South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou agreed Latrell Mitchell was in “beast mode” in the win over Penrith but moved to clarify his public comments that may have sparked the superstar’s stunning run of form.
Mitchell was monstrous in the Rabbitohs’ come-from-behind 20-18 win on Thursday night, with league great Nathan Hindmarsh believing it was a reaction to Demetriou’s challenge made several weeks ago to become more involved.
“A few weeks ago he got a bit of a rocket didn’t he,” Hindmarsh said on The Late Show post-match.
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“Not about how he’s playing but more about his involvement and wanting him to be more involved in the game.
“Ever since then, it’s been a couple of weeks since that happened, he’s been 10/10 .. and I think there’s still more in him, I honestly think there’s still more in him.”
Demetriou was asked about publically challenging Mitchell in the post-match conference but made an effort to clarify he was not criticising his form.
“I didn’t challenge him,” the coach said.
“Let’s be clear, I spoke to him about getting his hands on the ball a bit earlier. As a fullback or a winger sometimes you need to get in the game a bit earlier otherwise the game can drift away from you a little bit.
“So we had a bit of a chat about that but his involvements outside of that had been good.
“But yeah, when he gets in the game early he sends a message, firstly, to himself but most importantly to his teammates.”
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Penrith Panthers Press Conference | 04:26
Demetriou was at pains to stress while Mitchell would “get lot of accolades”it was a team effort that secured one of the club’s biggest regular season wins in recent memory.
“One individual doesn’t beat Penrith, it takes a lot of hard work,” he said.