NRL world blown away by Latrell Mitchell’s speech after All Star Game

NRL star Latrell Mitchell has blown fans away after delivering a heartfelt speech after leading the Indigenous All Stars to victory.

Latrell Mitchell's heartfelt speech after All Stars game

Latrell Mitchell has delivered a heartfelt speech following the NRL All Stars game on Friday night.

The Indigenous All Stars retained the trophy with a 22-14 win over the Maori All Stars in an electric display at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville.

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But it was Mitchell, the Indigenous All Stars captain, who stole the show after the contest as he took to the microphone.

“I just want to thank everyone who showed up today, all the mob … we love yas, this game doesn’t happen without you fellas,” Mitchell said.

“I want to thank Peter V’landys and Abdo, thank you brother thanks for getting this game going.

“Thanks to my brothers there we represented the week well, our families. Thanks to our Maori brothers … kia ora my bros. Really appreciate you showing up, respect the game over your way and hopefully next year we can keep rolling this out.

“We love the game as much as you fellas, this game doesn’t happen if the pride and passion isn’t there, so culture is everything. Culture first, family … then rugby league. Thank you very much.”

Fans watching on were blown away by the words delivered by the NRL superstar.

One wrote: “I’m not the biggest fan of this guy but this speech was respectful.”

A second wrote: “Beautiful speech Trell.”

A third added: “Gotta hand it to him, that was a good speech.”

Latrell Mitchell's heartfelt speech after All Stars game

The night got underway with a spectacular pre-game showing.

Starting with a moment’s silence for the Stolen Generation, the Maori side then delivered a brilliant rendition of the Haka.

While the passion was clear across the field, Knights centre Dane Gagai, playing in his first All-Stars game since 2019, was almost terrifying.

The Indigenous All-Stars came together to meet at halfway with the Maori side even crossing the line.

“My goodness,” Dan Ginnane said on Fox League. “Bottom of screen I hope you saw Josh Curran eyeballing Jazz Tevaga, the former Warriors teammate.

“That was sensational.”

Then it was the Indigenous side’s turn.

All wearing war paint and brandishing spears, it was equally passionate from the Indigenous side.

“It really is stirring stuff isn’t it,” Ginnane said.

“And now the respect after the challenges were issued. Two very different styles but no less meaningful one from the other.

“Now the challenge, you’ve got to get up for a football game.”

The pre-game spectacle was a sight to behold. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Dane Gagai is terrifying. photo: Fox Sports

And while it’s the first game of the year for many of these guys, there was no less passion when the match began.

When Latrell Mitchell dropped the first kick directed at him after a big hit from Gagai, the Knights centre was clearly still pumped.

It led directly to the first try as Joe Tapine barged his way over for the Maori.

But the Indigenous side hit back almost immediately, making the most of a mistake to hit straight back, before completing his first quarter double to give the Indigenous side a 10-8 lead at the first break.

The Maori dominated the second quarter on all but the scoreboard as the Indigenous opened up a 16-8 lead.

Desperate defence kept the Indigenous side ahead and continued to deny the Maori.

The Maori had 57 per cent of the possession but didn’t have the finesse to finish out the game.

And when Khan-Pereira scored in the 70th minute, the match was decided, with a crash play from Xavier Willison scoring a consolation in the 78th minute for the Maori.

The Indigenous All-Stars won the fixture 22-14.

Originally published as NRL world blown away by Latrell Mitchell’s speech after All Star Game