BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 05: Latrell Mitchell of the Blues looks on during game one of the 2019 State of Origin series between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues at Suncorp Stadium on June 05, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Blues centre Latrell Mitchell has frustrated Roosters officials after failing to return to Sydney with Origin teammates on Thursday, as reported by Channel Nine's Wide World of Sports.

Mitchell decided to drive to his home town of Taree with relatives and is expected to miss Sunday's clash against Penrith.

It's understood that Mitchell requested leave from Blues management, leaving the Roosters unimpressed with the 21-year-old, as the club pay Mitchell's weekly wages.

Mitchell's season to date has found red-hot form on the field under Sydney coach Trent Robinson, but has struggled with off-field issues, including a blowout with his manager in recent weeks. Mitchell failed to carry over his league form into Wednesday's Origin I clash, with New South Wales coach Brad Fittler admitting his mind was elsewhere during the game.

"I don't think he'll play this week,” Fittler said.

“I know they're not that happy at the Roosters and there's a lot going on in his life at the moment with managers. There always seems to be something other than footy.

"He's a superstar, we all want him out there playing. He obviously needs to work on his motivation.

"One thing you have to understand is he's young, he played in a winning Origin series last year, played for Australia, won a grand final, you have to give some people a break.

"He'll go through these times while he's young. The nature of State of Origin, you need to be at your best. He wasn't at his best (in Origin One). That's fair to say.

"He can do such brilliant things, sometimes that might mask other parts of his game. He's a superstar, he's coming off a huge year, he's a young bloke so I can cut him some slack."

 

8 COMMENTS

  1. He had his worst game I’ve seen
    He is very talented and young

    Maybe Payne Haas, Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr should have concentrated on the game rather than putting their focus on not singing the national anthem and drawing unwanted attention to themselves.. They all obviously distracted them selves from the main prize.

    2 of them Haas and Walker were debutants and both should pay the ultimate price and be dropped for SOO2. Walker couldn’t get in the game Haas had virtually no impact and the left hand side of the blues (Addo-Carr and Latrell) were owned by QLD. .

    As for Latrell he has a lot of thinking to do and Gus is right Do you want to be in Origin? Because the way you played you do not… He has a lot of thinking to do……………………………………..

  2. Come to Souths bud, everyone knows you’re not happy there.. plus you’ll play fullback (which is what you want)

  3. I feel like people like yourself are why NSW are wallowing in constant flux.
    You have no patience and collectively, NSW have created a toxic environment where you’re utterly brutal on any player that didn’t hit the ground running and change the game. Fitler was trying to change that but it’s very much rotten in the core.
    The idea that a debutant should shoulder the responsibility for how the game went is ridiculous.
    For one thing – Payne wasn’t bad, neither was Addo Carr.
    Walker isn’t a player that works in tight games, he needs space. He probably should not have been picked – but what happened is exactly what you’d expect in a tight game with a running half. You rarely see star centres destroy at origin level because the game is so tight. A lot of stuff that you see in club games just rarely happens in origin and the hypebeasts who thought Walker could sneak in like he does for Souths were deluded. That’s not his fault, though.
    Ultimately the whole team has to shoulder the responsibility for what happened because largely, what happened was that they were basically bashed up in the second half.
    In my opinion, the only guy who really has to answer to something is Latrell – because he has been substandard since the Broncos game. He doesn’t look angry, he doesn’t play hard. It’s a little like Hayne.

  4. Wayne

    I respect your comments but its 3 games to win a series, there’s no time for sub standard ease my way in performances. (Ponga was prime example last year, debut and got straight into it ), And if Fittler was trying to change the rot why did he leave Klemmer on the bench at the most crucial time?

    And regarding patience I’ve sat through 10 out of 11 series losses with patience because of what future immortals QLD had on the field.

    These players are professionals and dumb comments re not singing anthems etc took away their focus on the game.
    8.0 up at half time and we blew it

    Low and behold we are 1 nil down and on our way to Perth with no room for failure.

    Its not 26 rounds and we can lose 50 percent and still make the 8. scenario

  5. I’m with you on this one Doganator.

    Although I think you are a bit tough on Haas & Addo-Carr. They did a decent job in my eyes except for the one stupid penalty that Haas got sucked into.

    Walker & Mitchell were both rubbish. But lets not state the truth in case it hurts their feelings.

  6. There is time. There is an opportunity to give the players who were great another chance to see if they can redeem themselves – now that they have that experience. It’s a risk, I know – but it’s not a risk that NSW rarely seem to employ – and even if they do, by then, the media has bashed the crap out of the power, lowering their confidence. Maybe it isn’t even possible with how these guys are treated.

    I respect that you’ve gone through a lot of lost series, but it’s the same after every loss for NSW – they (mostly the media, I suppose) basically knock the crap out of anybody they can and start again – every time. Imagine if you’re Walker, after that. Massive positivity – and then ripping you to shreds, straight after. Would you even want to be part of it again? It’s toxic.

    As an English person, I see this all the time with my national soccer team. The constant negativity just sucks the life out of them. It really does have a tremendously detrimental effect on the way the team play when they are under pressure.

    NSW did not play that bad – they got overrun on QLD’s home turf but they were mostly the better side in the first half. Walker didn’t play bad – he just wasn’t in the game. It was a hard game for someone like him to get into. He wasn’t a good choice to begin with.

    Lastly, you can’t really bring up Ponga as an example of hitting the ground running. Ponga, like Tedesco – he has something that very few have. He fits, immediately. That’s not really likely for the mere mortals in those teams. LIke I said in the other post – a lot of star potential is wiped clean at origin level. The game is tight and it rarely lets the people like Walker reproduce their form. Most of QLD’s team have multiple origin games and have put in some fairly nondescript performances in their first games, too.

    There is definitely a difference in the way QLD look at things. It’s clearly more optimistic. It isn’t quite so critical. It always feels like Rocky vs Ivan Drago with QLD vs NSW. If Nate Myles was a NSW player, he’d have never kept getting picked – but as it was, he was QLDer – basically a fairly average club player, but a guy who played very well in origins.

    Totally respect your ordeal, but I feel these guys are somewhat scapegoats in that the game was won mostly in the battle for territory in the second half, which can’t really be attributed to Walker, who is a half who needs space. Haas, who was not on for long. It’s a collective thing.

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