Is Latrell Mitchell a Bad Guy?

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I feel the Latrell Mitchell saga is one of the craziest drawn-out contract negotiations I’ve ever seen. Thousands of media articles, mostly with a negative spin, and yet I’ve only seen the one full interview from Latrell, which I’ll attach to bottom of the post.

In that interview he seems pretty chilled and rational about everything .... however Greenberg felt the need to delete “explosive” quotes and threaten with legal action.... this is the quote

"NSW went real funny on us because we don't sing the anthem,"

Latrell has called fans and the media out on racism, and I think that’s fair enough - if you’re in a position where you have a voice, you’re absolutely entitled to use it , for better or for worse.

I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy though, and part of me thinks that this could become Adam Goodes 2.0. The treatment by NSWRL & ongoing issues with Freddie could easily be linked back to Johns / Tahu ordeal.

Personally, i’m not going to be swayed by the same media who constantly trot out rubbish about our own players. I don’t trust them, and I’m not going to view Latrell Mitchell’s story with a differing mindset to how I view stories about the Bronx. When clickbait verges on inciting racism, it’s gone too far.

Is Latrell Mitchell a bad guy? Or are the media racist? The truth lies somewhere in between...

 

[Renegade]

Dont think he's a bad guy, don't think NSWRL are racists and I don't think they really care too much about the anthem (as much as we try to be, we're not yanks and so the overzealous patriotism hasn't extended to us thus far). There was no way he was getting his spot back after Turbo got a hattrick replacing him.

I think some clubs are probably put off by his inconsistency. Some days he looks like a world beater. Other days he looks like he couldn't give a shit and would rather be anywhere else. He was offered a great deal by the Roosters and they withdrew it after he started dicking around, how do we know the other clubs haven't simply followed the same path?

 

[Fernando]

What is it the NSWRL have done wrong? Dropped him for Turbo?

 

[Super Freak]

I think he is being mislead by a certain individual. In an interview he claimed racism was involved in him being dropped from NSW because of his refusal to sing the anthem. NSWRL and NRL were furious and had that part of the article removed from their site which prompted a response from Fittler.

When I was reading that, I could just picture a certain individual putting that shit in his head.

I don't think he's a bad guy. He's young and stupid.

 

[tommy]

Absolute twat on the field, however he's young and is being mentored by Mundine. I feel for him. Don't like the intentional foul play after tries have been scored. Probably a decent enough bloke off it, don't know enough about him tbh. No real scandals so far.

 

[Big Pete]

Mitchell was dropped for Wighton, not for Trbojevic. The way his omission was handled was really bizarre. I've never seen an organisation whether it's the QRL or NSWRL hang a player out to dry like they did with Mitchell. It was an all prong assault with a lot of people close to Freddy questioning Mitchell's character and then releasing all these videos on the official NRL.com that highlighted everything he did wrong to justify their decision.

Mitchell is a flawed player, but I can't help but feel there's somebody behind the scenes accentuating his flaws. It would be a massive shame if they drove him away from the game. The game desperately needs more superstar talent like him.

 

[Allo]

He needs a good mentor, not the parasites that jump on every young talented kid (player managers mostly)

Mundine too needs to **** off but it’s hard when these kids idolise idiots like him and Hoppa Snr.

On-field, he needs to develop some mental fortitude. Currently he’s a bit of bully that can serve it, but not take it. Get inside his head and he’s done. A little humility and hard defensive work will go a long way for Lateral.

Thankfully he has time on his side. Just needs the right people around him

 

[Midean]

Like others have said, Get him away from Mundine.
The guy is a great talent, and at the right club, around the right people, could have a stellar career.
I cant help but feel like the people he hangs around are a huge part of the problem.

 

[winslow_wong]

 

[Morkel]

He's not a bad guy, just seriously misguided.

He has the potential to be elite, in fact he could surpass Inglis IMO, as he is already more powerful. But he's far too erratic, mentally weak, and grubby.

