An ugly moment on the stroke of halftime has left Bulldogs fans fuming after a Latrell Mitchell cover tackle left Josh Addo-Carr in a bad way as the siren rang out.
The Bulldogs were on the attack with less than a minute left when the ball went out to Addo-Carr on the wing but solid defence from Isaiah Tass had already bundled the Bulldogs winger into touch.
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But Mitchell had been heading across and made contact, leaving Tass bleeding heavily from the face and Addo-Carr slumped on the ground.
Mitchell leapt to his feet and got Addo-Carr into the recovery position as medical staff rushed to his side.
“He’s hit him in the head with his hip coming across,” Steve Roach said. “He’s in all sorts of trouble.”
But it wasn’t enough to warrant a penalty from the referee or Bunker as the sides went to halftime.
Referee Gerard Sutton could be heard saying “it’s incidental”.
As they went to the break on Fox League, Yvonne Sampson called it “concerning scenes” as Addo-Carr was helped to his feet.
Corey Parker said that there could be some concerns for Mitchell at the match review committee.
“It happened so quickly (but) it’s careless from Latrell’s point of view,” Parker said. “The contact that’s made is through the hip, he’s just coming across with his body and makes contact in a really awkward position.”
Michael Ennis said that it was “a tough one”.
“He might have a little bit to deal with, he comes in and his hip just collect Josh Addo-Carr in the head, it’s a tough one,” Ennis said.
“There’s so much responsibility on the fullbacks to try and save those tries, he was already out … the fact he used his body, it might just save him.”
On Nine, Mat Thompson said: “This is most concerning.”
Andrew Johns added: “I don’t think there is anything illegal in it,” arguing it was a hip rather than a shoulder charge or leading with the knees.
On Fox, James Hooper reported NRL football boss Graham Annesley said Mitchell was “unlikely to have a case to answer” for the hit.
Addo-Carr was immediately ruled out of the match with category 1 concussion symptoms.
But it didn’t stop social media from being divided by the hit.
Matt Pritchard from Nothing But League tweeted: “Latrell going in with the knees on JAC on that final play! Bunnies getting away with blue murder.
“I’ll go one step further. Latrell made forceful contact on JAC and made no attempt to pull out of the tackle when he was already out. My opinion – on report and sin bin.”
The League Freak X account said: “That was an accident. The media will go crazy over it because that’s what they do. They’ll make Latrell Mitchell out to be a villain, again.”
Another fan said: “I have been one of the most vocally critical people against Latrell Mitchell but that was not foul play. Was just unfortunate as all hell.”
Another said: “On what fkn planet is that an attempted tackle from Latrell?”
But it’s been a spiteful match as Souths look to break their duck for the season and the Bulldogs look to go back-to-back for the first time in over a year.
Fans at home had been critical of the crowd at the stadium who had booed Mitchell whenever he touched the ball, calling the treatment “absolutely disgusting”.
But there have been a few calls that would have left Canterbury fans fuming from the first half, despite taking a 12-10 lead at the break.
The first try was a direct result of a late contact penalty that was arguably the softest of penalties as Reed Mahoney barely made contact with Mitchell as he kicked.
It put the Rabbitohs on the attack and they scored immediately through Thomas Burgess, before Jack Wighton crossed to make it 10-0 after 12 minutes.
It looked like the Rabbitohs’ season may have flipped on a favourable call but the Bulldogs bounced back as Matt Burton and a lovely kick for Connor Tracey gave Canterbury the lead.