The controversial precedent that could help Latrell Mitchell’s NRL case

A controversial decision by the NRL to allow Taylan May to defer an off-field suspension until the following year will form part of South Sydney’s argument as they attempt to have Latrell Mitchell cleared for the 2025 season opener.

As Mitchell prepared on Thursday night to file a formal response to the breach notice issued by the NRL which alleged his involvement in a photo taken in a Dubbo hotel room brought the game into disrepute, his club will lobby head office to follow the precedent created by its contentious call almost two years ago.

South Sydney expect Mitchell will be able to serve a one-game ban – if he accepts the league’s proposed sanction – before the end of the current season.

Mitchell is recovering from a Lisfranc fracture in his foot and won’t play again in 2024, with the Rabbitohs out of finals contention.

But the NRL will consider whether that constitutes an appropriate punishment, having canvassed opinion whether the ban should be served in round one next year – which will be Wayne Bennett’s first NRL game back in charge of South Sydney.

The Rabbitohs will prepare a pitch asking the NRL to consider its treatment of May, who was allowed to play in the 2022 finals series despite having been handed a two-game suspension.

Injured Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell.Credit: NRL Photos

The NRL allowed him to delay his ban until after the 2022 finals series, but May tore his ACL playing for the Panthers in the pre-season World Club Challenge and missed the entire 2023 NRL season. He served his suspension while he recovered from the lengthy injury.

May is no longer in the NRL after the Panthers reached a private settlement with the centre after he was arrested on domestic violence charges. May has pleaded not guilty to all charges involving an alleged incident with his wife in April.

Mitchell, one of the NRL’s most influential and highest-paid players, has kept his counsel ever since the photo – which showed him leaning over a table with a white substance on it – emerged last week after it was shopped to media outlets.

There’s no suggestion the substance was illegal.

Former Penrith Panthers centre Taylan May.Credit: Getty

Mitchell will front the Rabbitohs board, with South Sydney powerbrokers having had their patience tested to the extreme just months before Bennett arrives for his second stint at the helm. Mitchell is expected to face a separate sanction from his club.

The rugby league players’ union has stressed the rules of the collective bargaining agreement say any player subject to an NRL-imposed suspension or deregistration should have it enforced immediately.

Last week, Bennett said he’s not worried about Mitchell and described him as “a good person”.

“I’Il look forward to [helping him],” Bennett said. “I will be there for him and I hope I can give them the help that he needs.

“He is in good hands at South Sydney and he is a good person. I have a lot of time for Latrell. South Sydney will handle the matter. They are a great club and they will get it right with Latrell.”

Rugby league legend Brad Fittler hailed Mitchell’s impact on Indigenous people and the work he does for community rugby league, but questioned whether the 27-year-old has been allowed to get away with too much.

“At the end of the day, there are things you can and can’t do,” Fittler said on Freddy and The Eighth. “I thought the league let him down at the start of the season when they blurred that line. I think he’s been let do what he wants to do.”

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