Paul Gallen has put South Sydney on blast and says Latrell Mitchell should be “dirty” if the club tries to impose a monetary fine or suspension on him.
And he wants action taken against the person responsible for taking and distributing a photo of Mitchell in a compromised position.
Mitchell fronted the Rabbitohs board last week after an image was leaked of him bent over a table with what appears to be a white substance in front of him.
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The superstar fullback has been handed a breach notice by the NRL and faces hefty sanctions from the governing body and from his club.
Former players Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney last week decried the image of Mitchell being posted to social media, and Gallen agrees with them.
“The person who took the photo… I think it’s illegal, there’s got to be something illegal there,” Gallen told Wide World of Sports on Wednesday.
“The cops, or Latrell tries to sue… if this does go bad for Latrell I hope he tries to sue the person who took the photo. I’m not a cop or a lawyer but I don’t think you should be able to do that.
Latrell Mitchell. Getty
“I’d love to see him chase them and make an example of this if this goes bad for him.”
The photo was allegedly taken in a Dubbo hotel room the weekend prior. Mitchell remains sidelined with a foot injury and will not play again this season.
It is the latest indiscretion for the Bunnies superstar, who is reportedly earning $1.2 million a season from the NRL club.
“I’m not trying to bag Latrell here… he put himself in a situation he probably shouldn’t have been in, he’s got to accept responsibility for that,” Gallen said on Wide World of sports’ 2GB radio on Tuesday.
“But this is just a vicious circle, this is what happens every time – he does something silly or says something silly, gets suspended, does something stupid, the whole world jumps on him.
“Then he comes back, plays football the way we all know he can play, becomes the best player in the game, does crazy things that other people can’t do, then all of a sudden what do we want to do? We want to interview him again.
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“So we interview him again, the media get involved, we start asking him about this and that and then Latrell says things like ‘I’ll do what I want, I’ll say how I want’… then what happens, it’s like a vicious circle.”
Gallen says the onus needs to be on South Sydney.
“I don’t mind if he says that, but privately someone at the South Sydney club – the captain or the coach – is getting hold of him and telling him the way it should be, but I don’t think that happens at South Sydney,” Gallen said.
“All you hear from South Sydney is Latrell’s this, Latrell’s that, Latrell is fine, we’re just worrying about playing footy. Well you can’t just be worried about playing footy when you’ve got someone who constantly causes so much attention.
“When attention is brought upon your club, whether positive or negative, it takes away from your job which is playing football and winning games, because players have to answer all the questions. And that happens so often when it comes to Latrell.
“But I don’t see South Sydney nipping it in the bud at all. I see him constantly get away with it and constantly behave the way he wants to behave, and it keeps going around in circles.
“I actually feel a bit sorry for him. If they actually fine him $200,000, which I’ve heard is the rumour, I would be that dirty if I was Latrell, because I honestly believe they have to take some responsibility for the way he behaves.”
Gallen questioned why Mitchell was in Dubbo for the weekend rather than at South Sydney’s round 23 game against the Tigers, which the Rabbitohs lost.
Mitchell was appearing at junior football clinics in the western NSW town.
But Gallen would rather see him in the Rabbitohs box while injured – pointing to Penrith’s Nathan Cleary and Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes as role models.
Latrell Mitchell of the Rabbitohs talks with referee Todd Smith. Getty
“He has got no one at South Sydney saying hang on Latrell, you’re the highest paid player, you’re the best player at this club, we need you here to support the boys, we need you here to get us out of this rut, we need your help,” Gallen said.
“No one does that at South Sydney, they just let him do what he wants, and they always have.
“So now when they try to turn it back (on him) he’s going to say ‘wait on a sec, you’ve always let me do it’.
“It’s going to take Wayne Bennett to come in there and change it because no one else has had the balls to stand up to Latrell and say ‘no Latrell you can’t do this’.
“No one has done that and look where they are now. He’s always done it his way, and good luck changing it.”
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