Paul Gallen says ‘it’s going to take Wayne Bennett’ to fix Souths’ Latrell Mitchell problem

Paul Gallen has smashed South Sydney over their handling of Latrell Mitchell, admitting it may need to take Wayne Bennett to fix the mess.

Paul Gallen has smashed South Sydney over their handling of Latrell Mitchell amid the star’s most recent controversy.

Mitchell landed in hot water after an image was leaked on August 12 of him in a hotel room bending over a table with what appears to be a white substance on it.

The scandal led to an NRL breach notice for the 27-year-old, who also faces potential sanctions from both the league and his club.

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Gallen gave Mitchell his due criticism but also turned his attention to the person responsible for distributing the image. He believes that legal action should be taken against the individual who took the photo.

“The person who took the photo... I think it’s illegal, there’s got to be something illegal there,” Gallen said on 2GB on Wednesday.

“The cops, or Latrell tries to sue... if this does go bad for Latrell I hope he tries to sue the person who took the photo. I’m not a cop or a lawyer but I don’t think you should be able to do that.”

“I’m not trying to bag Latrell here... he put himself in a situation he probably shouldn’t have been in, he’s got to accept responsibility for that.

“But this is just a vicious circle, this is what happens every time – he does something silly or says something silly, gets suspended, does something stupid, the whole world jumps on him.

“Then he comes back, plays football the way we all know he can play, becomes the best player in the game, does crazy things that other people can’t do, then all of a sudden what do we want to do? We want to interview him again.

“So we interview him again, the media get involved, we start asking him about this and that and then Latrell says things like ‘I’ll do what I want, I’ll say how I want’... then what happens, it’s like a vicious circle.”

Paul Gallen has smashed South Sydney over their handling of Latrell Mitchell amid the star’s most recent controversy.

The Cronulla Sharks and NSW legend said some of the responsibility was on his club.

“All you hear from South Sydney is Latrell’s this, Latrell’s that, Latrell is fine, we’re just worrying about playing footy. Well you can’t just be worried about playing footy when you’ve got someone who constantly causes so much attention,” he said.

“When attention is brought upon your club, whether positive or negative, it takes away from your job which is playing football and winning games, because players have to answer all the questions. And that happens so often when it comes to Latrell.

“But I don’t see South Sydney nipping it in the bud at all. I see him constantly get away with it and constantly behave the way he wants to behave, and it keeps going around in circles.”

In Gallen’s view, the club’s failure to rein in Mitchell’s behaviour has contributed to the current situation. He also criticised the rumoured $200,000 fine that Mitchell might face, suggesting that the club needs to take responsibility for allowing this behaviour to continue unchecked.

In Gallen’s view, the club’s failure to rein in Mitchell’s behaviour has contributed to the current situation.

Gallen gave Mitchell his due criticism but also turned his attention to the person responsible for distributing the image.

At the time of the photo, Mitchell, was in Dubbo helping out juniors. He chose to do community work instead of being stuck in the box while the Souths hit the field.

“He has got no one at South Sydney saying hang on Latrell, you’re the highest paid player, you’re the best player at this club, we need you here to support the boys, we need you here to get us out of this rut, we need your help,” Gallen continued.

“No one does that at South Sydney, they just let him do what he wants, and they always have.

“So now when they try to turn it back (on him) he’s going to say ‘wait on a sec, you’ve always let me do it’.

“It’s going to take Wayne Bennett to come in there and change it because no one else has had the balls to stand up to Latrell and say ‘no Latrell you can’t do this’.

“No one has done that and look where they are now. He’s always done it his way, and good luck changing it.”