to the noise about his star. Image: Matt King/Getty Images

“C’mon. You’ve got to support people in both times and that is what we’ll do with Latrell.

“I’m not going to sit there and say how good the Roosters are when Latrell has one of his big games.

“And then when he hasn’t played as well put it all back on him.

“No, no. The guy is one of ours and we will support him.

“He is a big game player, he delivers for us and he is working out as a 21-year-old the consistency that is needed.

“The guy is a strong man. He’ll take a breath and he’ll get back on the horse again.”

Mitchell wasn’t the only one who struggled in game one. Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Robinson is also annoyed about the criticism Mitchell received following his average performance against Queensland.

He believes people need to support the Roosters flyer when he plays below expectations.

“There were 17 guys in that (NSW) team the other night,” Robinson said.

“I think we need to remember that. There was a lot of staff involved in that game, so I think to isolate that is not how it should be.

“And the guy is 21. No one peaks until they are around 24 and 25.

“But he has peaked at a pretty young age. And he will continue to do that.”

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Robinson said Mitchell isn’t smiling after NSW’s loss in Game 1 but he is determined to respond in the coming weeks.

“I can tell you that there is a fire burning to want to get it done,” he said.

“I’ve spoken to him a couple of times. He is obviously disappointed like all the Blues boys are.

“We had a good chat. He asked me what I wanted to him to do and I said just go and take some time off and I’ll see you next week.”

A week off will help the youngster bounce back. Image: AAP Image/Darren England

Robinson confirmed the plan was always to rest Mitchell against Penrith on Sunday.

“I decided weeks ago about rotating the Origin guys over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

“I made the decision weeks ago that I was going to rest Latrell for the Panthers game but I didn’t know how Origin was going to go.

“I had to name all four Origin players and if Teddy couldn’t back up then I was going to play Latrell and vice versa.

“That is what you have to do when you are leading into those Origin games and you’ve got to name an NRL team the day before.”

Originally published as Trent Robinson calls rumours Roosters are unhappy with Latrell Mitchell a “load of crap”