The Rabbitohs veteran coach says Latrell Mitchell’s stunning match-winning pass sealed one of the proudest wins he’s ever been a part of.
The Rabbitohs veteran coach says Latrell Mitchell’s stunning match-winning pass sealed one of the proudest wins he’s ever been a part of.
Latrell Mitchell has inspired one of South Sydney’s most famous wins as the Rabbitohs lost their starting halves yet pinched a 20-14 triumph over the Roosters.
With Jamie Humphreys, Cody Walker and Mikaeka Ravalawa all sidelined by hamstring injuries and the Rabbitohs reduced to just one fit player on the bench, the Bunnies were gone for all money.
The Roosters led 14-8 midway through the second half with all the running. Mitchell, returning from a hamstring injury for his first game since July last year, and playing centre for the first time since the Roosters 2019 grand final triumph, answered with what already looms as an iconic pass in Rabbitohs history.
After Jye Gray had drawn scores level, a grandstand finish called for the game’s most magnetic player. Mitchell responded with a triple cut-out ball that travelled the best part of 20 metres for Isaiah Tass to score in the corner. Roosters fans will insist it travelled forward too.
As Mitchell and the Rabbitohs waited with bated breath for the Bunker’s ruling on Tass’s grounding, South Sydney’s talisman geed up the crowd behind him. With the try confirmed, he duly nailed the sideline conversion, and what proved the final scoring play of an enthralling contest.
When Walker didn’t return from the dressing sheds at half-time, and Ravalawa joined Walker and Humphreys shortly afterwards, the Rabbitohs’ defensive line was a mess. Jack Wighton found himself on the wing as Jai Arrow shifted to centre, Mitchell took on kicking duties and utility Jayden Sullivan tried to guide the Bunnies one-out.
Sullivan – who has lost 11 kilos under Wayne Bennett but is still due to return to Wests Tigers next year per his unique contract – played his part too. It was the Rabbitohs utility who sliced through a tiring Roosters defence to set up Gray’s try.
Mitchell meanwhile, sent a couple of kicks flying out on the full as he took on extra kicking duties and tried to lift his side. Chad Townsend and Sandon Smith answered in kind in a first half where the Roosters were at their best without the ball. Ten first-half errors gave South Sydney ample opportunity and no less than 40 tackles inside the Tricolours’ 20-metre zone.
The Roosters turned them away with all but one to somehow only trail 8-6 at half-time, although Souths went from side-to-side without Humphreys to straighten them.
With Walker staying in the sheds at half-time, the Roosters came to the party and most importantly, held the ball.
When the Rabbitohs defence was not just at sixes and sevens, but without either, the Roosters struck.
Billy Smith, quite possibly the NRL’s unluckiest player injury-wise, was spearing over the line shortly after half-time, scoring in his first game back since the 2023 finals.
Dom Young joined him on the scoresheet in the 52nd minute courtesy of a Siua Wong flick pass. By this point the Rabbitohs were doing well to simply stay on their feet. Sullivan and Gray then dragged them back into the contest.
And Mitchell, with a red and green hand of god, then won it.
And that’s it. A gutsy, wild, weird win for South Sydney, who lost both their starting halves but did enough to stay in the contest before Latrell Mitchell produced a moment of magic.
It was a gutsy effort too from the Roosters, who defended their hearts out in the first half.
Rabbitohs 20, Roosters 14 at full-time
While Latrell Mitchell may have grabbed the headlines, Jye Gray is having another terrific game at fullback and produces another spectacular effort at the back to outjump James Tedesco to a tricky bomb.
It’s a nail-biter of a finish here after a topsy-turvy game. After a first half in which both teams struggled with the ball in hand, suddenly either team looks capable of scoring at any moment.
Now Chad Townsend puts up a booming bomb, and this time it’s Mitchell’s turn to outleap the opposition and bring it down safely. Now Souths earn a penalty for a strip in a two-man tackle by Siua Wong (the Roosters use, and lose, their captain’s challenge). The Bunnies should be able to hang onto this one.
Rabbitohs 20, Roosters 14 after 78 minutes
They’ve got no starting halves left but South Sydney do have Latrell Mitchell, and the returning star puts his team back in front with an absolute bullet of a pass – going past two Rabbitohs teammates, three Roosters and the outstretched hand of Dom Young and into the hands of Isaiah Tass, who scores in the left corner.
Mitchell has the conversion attempt now and he’s taken it back to the 30-metre line in a bid to improve his chances of slotting it from the toughest angle for a left-foot kicker. And he nails it.
Rabbitohs 20, Roosters 14 after 72 minutes
Bang! One penalty later, the Rabbitohs are on the attack and Jayden Sullivan splits what has been a mostly impenetrable Roosters defence. He turns a pass on the inside to Jye Gray in support, and the Rabbitohs have levelled this one up.
Rabbitohs 14, Roosters 14 after 65 minutes
Some worrying signs for the Roosters now, with Lindsay Collins leaving the field with a knee injury and Connor Watson placed on report for a dangerous tackle. But they still have all the momentum in the contest, with James Tedesco forcing a dropout with a sharp grubber kick.
The dropout itself is a bizarre one – Latrell Mitchell hits a left-footed kick that goes to his right but comes down about two metres away from the tryline, but then bounces towards the 10-metre line and is regained by South Sydney.
Roosters 14, Rabbitohs 8 after 63 minutes
The Roosters are in again and suddenly it’s hard to see them losing this one. James Tedesco has been excellent and he’s involved again, drifting right and linking up with Siua Wong who flicks a great offload to Dom Young who scores in the corner.
It’s a tough sideline conversion for Sandon Smith, and it shaves the right upright but goes wide.
Roosters 14, Rabbitohs 8 after 54 minutes
The injury news keeps going from bad to worse for South Sydney – Cody Walker is now out of the game with a hamstring injury, joining halves partner Jamie Humphreys who had the same issue in the opening minutes. Now winger Mikaele Ravalawa also appears to have a hammy problem.
Not only are they down on troops, but they’re dearly missing direction without their halves. And Latrell Mitchell is the only last-tackle kicking option, effectively taking the star centre out of action as a running option late in the set.
Roosters 10, Rabbitohs 8 after 49 minutes