Latrell Mitchell has questioned whether the high profile of he and Jack Wighton played a part in the widespread coverage of the pair’s arrest as both players issued further apologies to their clubs and NRL fans.
Mitchell, Wighton and their Indigenous All Stars teammates were welcomed to Rotorua in a traditional Pohiri ceremony on Tuesday morning before their first training hit-out before Saturday’s clash against their Maori counterparts.
Mitchell and Wighton have been front and back page news in Sydney since their arrest over a play wrestle in Canberra’s CBD resulted in multiple charges and a night behind bars.
Both players declined to comment when pressed on several aspects of the incident due to ongoing legal proceedings, with their appearance before Canberra’s magistrates court set for February 22.
Asked specifically if he thought he had been targeted by police because of his profile, Mitchell responded: ”Everyone’s got a perspective and time will tell.”
Asked about the footage of him being pinned to the ground by officers while being arrested and screaming that his shoulder was being hurt, the NSW Origin and Test centre said, “That speaks for itself.”
“I don’t want to talk too much about it,” Mitchell said.
“The doc’s pretty much cleared me but there’s definitely a few things still going on with it. It’s an underlying issue but the focus now is on getting myself right for the weekend.”
He and Wighton were out celebrating the latter’s 30th birthday at a Queanbeyan Hotel before moving on to a nightclub in the CBD, where they began wrestling and drew the attention of police.
“It was just me and Jackie Boy being cousins, friendly and doing what we do, just having fun,” Mitchell said.
Jack Wighton shares a hongi greeting with a Maori elder in Rotorua.Credit:NRL Photos
“Would you hear about it if it wasn’t Jack Wighton and Latrell Mitchell?”
Wighton was contrite as he fronted reporters and apologised specifically to the Raiders, where he is among the contenders to replace Jarrod Croker as captain in coming years.
Speaking to the Canberra Times on Tuesday, coach Ricky Stuart lauded Wighton for staying by Mitchell’s side during his arrest.
“I’m very sorry to the club,” said Wighton, who referenced an alcohol-fueled attack in the same CBD precinct in 2018 that nearly resulted in his dismissal from the Raiders.
“I’ve worked for the last five years to repay them for my last muck-up. I’ve got a young family and it’s never good when I put them through that sort of stuff, and it’s something I have to live with.
“It’s just putting yourself in vulnerable positions. if I wasn’t out on the town, then it doesn’t happen. I’ve got to be smarter, I’m older than Latrell, I should’ve taken responsibility earlier and not let us go to town. It was one of those things, it was my 30th and we got carried away and we’re in this position now.”
Mitchell and Wighton were embraced by their Indigenous teammates when they returned to camp on Sunday, with Mitchell apologising for the unwanted distraction leading into All Stars week.
“The game of rugby league is what it is and I don’t want to take that focus away from this week and playing this special game,” he said.
“It’s obviously not what we want at the start of an NRL season and it’s not what anyone wants. I want this game to be as clean as possible and to play the game with the passion that I bring and I want to keep that off the field too.
“I won’t change for anybody. Anybody that knows me knows who Latrell Mitchell is and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”
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