From the Sydney Morning Herald,
Mitchell Skips Perth Heat To Sweat It Out In Redfern
Latrell Mitchell was being tortured in the middle of Redfern Oval with endless sprint drills on Friday as his Souths teammates were preparing for the Nines tournament on the other side of the country.
Rather than put his feet up for a few days, Mitchell and some of his high-profile Souths teammates – including Cody Walker, James Roberts and Tom Burgess – dropped to the ground on more than one occasion as they struggled to catch their breath in the heat.
In news that is sure to please the Rabbitohs faithful, Mitchell has shed about seven kilograms since he started training last month.
‘‘ And I’ll only say the one thing – I’m flying ,’’ Mitchell said as he finished his gruelling session.
Plenty of people at Souths are keen for Mitchell to make a successful move to fullback, but none more than Braidon Burns.
Burns plays left-centre , the position Mitchell owned at Sydney Roosters, where he won two premierships . Mitchell is also the incumbent left-centre for Australia.
Not prepared to think what could happen to his own future if Mitchell fails at fullback, Burns said he was doing everything he could to make sure his new teammate thrived in his job at No.1.
‘‘ I’ve said it to a few boys as a joke that I really hope ‘Trell’ gets fit ,’’ Burns said. ‘‘ If he stays at fullback , hopefully I can stay in my position. That was my biggest concern when he first signed because it had taken me so long to finally get a centre spot. When he came, I thought I had probably lost my position, but Wayne [Bennett] reassured me it was still mine.’’
One thing Burns was disappointed about was being snubbed for next week’s All Stars match. ‘‘ It’s something I can hopefully push for next year,’’ he said.
"Wayne has done that since he’s come here, he’s constantly reassured me that is my position when I’m healthy because he likes what I bring.
"You do have your doubts when Latrell comes here because he’s a world-class player. But Latrell has come here as well to test himself in a different position – he’s won two comps at left centre and now he wants to win one at fullback.
“Latrell has come a long way. He’s lost a lot of weight. It shows as soon as he puts his head down and trains he can do anything. He’s a very talented guy.”
Burns created headlines when he forced Greg Inglis to play right centre at the start of last season. However, a hamstring injury in round three and another one in round 22 restricted him to just nine games in 2019 after five games in 2018.
But the 23-year-old is adored at Redfern and has plenty of supporters who know he can be something special if he can avoid injury.
One thing Burns was disappointed about was being snubbed for next week’s All Stars game, especially given he is so passionate about Indigenous issues and history, and was one of the players hand-picked to attend a leadership camp on the NSW far north coast at the start of the year.
“I was pretty disappointed, but I haven’t strung that many games together, and once I get a bit of confidence in my game again, it’s something I can hopefully push for next year,” he said.
“Jesse Ramien and Jimmy [Roberts] will be there. A lot of the really good Indigenous players in the NRL are left and right centres. I think a lot of those boys will be playing in the back row next week.”
Burns featured in the Nines in Perth and still rated kicking a 40-20 in his first tournament in Auckland for Souths still one of his standout league memories.
