Latrell Mitchell’s cutout pass that sealed South Sydney’s memorable comeback win against the Sydney Roosters was travelling quicker than the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt.
In the 71st minute, with the scores locked up, Sean Keppie passed to Mitchell who took a few steps on the Accor Stadium surface, then fired the ball to Isaiah Tass on the left wing.
Mitchell had spotted Roosters winger Dominic Young looking tired, and knew he had no energy to attempt an intercept.
By the time the ball found Tass, it was still travelling at head-height.
Tass said it was easily one of the fastest passes he had been on the end of, and was grateful he got his hands out in front of his face in time.
Lighting Latrell: How the Souths’ star’s pass for Friday night’s match-winner travelled a blistering 54km/h.Credit: NRL
“It was a special moment for myself and in my career to score the winning try against the Roosters, and having someone like Latrell with his ball play, you have to expect anything,” Tass told this masthead.
“I’ve had a few come at me like that, especially with the hands that Latrell and even Cody Walker have. They can get a ball away quickly.
“Latrell threw it and I had to get my hands ready, no matter where it was. It was one of those plays you had to be in the right position at the right time. It came flying across the field.”
The same two scientists who established Canterbury super-boot Matt Burton had launched a torpedo bomb 33.68m into the air – or the equivalent of 16 Nelson Asofa-Solomonas and one Geoff Toovey – during a game against Parramatta last June, ran their eye over Mitchell’s pass for Tass last Friday night.
Tom Stindl, a lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW, and Scott Sisson, deputy director of data science at the UNSW AI Institute and a professor in statistics at UNSW, studied the footage at the request of this masthead.
The pair also studied Brisbane’s Reece Walsh’s cutout pass to Jesse Arthars on Saturday night as a comparison.
“Latrell Mitchell’s winning try-assist pass against the Sydney Roosters travelled in the air for approximately one second before being caught by Isaiah Tass, based on the nearest frame of the video recording, and a millisecond precision timer,” the pair said in an email.
“During this flight, the ball travelled approximately 15m across the field, based on where Latrell passed the ball, and where Tass caught the ball.
“Ignoring any ball movement up or down the field, the average speed of the pass was approximately 15 metres per second. That is approximately 54km/h.
“In comparison, the Reece Walsh pass for the Jesse Arthars’ try had an average speed of approximately 13 metres per second, or 47km/h, as it travelled approximately 14 metres across the field over 1.1 seconds. This was again based on the nearest frame of the video recording and a millisecond precision timer.
“Reece’s pass travelled a slightly shorter distance, but it also took slightly longer.”
Bolt remains the fastest man ever over 100m when clocking 9.58 seconds, which equated to 10.44m per second. Bolt needed 1.43 seconds to cover 15m – almost half a second slower than Mitchell’s match-winner.
Mitchell moved into five-eighth against the Roosters once Cody Walker and Jamie Humphreys came from the field with hamstring injuries, and will wear the No. 6 against North Queensland on Saturday for Perth’s NRL double-header.
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