South Sydney have made it clear to the NRL that there is zero appetite for Latrell Mitchell to meet with the teenager who abused him at Penrith a few weeks ago.
The NRL raised the possibility the South Sydney fullback could speak with the teenager who was accused of racially abusing him to help educate the youngster. The Rabbitohs were furious that it was even suggested as an option.
The club is of the opinion that meeting with Mitchell would be rewarding what they view as the teenager’s inexcusable behaviour, regardless of denials the abuse was racially motivated.
“We do not believe a meeting would be of any benefit in this situation,” a South Sydney spokesperson told the Herald.
“There are thousands of people at matches every week behaving perfectly well, who would love to meet Latrell. Why should those who don’t behave get the opportunity to meet any great player in the game?”
Despite the police closing the matter by issuing the teenager with a warning, the NRL is yet to finish its investigation. It’s unclear what sanctions they will impose but meeting Mitchell doesn’t appear to be an option.
Storm confident they’ve got NAS deal done
Nelson Asofa Solomona remains off contract for next season and recently met with Wallabies coach Eddie Jones and general manager Chris Webb in Melbourne during Super Rugby’s version of the NRL’s Magic Round last month.
Asofa-Solomona is close friends with Wallabies winger Suliasi Vunivalu, with the pair previously talking about making the switch back to union late in their careers.
It’s not the first time Asofa-Solomona has shown interest in rugby – the prop met with former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie during his time in charge.
It’s hard to see the Melbourne Storm big man, who was born in New Zealand, lining up against the All Blacks or squaring off against the haka. The Storm are confident he is about to put pen to paper on a three-year extension to keep him at the club until the end of 2026.
The Storm are confident Nelson Asofa-Solomona won’t defect to rugby.Credit:Getty
Panthers set to extend Leota
The Penrith Panthers have accelerated their retention drive and are set to extend another of their dual premiership-winners in the coming days.
Fresh off co-captain Isaah Yeo extending through until the end of 2027, the Panthers are on the verge of securing prop forward Moses Leota until the end of the same year.
The Panthers have now secured Nathan Cleary, Brian To’o, Leota and Yeo until the end of 2027. No other team in the competition has more players tied down for that long than the Panthers.
Moses Leota is set to re-commit to the Panthers.Credit:Getty
The Cowboys are the closest with three players – Jason Taumalolo, Scott Drinkwater and Jeremiah Nanai – all contracted until the end of 2027. No other club has more than two.
A lot has been made of Penrith’s salary cap position in light of losing Stephen Crichton to the Bulldogs and Spencer Leniu to the Roosters.
The reason the Panthers wouldn’t get into a bidding war for Leniu was because they couldn’t justify paying north of $500,000 for a bench forward.
With Leota (2027) and Fisher-Harris (2026) at the club for at least another three seasons after this year, that decision has been vindicated despite their disappointment of losing a local junior to the Tricolours.
Attention will now turn to Dylan Edwards, Jarome Luai and Liam Martin, all of whom are free agents from November 1.
Ponga back on deck at Knights
Monday is D-Day for Kalyn Ponga, who will sit down with Newcastle’s football and medical staff to map out his return to play.
Ponga returned to Australia on Saturday morning after a two-week trip to Canada for neurological testing following a series of concussions over the past 12 months.
The good news for Ponga is that testing cleared him of any major issues. Now the club needs to work out how to ease him back into the sport.
Kalyn Ponga will be back on deck at the Knights on Monday.Credit:Getty Images
It’s unlikely Ponga will play for the Knights in round six against the Warriors. It’s expected he will return in either round seven against the Panthers or round eight against the Cowboys.
The other question Newcastle will have to answer is whether he continues to play in the halves and defend in the front line.
Lachlan Miller has been superb at fullback but there’s no doubt the Knights can protect Ponga – at least defensively – if he returns to the No.1 jersey. Their preference remains for him to play at five-eighth.
Silent treatment
Which under-pressure NRL coach has started informing journalists that he won’t be answering calls any more, redirecting inquiries to the club’s media manager?
Trouble in Tiger Town
There’s been a lot of criticism of the Wests Tigers of late. Some of it unfair, some of it warranted.
Whoever decided it wasn’t worth pursuing Adam Reynolds midway through 2021 when he was looking for a new club was left with egg on their face on Saturday night.
The Tigers had the salary cap space to go after Reynolds. Some will tell you that Reynolds didn’t want to come and play under old coach Michael Maguire.
Those close to Madge paint a different picture. Regardless, it would hurt Tigers fans knowing that $800,000 probably would have got him across the line.
