NRL 2024: South Sydney’s season sinks further after Latrell Mitchell accepts ban for “stupid act”

The Rabbitohs’ season continues to get worse with Latrell Mitchell accepting his three-game ban which will see him miss blockbuster matches as the Bunnies try to keep their finals hopes alive.

Latrell Mitchell has accepted a three-match suspension for a raised elbow on Shaun Johnson during Saturday’s heavy loss to the Warriors,

South Sydney’s hopes of saving their season have suffered another blow with superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell accepting a three-match ban for a raised elbow which caught Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson in the head.

The club confirmed on Monday that Mitchell had taken the early guilty plea for the grade two dangerous contact charge, with coach Jason Demetriou calling out his star player for the “stupid acts” which saw him put on report twice on Saturday.

It means the bottom-placed Bunnies will be without Mitchell for their matches against the Sharks, Storm and Panthers, with their finals hopes potentially gone by the time he returns.

"Latrell's lucky."

Latrell Mitchell was put on report for this dangerous elbow on Shaun Johnson.

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Roosters winger Dom Young has also taken the early guilty plea for his grade three careless high tackle charge that saw him sent off against the Bulldogs.

It means the towering Englishman will miss Thursday’s grudge match against his former side the Knights, while he’ll also be out for the game against the Storm for a tackle on Blake Taaffe which his coach says should’ve been a sin bin.

“Hit high and it’s not good for Blake obviously. You don’t want to see that,” Trent Robinson said after the game, with the Roosters set to also be without James Tedesco and Sam Walker who were concussed in Friday’s loss.

“It hit him in the jaw but it was wasn’t a swinging arm. It was open-handed. It was lower than shoulder height. If that’s the standard, that’s fine. But that’s a new one for me.

Dom Young was sent off for an ugly high shot which knocked out Blake Taaffe. Picture: Grant Trouville

“I feel like that’s lower than what’s been sent off before. It just feels like we can set a new standard here again. That’s how it feels.

“Definitely a sin-bin. Blake’s got concussed from that. I don’t have all the send offs going through my mind. But we’ve had guys stay on the field, not even go for 10 for less. I feel like that was a bit over the top.

“If they come out and say that’s the new (level), there’ll be a lot more send offs in our game. There should be if that’s the case.”