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0 South Sydney superstar Latrell Mitchell has become an influential figure in rugby league and is often referred to as a role model for the younger generations who watch the game.
He’s also a respected voice when it comes to the issues facing the Indigenous community and that’s something he should be enormously proud of.
The 26-year-old has been a vocal supporter of Ezra Mam in the wake of the racial slur from Roosters enforcer Spencer Leniu, who’s since been rubbed out for eight weeks by the NRL judiciary. In my opinion, it was an isolated incident dealt with appropriately.
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It’s been an emotional fortnight for those involved in the case and it’s also brought up some painful memories for the Indigenous players in our game who have been the victims of the same inexcusable comments from opponents and members of the crowd.
NRL boss Andrew Abdo declared in a statement following the hearing “racism and vilification have no place in modern society and will not be tolerated in rugby league”.
The chief executive went on to say “we must always call out bad behaviour when we see it”. If that’s the case, why hasn’t Latrell been sanctioned for his foul-mouthed interview on radio last week in which he dropped the F-bomb five times, before acknowledging that he was swearing and didn’t care?
How can the league and the South Sydney Rabbitohs turn a blind eye to that sort of blatant bad behaviour?
Surely they would concede there are double standards at play.
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They love nothing more than dishing out fines at the NRL to the coaches who let fly at press conferences, but they don’t seem to have a problem with one of the biggest names in the game using profanities and making no apologies for it.
This just says to Latrell, you’re untouchable and the rules don’t apply.
If my mother was listening to me say something similar, she’d wash my mouth out with soap.
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I am absolutely gobsmacked that Latrell Mitchell won’t be sanctioned for his behaviour given the league came down hard on Toby Rudolf for a comment he made in 2021.
During a post match interview on Fox Sports, the Cronulla forward joked that he wanted to celebrate a win with “1000 beers” and then “try and pull something, anything will do”.
The NRL issued him with a please explain and an official warning, yet the Rabbitohs star is allowed to continue on as if nothing happened.
If that warrants an official warning from the NRL, why doesn’t the same apply to Latrell?
Andrew Abdo is instead demanding a meeting with him this week to express his concerns with the language that was used in the radio interview, however is that the role of the NRL boss or should that be left to Souths CEO Blake Solly?
I’d love to know if Abdo would be doing the same if it was a lesser known player. Or is the NRL giving this case special treatment because it’s a star player with an enormous profile?
I want to make it clear, as a Rabbitohs supporter, I love nothing more than watching him run over the top of opponents, but I’ve found myself questioning lately why it seems the league is treating Latrell as someone who’s bigger than the game itself.
Forget about the meeting with the NRL chief executive, it should instead be a breach notice to the club and a letter from the integrity unit demanding a please explain for the offensive language used in the radio interview.
Is the league frightened of the blow back from Latrell and his supporters? Why isn’t he being treated like any other player in the NRL?
Hasn’t he brought the game into disrepute?
Admittedly, the interview went to air at 10pm on a Thursday night, but that doesn’t mean children weren’t listening to the radio.
I wonder if Abdo would want his kids hearing the F-bombs that came out of the mouth of a role model within our game?
Yes, I’ve allowed swearing to go to air in my role as the host of 2GB’s Continuous Call Team. It’s usually the case after a grand final or an Origin match because the players can’t contain their excitement.
Unfortunately there’s no dump button during a live sporting match because you’re listening to the action as it happens. Listeners usually understand the occasional swear word after a game, but there’s no excuse for the constant profanities from Latrell Mitchell, worse still the acknowledgement he was doing the wrong thing and didn’t care.
He might put it down to frustration after a loss to the Brisbane Broncos, but Latrell has been around long enough to know what’s acceptable and what’s not.
There should be no preferential treatment given to anyone in rugby league because there’s a code of conduct the players, coaches and officials must abide by.
Whether it’s the NRL or South Sydney, someone in a position of power should be hauling him over the coals.
If the NRL is reminding us to “always call out bad behaviour”, the question needs to be asked of those at headquarters, why are they ignoring an obvious breach of the standards expected when it comes to the behaviour of our players?
Let me know your thoughts by sending through an email to the WWOS radio show on 2GB by clicking on this link.
Wide World of Sports Radio is heard from 6pm AEDT on 2GB 873am with Mark Levy and co-hosts Brad Fittler (Monday), Paul Gallen (Tuesday) and Ken Sutcliffe (Friday).
