‘He probably needs to find his way into the game a bit earlier’: Latrell urged to get more involved after Rabbitohs loss

It was a quiet night for Latrell Mitchell and his South Sydney teammates against the Storm, and things won’t get any easier with the injured brigade set to miss out again next week.

The Rabbitohs head into Round 6 with a losing record and unlikely to get any of their injured forwards back for the Bulldogs clash. Picture; Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou says superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell needs to inject himself into the contest from the outset after a slow start came back to bite the Bunnies on Friday night.

Souths were off the pace in the first half against a Storm side that dug deep in defence and stifled the hosts on the edge even though the Rabbitohs enjoyed 67 per cent of the territory.

Demetriou lamented his side’s defensive lapses in the 18-10 loss, but it was their attack which really struggled inside the red zone.

Mitchell got more involved in the second half, but even his best carry ended with an error. Picture; Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Mitchell came to life with a try assist, 81 metres and five tackle busts in the second half, but he was virtually unsighted in the opening 40 minutes, making just 27 metres from three carries as the crowd begged him to get more involved.

“He probably needs to find his way into the game a bit earlier,” Demetriou said.

“I thought the backend of the first half he started to get himself into the game a bit more.

“I thought across the board we were off the pace a little bit. When we all started getting on the pace and playing like we can, the scoreboard pressure got the better of us.”

The loss leaves the Rabbitohs with just two wins from the opening five rounds with a big game against the Bulldogs on Good Friday coming up.

The pressure will be on Mitchell, Cody Walker and Damien Cook to address the attacking woes, but the talented trio need more from their big men to create some sort of platform.

Only two South Sydney forwards ran for more than 100 metres compared to the Storm who had all five starting forwards crack triple digits.

Injuries are starting to mount up with winger Alex Johnston set to miss next week’s game against the Bulldogs. Picture; Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The Rabbitohs can point to the fact that Jai Arrow, Junior Tatola, Siliva Havili, Liam Knight and Shaquai Mitchell are all injured, but the problem is none of them are likely to be fit in time for next week’s game at Accor Stadium.

And to make matters worse, Alex Johnston looks set to miss the match after he came off late in Friday’s loss having banged his head on the turf trying to score in the corner.

“I think Jai and Junior are another week so these guys who played tonight are pretty much going to have to be the blokes who strip up next week,” Demetriou said.

“We’ve just got to be honest with ourselves in terms of how we approach the game and get ourselves in the right mindset.

“It doesn’t matter who you play in the NRL – if you don’t turn up to start the game then you’re going to be on the back foot and then you’re going to be playing catch up.”