From late-night scooter rides to breaking COVID-19 protocols, Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr have emerged to become two of the most important members of the Australian rugby league team on and off the field.
For a brief moment, it appeared Mitchell and Addo-Carr may never wear the green and gold again because of their after hours antics when they were spotted hooning to the streets before the Kangaroos’ shock loss to Tonga at the end of 2019.
If national coach Mal Meninga was prepared to let the scooting incident slide, his patience was seriously tested a few months later when the pair breached COVID-19 protocols by shooting firearms on Mitchell’s farm.
When asked about selecting Mitchell and Addo-Carr for international duty again, Meninga said at the time he would need to give it serious thought.
“It’s not because of the scootering, it’s because of what happened right now,” Meninga told Herald columnist Danny Weidler at the time, in reference to the COVID-19 breach. “What they did was not naive; it didn’t consider the sacrifices that everyone else has made and has been making.”
But Meninga was always going to pencil in the pair in for the World Cup. The good friends will form the Roos’ left-edge centre-wing combination.
Latrell Mitchell works up a sweat at Kangaroos training.Credit:Cole Bennetts/SMH
What Mitchell and Addo-Carr had achieved on and off the field in recent years, Meninga said, proved they were now leaders in the game.
“The scooters didn’t worry me too much, what worried me at the time was we had lost to the Tongans,” Meninga told the Herald before Australia flew out for England.
“Three years on, they’ve become leaders. We spoke about it on Wednesday night how ‘Teddy’ [James Tedesco] is our captain, but my expectation is everyone needs to be a leader.
“I’m really happy with the way Josh and Latrell have grown as people and as players.
Mal Meninga made it known to Danny Weidler he was unhappy with Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr in May, 2020.Credit:Sun-Herald
“That all comes with maturity. Society and the game demands these guys become role models when they’re 18, 19 and 20 years of age. Life experience plays a big part in everyone’s lives, so their maturity, the leadership programs at club level … they were always going to end up good people and players because of it. ”
Mitchell has arguably become rugby league’s biggest box-office drawcard because of his on-field form with South Sydney and popularity with young fans, especially because of his standing in the Indigenous community. His Instagram feed became impossible to keep up with because of the amount of photos he posted posing with young supporters at last weekend’s Koori Knockout.
“He has some viable causes he speaks out about, which is great, and we expect ‘Trell’ to be ‘Trell’; we won’t change the way he does things here,” Meninga said.
Addo-Carr was certainly pumped to be reunited with Mitchell for the first time this year after they missed out on the NSW Origin campaign because of form and injury.
When reminded about scooting the streets in Auckland, Addo-Carr joked it was tough to sleep because of the New Zealand time difference.
As for now being a leader at the age of 27, Addo-Carr said: “I think the more games you play you have no choice but to be a leader.
“I don’t know, bro, am I a veteran now? Since I’ve been to the Bulldogs, I’ve had no choice but to be a leader. And you just do it because you know what to do.”
