Latrell Mitchell’s status as a rugby league rock star was made plain on Friday when Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou was caught up in a stampede of school kids clamouring to get near the South Sydney No.1.
Mitchell was the star attraction for a few hundred young fans when the Rabbitohs trained at Ballymore Stadium, the spiritual home of Queensland rugby union, ahead of their Magic Round clash against Melbourne.
Latrell Mitchell fans run through Jason Demetriou’s press conference.Credit: Rabbitohs Digital
After watching the Indigenous superstar and his teammates train for more than an hour, students from the local Hymba Yumba Independent School rushed to greet Mitchell when he finished his goal-kicking extras, charging past Demetriou, reporters and cameramen in the middle of his weekly press conference.
“Wow,” Demetriou could only grin once Mitchell’s fans had flocked from one end of the stadium to the other.
“I haven’t seen anything like that. [Mitchell] is a rock star when it comes to notoriety and fame but especially in Indigenous communities, and rightly so.
“He gives a lot of his time and commitment to standing proud as an Indigenous man and they love him for it.”
Rockstar Rabbitoh: Latrell Mitchell meets local fans.Credit: Rabbitohs Digital
Mitchell posed for selfies, signed anything the kids could get their hands on and wished happy birthday to far-flung friends and relatives while his teammates patiently waited on South Sydney’s bus.
“I just try and do my part within the community,” Mitchell said of the attention.
“I do what’s right for me and what I think is right as a man, a person and a role model. I know I have a responsibility and sometimes it’s a pinch myself moment.
“I couldn’t get to games really [as a kid], I couldn’t really afford it, to be honest. So anytime someone came, I always had a fond memory of NRL players coming to Taree.
Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker with police officers and a pupil from Cabbage Tree Island Public School.
“Cory Paterson from Newcastle Knights, he was a big standout for me. I used to hang off him like a fly, then you roll around school thinking you’re bulletproof, six-foot tall with the boys. Now I’m in that position and doing what I’m doing, it’s very humbling.”
Mitchell and veteran five-eighth Cody Walker arrived in Brisbane after taking a detour to the tiny Indigenous community of Cabbage Tree Island, where they had been invited by the deputy police commissioner after the town was ravaged by floods last year.
The trip made for a 4am start and a long day for the pair as they played a game of touch footy and met with community elders, but was more than worth the effort in Mitchell’s eyes.
“That’s what we’re about, that’s what we put our hands up for, regardless of if there’s cameras or not,” Mitchell said.
“It was about getting up there and we had the day off anyway. We sacrificed personal family time but at the end of the day we’re changing lives and that’s all that matters.”
Souths welcome back forward Liam Knight against the Storm for his first NRL game exactly one year after suffering an ACL rupture in a cannonball tackle and overcoming alcohol and prescription drug issues since, while winger Alex Johnston also celebrates his 200th game.
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