(2 of 2)
He grew up watching MTV show
Cribs, peeping into the lifestyle of the rich and famous not realising the road life would lead him down.
The reality check was the months he would spend as a 15-year-old working as a dairy farmer, triggering an understanding of the life football could help him avoid.
“I said, ‘nah, I can’t do this any more. This is literally a shit job’,” he said.
“Those fellas – I respect them so much getting up every morning and afternoon, but I couldn’t do it. I knew I was good at footy, but my attitude wasn’t the best. You might’ve heard that.
“For me to experience that life as a dairy farmer, I made sure I chased my dream of playing in the NRL.”
The very life he escaped is now the escape from the life he chased. His properties in Taree, where he runs a beef cattle farm operated by his father, Matthew, have become his outlet to hide from the world he constantly feels is closing in on him.
His old coach, ‘Poppy Wayne’, as Mitchell refers to Wayne Bennett, understands more than most just how therapeutic a trip back to nature and your roots can have on one’s state of mind.
Bennett has travelled back and forth to his country Queensland farm throughout his entire career, and encouraged Mitchell to do the same during his three seasons in charge at the Bunnies.
But over time, trips back to his farm have been portrayed as a lack of commitment to South Sydney. When accusations of special treatment afforded to Mitchell surfaced last year, his work-life balance was put under the spotlight.
“Where’s the special treatment come from? Why?” Mitchell asked.
Just because I love going to my farm as an outlet to get away from all this shit that goes on, I’m looked at as a bad guy. Wayne let the others do things, too, but because it’s me it’s different? Go and buy a farm. Go and do it. I did it. Come with me. I took Cameron [Murray] up. That’s my outlet. That’s me.
“Just because you have your family here, don’t put that on me. Don’t give me your burden. I don’t have babysitters here. I’d like to go and take my missus out every night to Chin Chins. But my life isn’t like that. I’ve got to travel three hours to go and see my family. That’s what I sacrificed to move here and chase a dream. People don’t understand that.”
Mitchell is passion personified. That, perhaps, is what happens when your father names you after controversial NBA player Latrell Sprewell, who was renowned for playing the game in a state of rage in the 1990s.
“My dad’s a freaky fella,” Mitchell jokes.
Comparing Mitchell to a player who was suspended for 82 games and lost a $6 million shoe endorsement after choking his coach at training may be a stretch.
But the same symptoms of white line fever have plagued Mitchell in a career that has been marred by a series of incidents of overstepping the mark.
“The way I act on-field is a bit of frustration from off the field,” Mitchell said.
The way I act out, it’s not a way to play footy. It’s not the game I fell in love with. Acting out and having these short bursts of anger – that’s not me. It’s what’s building up inside over time.
“Through the week, through the months, through the years of people constantly at me. I take that frustration on the field, and that doesn’t help.”
Those close to ‘TrellMit’ will tell you of plenty of good stories about the country boy who turned 27 on Sunday.
They’ll tell you about
the community work he does, the time he gives to children and the larger-than-life personality that lights up any room he walks into.
“I feel like if I get to the end of my career, I’ll look back proud knowing that I knew who I was,” he said.
“I definitely want to put a lot more work into being the player everyone loves and wants to see. But the person off the field ... I’ll never change that. If you sat down with me at the pub and had a beer, I’m not a bad bloke.”
That beer isn’t something he’s been able to share with Sam Burgess since his dramatic exit from the club leading into the do-or-die final round showdown against arch rivals the Sydney Roosters last year.
Burgess’ concerns, revealed in the Herald last year after he voiced his frustrations with how Demetriou was treating the star duo of Mitchell and Cody Walker, have been eating away at the Bunnies No.1.
“I had a great relationship with Sammy,” Mitchell said.
“I don’t know what happened. I still don’t know what’s going until I sit down and have a proper talk to him. I was playing golf with him every week, cooeeing and laughing. We had a great connection. I don’t know where this conversation came from.
“I felt like we were doing alright. I felt like we trained hard. But people have their own agendas, and they took advantage of who was in their way. People dragged me in to make themselves feel better and drag the spotlight away from them. I still don’t know the truth to this day.”
Mitchell drove around the Shire on the night former South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou
was sacked earlier this year. He’d been to his house before but didn’t know the address.
He drove around for a while, trying to remember some of the streets and houses, before finally arriving at the dumped coach’s home unannounced.
Mitchell felt awful for a coach with whom he had developed a strong relationship, and wanted to spend time with him in his hour of need.
A part of him felt guilty that he’d been
on the sidelines through suspensionwhen his coach’s career was on life support. That guilt extended to his club and teammates.
“The reason they wanted me at this club is because of what I can do on the field, and I love them for it,” Mitchell said.
“Being questioned about whether I was passionate enough for the jersey, was a lot of bullshit and unwarranted, but my footy wasn’t doing the talking for me. I let myself down. I let my coach down.
“I disappointed my teammates, which I promised myself I wouldn’t do this year. I’m a big feeler, so as soon as that tackle [involving Shaun Johnson] happened, I knew I let them down. I love my teammates. I’d die for them on the field, that’s how much I love them. I hope the club knows that.”
Mitchell won’t have to convince Bennett of that when he arrives for pre-season training next year.
The pair have a special bond that almost delivered the Bunnies a premiership during the coach’s previous three-year reign at the helm.
Mitchell missed the 2021 grand final against Penrith, again through suspension, after collecting former teammate Joey Manu across the face in a collision that broke his cheekbone. The debt hasn’t been paid.
“I still owe [Wayne] a grand final,” Mitchell said.
“I love Wayne. I love him to death. We just played for the bloke. I want to play footy for the man. We’re a top four side, any day of the week. Everyone knows it.
“I want to win a grand final at Souths. That’s what I’m chasing. I’m still chasing it. I’ve come here and told anyone who has been on my journey that a premiership for Souths is what I want to do. I want to finish on a high.”
In the days after Bennett was announced as South Sydney coach for 2025 and beyond, the veteran coach called his most valuable asset.
“I’m coming back, mate,” Mitchell recounts of the phone call doing his best Bennett impersonation.
“I need ya,” Mitchell responded, to which Bennett replied “yes, yes you do.”
Mitchell – in a sight we rarely see – bursts into laughter.
“He’s a cheeky bastard, Wayne.”
www.rabbitohs.com.au
www.nrl.com
www.foxsports.com.au
www.zerotackle.com