If he wants to prove he's worth the money he's after, he needs to show he's serious, clean up the grub, and concentrate on the little things that make a talented player in to an elite player.

 

[Morepudding]

He doesn't have the heart. Legendary players never want to think about retirement and want to play until they can't handle it anymore. Latrell, at the age of 20, has said he wants to make as much money as possible and retire by 30. He didn't say "be able to retire", but actually retire. That's not the sort of person you want anywhere near your club.

 

[Scorchie]

Is he elite fit, though?

(He's just being misguided)

 

[Kooly87]

Dont think he's a bad guy, don't think NSWRL are racists and I don't think they really care too much about the anthem (as much as we try to be, we're not yanks and so the overzealous patriotism hasn't extended to us thus far). There was no way he was getting his spot back after Turbo got a hattrick replacing him.

I think some clubs are probably put off by his inconsistency. Some days he looks like a world beater. Other days he looks like he couldn't give a shit and would rather be anywhere else. He was offered a great deal by the Roosters and they withdrew it after he started dicking around, how do we know the other clubs haven't simply followed the same path?

This is really great post, very nicely sums up the situation.

Origin - He had a shocker in Game 1, Freddy gave the side a wake up call by dropping a few blokes, and unfortunately for Latrell, the guy who took his spot played the house down. I doubt there is much more to his non-selection than a bit of bad timing with his form lapse and bad luck with his replacement killing it.

Contracts - I think he gambled and unfortunately he got it wrong. I think he felt the balance of great moments would outweigh the equally large number of games where he looks very lazy and disinterested. Unfortunately, I think he got that call wrong and he's now paying the price. With a few of the usual suspect clubs who might have jumped in already being overburdened with stupid contracts to players who have let them down with being lazy and disinterested in the past, the appetite just seems to be a bit lower in general at the moment for these sorts of players. At another point in time, clubs may have been far less risk averse and been tripping over themselves for Latrell.

I also think he made a major error in not giving the Tigers the respect of turning up and meeting with them. It made it easy for them to publicly withdraw their offer and it probably showed a few other clubs who might have weighed in that Latrell was quite possibly just using a few of them to boost his price, and because of that, more offers failed to eventuate. It's a bad look for a CEO to have his club look like it's being used, so with a player already as risky as Latrell, even publicly throwing your hat in the ring likely carried too much risk.

 

[PNG Broncos fan88]

The kid is just misunderstood.
He barely got out of his teens and all this pressure on him to perform at Origin is entirely on Fittler. A quiet game 1 was all he had, and this bs from NSW camp about him dogging it.
He is better than Inglis was at this age, he is an out and out superstar but being ostracised by a select few in NSWRL at the moment.

Would love him at the Broncs for us to rise to the top again, just to put those mediocre NSW teams back in their place for snubbing him.

 

[Alec]

I can see him going the way of Dave Taylor. Massive talents, but lack of fitness could eventually balloon him out too.

 

[john1420]

The kid is just misunderstood.
He barely got out of his teens and all this pressure on him to perform at Origin is entirely on Fittler. A quiet game 1 was all he had, and this bs from NSW camp about him dogging it.
He is better than Inglis was at this age, he is an out and out superstar but being ostracised by a select few in NSWRL at the moment.

Would love him at the Broncs for us to rise to the top again, just to put those mediocre NSW teams back in their place for snubbing him.

He is not misunderstood and he is far from being an out and out superstar

He reminds me a lot of Mundine - by which I mean the talent and potential to be elite, but never actually reaches elite due to thinking he already is elite, and thus a) not working hard to improve and b) kicking stones/blaming anything other than himself when things don't go your way or you are not picked for a rep team

It's no surprise to me therefore to learn he is close to Mundine

He will be Mundine 2.0 if he isn't careful

 

[broncsgoat]

Well he’s not a good guy.

 

[Morepudding]

he's not a very fit guy either. Any clubs hould stay the **** away from him.