Everyone saying same thing about Latrell Mitchell after Broncos ‘horror show’

Latrell Mitchell’s night against the Broncos included a horror moment that’s left NRL figures all saying the same thing.

A morsel of Latrell Mitchell magic only made the night worse for South Sydney fans after watching the Broncos pull away on Thursday night.

Reece Walsh has claimed victory in the NRL’s battle of the fullbacks, putting in a best-on-ground performance, while Mitchell was unable to get the clunky Rabbitohs’ attack in gear.

Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou branded his side’s 28-18 loss to Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night “a horror show”.

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The scoreboard flattered the visitors and it was Mitchell that popped up to score a try in the 80th minute.

Mitchell slipped inside the tired Broncos’ defensive line and shrugged off Billy Walters before the Rabbitohs star left Walsh wrong-footed and he had enough speed to reach the line from there.

Walsh didn’t give up on the play and almost caught Mitchell as he made a tackle on the try line.

Paul Vautin on Thursday night said the play was exactly what South Sydney fans are begging to see more of.

“Congratulations to Latrell,” Vautin said on Channel 9 of Mitchell’s milestone 100th NRL try.

“And that’s the Latrell Mitchell that every Souths fan wants to see. Open running. Long strides. Making breaks. And he went on with that one. It was fantastic.

“This is all him. No one else. A dummy. A fend. A back turn. And then he had Reece (Walsh) bamboozled. Brilliant stuff.”

Vautin was more brutal in his assessment of Mitchell after the game.

“They can’t get more out of him. He has to do it himself. That’s what he needs to do,” Vautin said on Nine.

Even the bounce wasn’t friendly for Latrell Mitchell. Photo: Fox League.

Latrell Mitchell got nowhere near Reece Walsh. Photo: Fox League.

“He’s a player that can do that. He... probably is, the best player at this club [but] Souths fans are screaming, for him and at him, ‘C’mon Latrell, C’mon, have a run’.

“We know what he is capable of — we see this all the time but it unfortunately doesn’t happen enough for the Souths’ fans liking.”

He said of Mitchell’s solo try: “He ran 50m and beat about eight.

“South Sydney fans are going, ‘Right, why doesn’t he do that the whole game?’ That’s what they want to know.

“He’s got the ability to do it and the fans are wondering.”

Fellow Channel 9 commentator Cam Smith agreed.

“This is what the Rabbitohs need more of,” Smith said.

“Latrell Mitchell just injecting himself into the game.”

There was one particularly horrible moment for Mitchell when the Steeden bounced viciously for him and straight into the path of Walsh, who swept in and scored his second try of the game.

With the game in the balance at 16-12, Walsh orchestrated a line break down the Rabbitohs’ right edge and he was there on the end of it when Jesse Arthurs kicked the ball in-field from the wing.

Mitchell was in position to secure the Steeden, but his aggressive attempt to take the ball on the full ended up as a messy half volley and it went straight past him. To make matters worse the ball turned sharply from the bounce and straight into Walsh’s lap.

Although Latrell ran 18 times for 171m compared to Walsh’s 15 runs for 126m, it is clear the Broncos fullback was the best player on the ground.

Mitchell was still among his team’s best players and also made several try-saving tackles.

But that hasn’t stopped everyone saying the same thing.

Wally Lewis and Paul Vautin. AAP Image/Steve Pohlner.

NRL reporter Phil Luton wrote on X, Mitchell should be switched to the centres.

“I’m not surprised Souths have been poor. They were awful in the second half of 2023 and little has changed,” he posed.

“A halfback that can’t create, a fullback who is a centre, severe lack of speed, age at 9 and 6, no dynamic ball runners. Cam Murray a freak, deserves more.”

NRL SEN radio producer Nathan Brookes wrote: “I think it might be time to move Latrell back to centre”.

A popular NRL fan, under the X username Cam Sanchez, wrote: “The work off the ball by Reece Walsh is schooling Latrell here. You’ve got to be more than a highlight reel guy, and Walsh is far more than that. His efforts in chasing everything even the 1% plays is the difference in this game”.

Another fan posted: “Latrell Mitchell is NOT a fullback.I’m sorry but I can’t drink the Kool-Aid the rest of you are on”.

NRL fan Brad Fogarty also wrote: “For all the talk about (Matt) Burton not being a 5/8. Can we also talk about Latrell isn’t a fullback?”

One fan wrote: “How much more evidence do Souths need before they accept that latrell Mitchell is a centre”.

There is debate happening around almost every position in the Rabbitohs’ backline with calls for Lachlan ilias to be dropped.

Matty Johns said on Fox League the Rabbitohs would look a better team with Cody Walker moving to halfback and star recruit Jack Wighton making a jump from the centres and back to five-eighth.

The Rabbitohs finished ninth in 2023, becoming the first team in the NRL era to miss the finals after leading the comp after 11 rounds, winning just four of their final 13 matches.

Stacked with talent across the board, pressure is mounting on Demetriou to take the Rabbitohs back to the promised land with the fact his former mentor and direct predecessor Wayne Bennett is off-contract at the end of the season, which is casting a big shadow over the role.

It’s a fact that would have made Thursday night’s result all the harder to take for 48-year-old

“We’re just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Demetriou said in his press conference.

“Whether it’s not feeding the scrum properly, or first tackle errors, kicking it into our own player, penalties for blocking — it was a horror show of little things that kept putting pressure on ourselves.

“I said to them there, we bottle that effort and desire and tidy up some of that stuff and we see how good this footy team is because I was really pleased with our tryline defence in particular. We were asked to do a hell of a lot of it and it was a big improvement from last week.”