South Sydney coach's revelation about Latrell Mitchell after ugly end to NRL season

Jason Demetriou has lifted the lid on how Latrell Mitchell's injury affected both his star player and the side at the back end of 2023. The Souths coach says their confidence took a massive hit after Mitchell went down with injury and it led to the side's dramatic fall from first after 10 rounds to missing the finals come season's end.

“When he’s fit, we all know how good Latrell is,” Demetriou told The Sydney Morning Herald. “People forget he went into Origin the best fullback in the game, in my opinion. He was a big contributor to why we were on top of the table. Then he doesn’t play for 10 weeks.

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“But when you miss 10 weeks in the middle of the season, it’s hard to get your form back for the rest of the year, not to mention come back into a side that had lost confidence. That put more pressure on him.”

Demetriou says by the time Mitchell returned from his calf injury, the Rabbitohs and the star fullback were devoid of confidence and it hurt Mitchell's mindset. “The frustration of the injury, and the extended period he was out, it didn’t put him in a good place either,” Demetriou said. “I’m really excited to have him back. I know how much he is also hurting about the way we finished the year.”

Latrell Mitchell subject to 'abuse and unfair treatment'

After a shocking end to 2023, fans and pundits pointed the finger at Mitchell as the side's problem. Rodney Churchill - son of Souths legend Clive - even went as far as to label the Souths fullback as a "cancer on the club" and an "embarrassment to the No.1 jersey".

The hate led to Souths hooker Damien Cook warning fans that Mitchell could walk away from the game if he continued to cop abuse and unfair treatment. Following the massive spray, Churchill apologised for his extraordinary attack and offered to stand down from his role of presenting the Clive Churchill medal at the NRL grand final.

Mitchell suffered a calf injury ahead of State of Origin, which ruled him out of the series and beyond and his return failed to halt the Rabbitohs slide. There was also speculation that he could be moved into the centres for 2024 but NRL legend Andrew Johns said that wasn't the answer.

"Talk of Latrell Mitchell moving from fullback is the biggest load of rubbish I've heard," he wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. "It's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. The team is there.

"They don't need to make wholesale changes. They just need to make alterations." Johns went on to say the Rabbitohs need to work on their mentality to get back to where they were ahead of the 2024 campaign.

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