Tim Sheens was nonplussed after the Tigers’ latest defeat.Credit:Getty
His preference was to remain in Sydney but his only options came north of the border in the form of the Cowboys and Broncos, ultimately settling in Brisbane.
The Tigers’ attack has been woeful. Coach Tim Sheens told the Herald in the pre-season that “our philosophy is that we want to put points on the board. The rule book says score more points than the opposition … and I like following the rule book.”
The Tigers head into round six with the worst attack in the competition, and that’s with five teams having played one less game than them.
Maybe CEO Justin Pascoe was auditioning for halfback when he was snapped kicking balls on the field at Suncorp Stadium two hours before kick-off.
Justin Pascoe with a Steeden before the match at Suncorp.Credit:Twitter
The Herald approached Pascoe for comment about the photo on social media of him in his trackpants kicking a Steeden.
He declined to comment because he didn’t want to give ammunition to the trolls on social media and reporters at rival publications who have suggested he provides this columnist more information than the opposition. He instead chose to speak with News Corp.
It’s interesting to note that Daine Laurie was meant to play five-eighth in NSW Cup on Sunday. The club changed its mind at the 11th hour, shifting Laurie back to fullback for the game at Lidcombe Oval.
It’s a strong indication that the Adam Doueihi fullback experiment could be coming to an end.
Papali’i committed to Tigers
Still on the Tigers. Murmurs of Isaiah Papali’i’s unhappiness at the Tigers won’t go away. His old club the Warriors recently reached out to see if he was interested in returning home, given he has lived away from his partner, Kiwi netballer Elle Temu, for the past three years.
The Warriors were told that Papali’i remains committed to the Tigers despite a slow start to his three-year tenure at the club. What’s more likely is that Temu will explore options to play in Sydney with either the NSW Swifts or Giants.
Amone return a boost of Dragons
Junior Amone made his return to rugby league against the Dolphins on Saturday night, impressing in the absence of the injured Jayden Sullivan.
While Amone was named on the bench at the start of the week, this column has been told that Anthony Griffin was going to start the Tongan international at five-eighth and planned to use Sullivan off the bench.
That would have forced Moses Mbye back to reserve grade. When Sullivan injured his shoulder at training on Wednesday, Mbye was training with the reserve grade players. As soon as Sullivan went down, a message was sent out for Mbye to rejoin the team.
Amone didn’t disappoint, combining with Ben Hunt to lead the Dragons to their second win of the season.
It was his first game since the NRL overturned the no-fault stand down policy after it was decided his case would be prosecuted in the local court, where a maximum sentence sits at five years and well below the NRL’s mandatory 11-year automatic stand down.
“This game was very special to me after the stuff that’s happened over the off season,” Amone said after the match.
“My main goal was to get back into first grade. This was a very special game to me and my family, so I hope I did the fans and my family proud. I knew I was going to be back this year. My legal team did everything they could to get me back on the field.
“Now I’m just here to play footy, do the best for the Dragons and for my family …. I just want to do whatever it takes to succeed. There’s great history in this club and it deserves more than we’ve showed the last couple of years.”
Suaalii no mercenary
One thing that has been lost in the debate around Suaalii’s defection to rugby union is his loyalty to coach Trent Robinson and the Roosters.
At the time of his decision to take up an option in his favour to stay at the Roosters for 2024, he was well aware of how much money he was turning down.
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan told this column that they offered Suaalii a contract for next year.
Suaalii turned it down – all $1.6m of it – to honour his $750,000 option at the Roosters because of his loyalty to Robinson and the club.
Tupou staying on at Roosters
On the back of losing Joseph Suaalii, the Roosters have secured winger Daniel Tupou on a one-year extension until the end of 2024. They’ll have tallest winger combination in the competition next year with Tupou on Dom Young on the edges.
Gutho still tight with Arthur
This column caused a stir last week when we revealed Clint Gutherson’s conversation with the Eels about a potential positional switch.
We didn’t suggest Gutherson was being pushed out. He is coach Brad Arthur’s right-hand man. The fact they can speak so candidly is a large reason why they have been so close for so long.
While so much has been made of Parramatta’s short-term plans, the conversation was also around Gutherson’s long-term prospects.
He’s one of the hardest working fullbacks in the game, who understands that a transition to the centres at some point in the future may ensure his longevity in the sport.
We’re lovin’ it
The Manly Sea Eagles had some fun with coach Anthony Seibold at training last week. The image of him falling asleep at a local McDonald’s was brought up on the big screen by one of his staff members during a team meeting, much to the delight of the players.
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