Latrell Mitchell has hit back at James Tedesco for accusing him of unnecessarily standing over rookie Toby Rodwell after flattening him with one of the hits of the season last Friday night.
Tedesco ironed out playmaker Rodwell last Friday night before towering over him as he laid on the ground.
Roosters skipper Tedesco told Nine’s Danny Weidler on Monday: “It was fair play from ‘Trell’, the hit he put on – but I’m not sure about standing over him after.
“The poor kid is only 20 years old and played two games.”
When asked about those comments on Tuesday, Mitchell, making a rare appearance in front of the cameras this season, took aim at his NSW Origin and Kangaroos teammate.
“I knew this was coming,” Mitchell told a big media pack inside Heffron Park on Tuesday.
“‘Teddy’ probably had flashbacks of ‘Greggy’ [Greg Inglis] running over him a few years ago [in 2015, when Tedesco was still with the Wests Tigers]. Who knows? He’s got my number. If you’ve got a problem, ring me.”
Pressed on whether the comments had upset him, Mitchell shrugged and said: “They [the Roosters] shouldn’t have rested [nine] players either, but they did.
“I didn’t get to him [Rodwell] at the end [of the game], but I do wish him all the best. It’s a welcome-to-first-grade sort of thing. I’ve been banged, and you move on. The lad will be right.
“Those older players, your Nate Myles, the Stewart brothers [Glenn and Brett], Jamie Lyon, I remember copping it off them. They’re great players of our game, they set the standard. I’m carrying that on.”
South Sydney teammate Brandon Smith defended Mitchell’s actions after the Allianz Stadium bell-ringer.
“It’s hard in the heat of the moment to have respect for players you’ve just smacked,” Smith said.
“As my teammate, that pumped me up; it makes you feel alive in the game. I don’t think who he pumped, whether it was Toby, Teddy, whoever it was, he would have stood over him, because that’s what Latrell does.
“He is that enforcer. He brings that intimidation and mongrel to the game.
“It’s a welcome-to-first-grade sort of thing. I’ve been banged, and you move on. The lad will be right.”
Latrell Mitchell on his hit on Toby Rodwell
“I’m just glad he got the hit right, because if he rushed out and got it wrong, it was all over for his season. I’m glad we still get to play alongside him this week.”
Mitchell was playing his second game back from a bulging disc in his back. That issue led to nerve pain down one of his legs, and threatened to derail his season.
Mitchell said the pain had been something “you wouldn’t wish it upon your worst enemy”, and was at its worst at half-time during a game earlier this year against Newcastle. The Rabbitohs host the Knights in Friday’s elimination final at Allianz Stadium.
There is plenty of momentum behind the sixth-placed Rabbitohs. Mitchell and Smith are back from injury, David Fifita is at his rampaging best on the right edge, Cody Walker is calling the shots in the halves and a mobile pack is being led by Keaon Koloamatangi.
Asked if he was now back in a “happy place”, Mitchell, 29, who recently welcomed the arrival of his fourth child, said: “Any advice to any young fella coming through would be, ‘Adversity is always going to be there, challenges are always going to be faced, and it’s just the way you come out of it’.
“I guess the moments I’ve had in my career and what I’ve learned, they’re just lessons, they’re not losses. I’ve lived probably a lot more experiences than most older men.
“I love what I’m doing, I love the team, and everything’s just falling into place. I’m just cruising along now, and I just want to play footy and have fun.”
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