Latrell Mitchell’s comical blunder sums up Rabbitohs’ misery

The South Sydney Rabbitohs’ season from hell hasn’t got any better against the Dragons as the lingering Latrell question won’t go away.

The Dragons won the game.

St George Illawarra continued South Sydney’s season from hell with a 28-14 win at Kogarah Oval on Saturday evening.

The home side wasn’t dominant but was in control for most of the match as Ben Hunt and Kyle Flanagan killed the visitors with their short kicking behind the line which resulted in two tries.

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The win keeps St George in touch with the top eight.

Dragons prop Francis Molo took on the South Sydney forwards and won with a tough display in the middle.

He was well supported by Jack de Belin who came off the bench to run for more than 130m from 17 carries.

The positive for Souths is they play the Cowboys, Parramatta and the Titans in the next month which are all winnable games.

They’re just struggling in the forwards which isn’t helping Cody Walker who is also without his halfback.

Jack Wighton can’t get enough quality ball in the centres and a move to five-eighth must be on the mind of coach Ben Hornby considering how good Wighton looked when he played there against Penrith last week.

The Rabbitohs have become the first club to concede at least 28 points eight times through nine matches of an NRL season.

Zac Lomax of the Dragons. Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Latrell question that won’t go away

South Sydney’s injury crisis doesn’t leave interim coach Ben Hornby with many choices, but there are still question marks over Latrell Mitchell’s effectiveness at fullback.

Jack Bird’s try in the 26th minute was evident of that.

As the Dragons spread the ball wide, Mitchell was just jogging across at fullback.

Had he been rushing across like Dylan Edwards does all the time, he would’ve had a great chance to stop the try.

In the 59th minute Mitchell didn’t get across again in time to stop second rower Jaydn Su’A diving on a ball to score off a grubber kick.

This has been happening for years. Go back and watch the highlights of the 2022 preliminary final.

It took 22 minutes for Mitchell to inject himself into the game and he did that when scoring off a Cody Walker grubber in behind the line.

He scored another off a Dragons mistake when the game was over.

Everything good Mitchell has done in the game has been in the No. 3 jersey – from his two premierships at the Roosters to his dominating of Queensland at Origin level.

Latrell Mitchell of the Rabbitohs. NRL PHOTOS

On Friday night Edwards again ran for more than 200m from 23 carries.

Mitchell had just nine runs on Saturday.

When comparing him to the likes of Edwards, James Tedesco and Tom Trbojevic, who have high work rates, Mitchell’s fullback defenders say “he’s not that type of player”.

Problem is, you’ve got to be that type of player at fullback.

Mitchell’s an outstanding footballer and the best centre in the game.

It’s a shame we don’t get to see that anymore and moving forward when full strength, South Sydney may have to reconsider whether he is best used at the back.

Bunnies’ unwanted history

Meanwhile, the Rabbitohs as a whole became the first team in NRL history to concede 28 or more points eight times across a nine-game run, highlighting the club’s defensive woes.

“It was a sloppy game,” six-time premiership winner Cooper Cronk said on Fox League.

“The Souths just keep getting worse and worse.

“Defensively, they are in a bad, bad position.”

The Rabbitohs sit last on the ladder having conceded 320 points through nine games, with the Cowboys (245 conceded) the next-worst in the league.

Poor support

The weather wasn’t flash and nor were both teams playing, but the crowd of 7517 that turned up to watch two of the game’s biggest Sydney clubs was poor.

It was the second smallest crowd of the NRL season so far.

It shouldn’t matter where St George and Souths are on the ladder.

When those two teams play at Kogarah Oval they should get 15,000 turning up, considering Redfern is just up the road.

At least Souths top dogs Nick Pappas and Blake Solly turned up.

There were no bandwagon fans at Kogarah Oval on Saturday evening but there were a lot at home.

Originally published as Latrell Mitchell’s comical blunder sums up Rabbitohs’ misery