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By the time Wayne Bennett fronted for his post-match press conference, Latrell Mitchell’s astonishing 49-metre Friday night field goal was already “up to 55”, in Rabbitohs folklore.
With newly re-minted prime minister, and South Sydney No.1 ticket holder, Anthony Albanese hugging the pair in the dressing sheds afterwards, the legend just kept growing.
And who are we to argue with surely one of the best match-winners the modern game has seen, securing yet another famous, backs-to-the-wall Bunnies win and a 14-point comeback against the Broncos?
Bennett is already sweet enough. But watching one of his all-time favourite players pull off an incredible 22-14 triumph against the Brisbane outfit he so loves beating, well, life just got sweeter.
“He just does what Latrell can do, that’s what makes him such a special player,” Bennett said.
Asked if had seen a match-winner struck quite so long, Bennett could only chuckle.
“Not for a long, long time, no. He hit it so sweet and I don’t think we thought it was going over there and all of a sudden we got excited.”
Latrell Mitchell is mobbed by his teammates.Credit: Getty Images
As has been the case all year, Mitchell was off limits to the media after returning from suspension with his State of Origin spot apparently on the line.
Again, Bennett could only laugh when asked if he could believe it’s even a question. For the record he’d love to see Mitchell miss out on a Blues jumper, not because it would benefit Souths.
“Because I’m a Queenslander.”
Surely, it’s a moot point considering Mitchell also led without the ball for 70-odd minutes. He drove South Sydney from a 14-0 deficit with the best part of $4 million worth of talent watching from the stands.
He then stepped up and won it off his own boot. Mitchell’s strike from the halfway line never looked like missing. With three minutes left and his teammates losing their collective minds, Mitchell simply turned, stone-cold, and walked back to his mark as the Rabbitohs clambered all over him.
Just for the road, Mitchell added a try to make it 22-14 with the final play of the game. For the Broncos, Ben Hunt limping off late in the second half with a hamstring injury was a galling sight. On first glance, next week and perhaps the Origin opener on May 28 would seem to be in doubt.
All eyes were already on Ezra Mam’s return to the game on Sunday in Queensland Cup. It’s an even bigger watch now if Hunt is ruled out of a round 11 bout with his old Dragons outfit.
Michael Maguire was nothing less than fuming like it was 2022 and he was still coaching the Tigers as he deadbatted questions on both Hunt and Mam.
“I’ll go through this game before we get to that,” was all he would offer.
Maguire was right to be filthy given Souths really had no right to be pulling a dour contest out of the fire. Not with Cameron Murray, Cody Waker, Jack Wighton, Peter Mamouzelos, Alex Johnston and Tyrone Munro all sidelined.
But the Broncos, never sure things despite a dominant first half, were slowly worn down.
For all Mitchell’s undoubted firepower, it was defensively where he stood tallest. A clutch try-saving tackle on Deine Mariner when he looked destined to score in the corner was Mitchell’s best play since his last match-winning effort – that pass for Isaiah Tass against the Roosters – on the same turf a month ago.
It followed his stopping of a runaway Payne Haas when he was tryline bound. And a one-on-one strip from Brendan Piakura when the Rabbitohs No.1 had no right to rag doll the back-rower the way he did.
Mitchell had company too, with Jayden Sullivan thoroughly improved in defence and back-rowers Keaon Koloamatangi and Euan Aitken getting through a mountain of work.
Souths could barely fire a shot in attack throughout the first half, before Siliva Havili crossed to open the second as Brisbane’s lead was slowly reeled in.
As unlikely as the Rabbitohs comeback was, the sight of Isaiah Tass trampling Kotoni Staggs to send Fletcher Myers on his way was just as unexpected.
Mitchell nailing the big moments though? By now, you can just about set your watch to it.
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Incredible stuff. South Sydney trailed the Broncos 14-0 at half-time. A week ago, they were hammered 30-4 by a Newcastle team that hadn’t really looked like scoring 30 points all year.
But in the second half tonight they were terrific, and their main man Latrell Mitchell was in everything – try-saving tackles, booming bombs, the match-winning field goal and a bonus try at the death. What a player.
The Rabbitohs celebrate.Credit: Getty Images
What a comeback. And now the cherry on top. Latrell Mitchell, in the dying seconds of the match, is at dummy half and seems to “play dead”, kneeling down as if he’s submitting to a tackle to soak up a few more seconds. The defenders don’t react so he picks up the ball and barrels over the line from close range to cap a sensational comeback win.
Rabbitohs 22 beat Broncos 14 at full-time
Souths are in front! Latrell Mitchell seems to have been in everything tonight and he’s come up trumps again, slotting a booming two-point field goal from halfway to give the Rabbitohs the lead for the first time tonight. Massive.
Rabbitohs 16 lead Broncos 14 with 90 second left
The Broncos have lost five-eighth Ben Hunt to a hamstring injury – bad news for tonight but not the worst timing for the club considering Ezra Mam is available to return next week.
We’ve already had two upsets from two games this round and one big second-half comeback tonight. Are Souths about to produce another?
More madness now as Adam Reynolds is seemingly trapped with the ball on the last tackle, only for the halfback to get an offload away and Kotoni Staggs to run the ball and charge 50 metres upfield, eventually brought down on the South Sydney 20 metre-line.
It’s just about field goal time but the Rabbitohs are settling for booming bombs in the wet from Latrell Mitchell and Jamie Humphreys, and the Brisbane back three is struggling to defuse them. They get the ball back from one here, but the play fizzles out when Tallis Duncan grasses a sloppy pass.
Rabbitohs 14, Broncos 14 after 76 minutes
Chaotic stuff here. Latrell Mitchell puts in a grubber kick, Selwyn Cobbo cleans it up, Mitchell strips it out, a Souths player throws an offload with his foot on the sideline, and Mitchell ends up with the ball and crashes over to score a try that is immediately disallowed.
But Souths get the scrum from the initial Cobbo knock-on and they quickly receive a penalty for a high shot. Mitchell knocks over the conversion and scores a level heading into the final 10 minutes.
Rabbitohs 14, Broncos 14 after 70 minutes
More class from Deine Mariner, who skips between three defenders and makes a big break down the right – but as he closes in on the tryline he’s taken down and over the sideline by a terrific cover tackle from Latrell Mitchell. Still anyone’s game here.
Broncos 14, Rabbitohs 12 after 63 minutes
South Sydney never really looked like scoring in the first half but they’re much improved after Wayne Bennett’s half-time team talk, this time Isaiah Tass producing something out of nothing on the left edge after busting past opposite number Kotoni Staggs. Tass linked up with his winger Fletcher Myers who drew the final defender and sent the ball back to Tass for a try.
The good news for Brisbane is superstar prop Payne Haas is back on the field after his first-half back complaints.
Broncos 14, Rabbitohs 12 after 54 minutes
The Rabbitohs make the perfect start to the second half, getting into attacking territory after a Broncos error. Then Jayden Sullivan makes a half-break but can’t find a support player, before fill-in hooker Siliva Havili barrels his way over the line from dummy-half.
Meanwhile Payne Haas has returned to the sideline after halftime and looks to be OK. He’s got through a warm-up again on the sideline.
Broncos lead 14-6 after 43 minutes
As Latrell Mitchell gets things underway for the second half, let’s take a look at Brisbane’s statistical dominance of the first.
