For some time, rival fans have considered Latrell Mitchell too big for his boots. In the early hours of Sunday morning in Canberra, he was too big for police handcuffs.
As four policemen held him face-first on the ground, they struggled to get regular handcuffs on the South Sydney fullback because his wrists were too big.
Eventually, the police gave up and used flexi-cuffs on Mitchell, who was being detained following a play-wrestle with Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton at 3.45am outside a nightclub in Canberra’s CBD.
Both were arrested and spent the morning in separate police cells. Mitchell was charged with fighting in a public place, affray and resisting arrest. Wighton was charged with fighting in a public place and failing to comply with an exclusion direction.
They are due to appear in ACT Magistrates Court on February 22.
The incident is so very rugby league: nothing in isolation but everything in the big scheme of things because they are well-known footballers once again trashing the reputation of a game that’s made them millionaires.
Latrell Mitchell, right, and Jack Wighton leave the Indigenous All Stars team bus together.Credit:Nick Moir/SMH
According to representative teammates, the pair regularly engage in play-wrestling, especially after a few drinks. As long as you don’t aggravate old hamstring injuries (see Michael Clarke), drunken play-wrestling can be quite fun.
The problem on this occasion was police were involved. Already, the blame is being shifted to the authorities for “over-reacting”, although both men apologised for their actions via a statement on Monday morning.
Sources from both clubs report Wighton could have walked away as Mitchell was being detained but didn’t want to return home, where Mitchell’s wife and children were staying, without him.
Latrell Mitchell.Credit:Getty
That, at the very least, shows his solidarity for a mate – but it doesn’t excuse that both of them have given the game a headache in a week when it should be celebrating the contribution of Indigenous and Maori players to the rich tapestry of rugby league.
The pair had been released from the Indigenous All Stars camp in Sydney so they could attend Wighton’s 30th birthday celebrations, which started at 3pm on Saturday at a pub.
Some of Wighton’s Canberra teammates, and coach Ricky Stuart, were in attendance. It was a convivial affair with family and friends, most of whom went home after sunset.
Wighton and Mitchell and a handful of players decided to kick on, even though they were warned to stay away from the nightclubs.
On Monday morning, they sported the grins of cheeky schoolboys as they boarded the team bus to Sydney Airport before flying out to New Zealand for Saturday’s All Stars match in Rotorua.
The NRL couldn’t stop them from playing because their indiscretions do not fall under the no-fault stand-down rule, which rules out players who are charged for offences that carry a custodial sentence of 11 years or more.
I doubt the NRL would have stopped them anyway: it has botched the All Stars by playing it the year after a World Cup, resulting in a slew of late withdrawals. Wighton and Mitchell are two of the few drawcards remaining.
Within hours of the story breaking on Sunday morning, South Sydney and Canberra fans flooded their clubs with emails demanding any suspensions be delayed for a year.
They were citing the curious case of Panthers winger Taylan May, whose two-match suspension after being found guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm late last year was deferred so he could play in the finals.
The court process will need to play out before the NRL decides how to sanction Wighton and Mitchell, but they can expect to miss matches.
Jack Wighton runs the ball.Credit:Getty
Broncos prop Payne Haas was ridiculously suspended for one match last year for shoving the head of annoying teammate Albert Kelly. Cody Walker missed two matches in 2020 after being videoed kung-fu kicking someone in a drunken street fight even though the incident didn’t warrant police action.
Like many people, I couldn’t care less if Mitchell and Wighton want to play-wrestle on the streets of Canberra. I have bigger issues to worry about, like whether I’m getting bang for my buck out of the fabric softener I’m currently using. The fact that two footballers can’t handle their grog won’t stop me from watching the footy.
But the headlines they’ve generated in the last couple of days damage the NRL’s reputation. It costs sponsorship dollars and it turns off new fans.
This episode could not have come at a worse time for the RLPA as it wrestles with the NRL over a new collective bargaining agreement.
Players moan about being genuine “partners” in the game when, in reality, they want all care but no responsibility.
The RLPA opposes an increase in fines for player misbehaviour, advocating more education and welfare programs — and it’s a cop-out.
Wighton is 30 and in 2018 pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, three counts of common assault, and one charge of public urination. How much education does he need?
Mitchell is 25 and in 2020 was sentenced to a 12-month conditional release order for giving a firearm to an unauthorised person. How much education does he need?
A 22 per cent pay rise, as per the salary cap increase the NRL announced before Christmas, should be enough incentive for players to keep their side of the street clean.
Times have changed and the players need to change with them.
When Canberra chief executive Don Furner met with police on Sunday morning, he might’ve recalled a story he told at the 2020 funeral of his father and former Raiders coach and administrator, Don snr.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Furner would take calls from Queanbeyan police on a Monday morning advising them that one of the players was in their cells.
Furner would pick up the hungover footballer, pay for whatever damage had been done, and drop him home. All done without a syllable being reported.
“Why do you sign these sorts of players?” Furner’s wife asked him one day.
“Because,” Furner said, “if we don’t, we won’t win any games of footy.”
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