South Sydney’s club doctor has reportedly visited Latrell Mitchell to check on his shoulder in the aftermath of his arrest on Sunday morning.
Mitchell and close friend Jack Wighton were celebrating the Raiders star’s 30th birthday before they allegedly began wrestling outside a Canberra nightclub at 3.45am.
While Daily Telegraph reported witness accounts that it was “not a lot more than a friendly wrestle”, police were called to the scene and Mitchell was charged with resisting arrest, while Wighton was also charged.
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In the Channel 7 footage, Mitchell can be heard screaming ‘my shoulders’ multiple times and appeared to be in serious pain as an onlooker screamed “you’re literally hurting him, they weren’t doing anything!”
Veteran rugby league Daily Telegraph reporter Phil Rothfield — who broke the story on the superstar duo’s arrest — explained on Monday morning the pair will likely be “showing remorse” when they front the ACT Magistrates Court, despite suggestions police over-reacted by arresting them.
Rothfield also questioned why the pair were out at such a late hour, a week before the start of pre-season and said “it could have been so much worse”.
“I have spoken to Souths and (Mitchell’s manager) Matt Rose about this and whether there will be some sort of complaint lodged with the ACT Police or when the two boys go to court in a fortnight’s time,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“They both told me that Jack and Latrell will more likely be showing remorse when they turn up in court.
“They understand they’ve brought untimely and embarrassing headlines to rugby league on the eve of the season, and they are dirty on themselves for putting themselves in that position.
“That’s not to say, and there were so many eyewitnesses I saw on the Channel 7 report last night, including the manager of the hotel, who were critical of the way police handled it.
“I can tell you — this could have been so much worse, there’s about four police who have Latrell on the ground, he is yelling out ‘my shoulder, my shoulder’.
“Well that was while they were trying to handcuff him, it was so serious South Sydney’s club doctor had to visit Latrell at his home last night just to check it was okay.
“He thinks it is, they are pretty confident it isn’t going to stop him from playing for the All Stars this weekend if he does make the trip to New Zealand.
“They are convinced it won’t stop him from playing Round 1 of the competition, however physios will be monitoring it and if it does get worse, he’ll have to get scans.”
Wighton and Mitchell were spotted travelling to the All Stars clash together on Monday morning and there is clearly no bad blood between the pair.
The duo are set to feature for the Indigenous All Stars against the Maori All Stars at the Rotorua International Stadium on February 11.
Indigenous All Stars coach Ronnie Griffiths told Fairfax the players were in good spirits.
“They’re both good, they walked in last night together, and the love they felt in the room was exactly what they needed to fill their cup up again,” Indigenous All Stars coach Ronnie Griffiths told the Herald.
“One of our elders, Edward Monaei, who is from the Torres Strait, when the two boys came in and all the staff were there, he stood up in front of everyone and said, ‘Our circle is now complete’.
“[Latrell’s] all good, he saw the Souths doctor on Sunday. All the players needed to have a medical before they came into camp.
“Both boys are on this trip to build up the other boys culturally and spiritually, but the end goal is they are also over there to play.
“I know there would be no prouder moment for Latrell and his brother Shaquai to play over there together.
Latrell is a world-class player. Everyone is looking forward to going over to New Zealand to develop the game, and he’s certainly a drawcard.”
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Rothfield said the million-dollar players shouldn’t have put themselves in the situation at all.
“I guess you have to wonder why million-dollar football players should be in nightclubs at 3am in February when they are so deep into their pre-season,” Rothfield said.
“That’s not to say police haven’t overreacted here with the arrest, but I just don’t think they should have put themselves in that position with so much drama, the face of the game Latrell being seen in graphic CCTV footage after fighting his great mate Jack Wighton.
“These two are as close as any two footballers in the NRL, especially ones from rival clubs.
“To give you an idea of how close their relationship is, Latrell was concerned about going on the Kangaroo tour, the World Cup tour of England, he does get homesick, he loves his farm at Taree.
“It was only that Jack Wighton was going and he basically had one of his brothers you could say in the side that convinced him to go to England.
“Matt Rose explained it to me yesterday, there’s a little bit of rivalry between them, they both think they are stronger than each other.
“Whenever they get together and have a few beers they will have a wrestle to prove it, this time they’ve had too much to drink, it got a little bit out of hand.
“But the eyewitnesses I have spoken to have said it was an over-reaction by the police, in the circumstances of the arrest particularly.
“But the bottom line is, footy players shouldn’t be wrestling in nightclubs, friendly or not.
“That’s the part I am talking about, million-dollar footballers being in nightclubs at that time of the morning and just putting themselves in awkward dangerous positions, where this could have been a lot worse.
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“He could have been hurt, how do you prove it was in the police arrest he did hurt his shoulder? How do we know it wasn’t while he was wrestling with Jack?
“I’m not dirty with them having a beer, but they do get an eight-week off-season, that’s the time they party, not this close to the season.”
In a statement, an NRL spokesperson told foxsports.com.au: “The NRL Integrity Unit has been made aware of this matter and is liaising with the Rabbitohs and Raiders clubs.”
A South Sydney club statement on Sunday read: “The South Sydney Rabbitohs are aware of an alleged incident involving Latrell Mitchell this morning in Canberra.
“The Rabbitohs have informed the NRL Integrity Unit about the alleged incident.
“The Rabbitohs will be making no further comment at this stage.”
A Raiders club statement on Sunday read: “The Canberra Raiders have been made aware of an alleged incident involving Jack Wighton last night in Canberra.
“The club has informed the NRL integrity unit and is co-operating with ACT police.
“The Raiders will not be making further comment at this time.”
