Latrell (officially signs with Souths 13/1/20)

[typicalfan]

Hardly surprising, Latrell hasn't had a full pre season and a bit like GI was rarely in top shape in round 1. See how he is after a long season.

 

[Perth Red]

Be interesting to see if he has the RL smarts to pay the modern full back role which is much more like a second stand off. He’s got a great step and is hard to tackle but can he get himself into the right place at the right time and provide the perfect pass? Time will tell.

 

[10$ Ferret]

In truth I thought he looked trimmer than he had in a while.
The good news for Souths is he won't make any errors. If you don't actually do anything you can't make mistakes

 

[AnonymousLurker]

In truth I thought he looked trimmer than he had in a while.
The good news for Souths is he won't make any errors. If you don't actually do anything you can't make mistakes

Does missing the bomb at the end count as a mistake or because the try was from a kick it doesn’t count

 

[Tiger5150]

Want to tell us how fat Latrell is or are you off eating humble pie

While we are at it....want to tell us why Latrell didnt get to that bomb on the full, you know like a fullback would have....before that last try?

 

[Liddell]

Thought tigers fans would be used to players rejecting them by now. Move on dude

 

[Tiger5150]

Thought tigers fans would be used to players rejecting them by now. Move on dude

Mate, we have all moved on, dodged a massive bullet IMO and got Doueihi in the process.
Just responding to your mate Wily's misplaced taunting.

 

[Danish]

I think it’s insane that people want to throw him to the wolves as a fullback already.

tbh I’ve been arguing with my own team’s fans for years about the undue pressure heaped on Latrell. They all saw him as the messiah and nothing below immortal level expectations would do, which IMO is just setting him up to fail.

he is already in the top 5 fullbacks just by deciding to play there. Whether he can get beyond that remains to be seen.

personally I don’t think it’s his work rate that needs improvement. It is, and has always been, his defensive positioning. He looks lost regularly on where he should be standing, and is caught out often not following the play or overcommitting to one side of the field.

if Bennett can fix that, he’ll be great.

 

[Chimp]

I think it’s insane that people want to throw him to the wolves as a fullback already.

tbh I’ve been arguing with my own team’s fans for years about the undue pressure heaped on Latrell. They all saw him as the messiah and nothing below immortal level expectations would do, which IMO is just setting him up to fail.

he is already in the top 5 fullbacks just by deciding to play there. Whether he can get beyond that remains to be seen.

personally I don’t think it’s his work rate that needs improvement. It is, and has always been, his defensive positioning. He looks lost regularly on where he should be standing, and is caught out often not following the play or overcommitting to one side of the field.

if Bennett can fix that, he’ll be great.

I guess people are picking up on the fact that Latrell doesn’t appear to compete on every single play - you’ll find a fair few examples each game where he doesn’t get himself in position for those ‘Just in case’ scenarios... Those are the types of efforts that made Billy Slater such a great player - he was always there, even when not needed, but then for the odd occasion where some slips, or there’s a weird bounce, that effort has got him in position to make a play.

Might be unfair to judge Latrell against those standards, but he has all the physical attributes to do it.

 

[Danish]

I guess people are picking up on the fact that Latrell doesn’t appear to compete on every single play - you’ll find a fair few examples each game where he doesn’t get himself in position for those ‘Just in case’ scenarios... Those are the types of efforts that made Billy Slater such a great player - he was always there, even when not needed, but then for the odd occasion where some slips, or there’s a weird bounce, that effort has got him in position to make a play.

Might be unfair to judge Latrell against those standards, but he has all the physical attributes to do it.

True enough, but Latrell is never gonna be that player. Inglis was also never that player.

Slater was the fittest man in the comp. he could probably play 3 games back to back if he wanted without slowing down. Inglis and Latrell are a different breed. Huge units, far too big for the traditional fullback role, but skilful enough to make a great fist of it and cause havoc running the ball that other fullbacks can’t.

inglis’s body broke down after a few years playing fullback and probably knocked 3-4 years off his career. Hopefully Mitchell is treated with better care by Souths than Inglis was

 

[Chimp]

True enough, but Latrell is never gonna be that player. Inglis was also never that player.

Slater was the fittest man in the comp. he could probably play 3 games back to back if he wanted without slowing down. Inglis and Latrell are a different breed. Huge units, far too big for the traditional fullback role, but skilful enough to make a great fist of it and cause havoc running the ball that other fullbacks can’t.

inglis’s body broke down after a few years playing fullback and probably knocked 3-4 years off his career. Hopefully Mitchell is treated with better care by Souths than Inglis was

Yep, agree with all of that.

I think Inglis also suffered from not particularly having the desire to keep his body in peak condition, so then when injuries did set it, it was even harder to get back to full fitness. Time will only tell if Latrell has the Billy sort of commitment.

 

[10$ Ferret]

injuries did get GI, but the statement "Inglis was never that player" is so true. He was a very good player but never a great one in my opinion.He was just too lazy and I think positionally he was down the bottom of the FB list Unfortunately I think that is were LM will end up too.

 

[Perth Red]

The great modern day fb’s are fast, great ball handlers and super human in their efforts to get to where a kick is going or the play is heading. I’m just not sure he is built for that. Maybe he will reinvent the FB into the next iteration, or maybe he will be another GI, very good in a number of positions but not the best in any,

 

[Valheru]

The sooner souths move Latrell to centre the better it will be for them.

He is dynamic in that position and can do things no other player can.

He will no doubt excel in attack at FB and probably score a few awesome tries form his own half etc. as that is the type of talent he is. It is the other responsibilities and nuances of the position he will struggle with. He is supremely lazy, always has been and IMO always will be. He barely got back to take those tough hit ups in our own half when we was with us unlike his centre partner but you accept that due to the other things he brings to the team. However, at FB he absolutely must be willing to do the dirty work.

Then there is the defensive aspect of the game which will likely be the major issue. His positioning in 2016 at FB was atrocious. Yes he was young and it was his first year nut he looked far from a natural. His tackling itself was quite good at centre to be fair but he was caught out positionally there at times as well and that will only get worse at FB.

Finally there is the communication aspect, I just don't see him being that guy talking non stop and positioning the defensive line.

 

[Tiger5150]

Might be unfair to judge Latrell against those standards, but he has all the physical attributes to do it.

Im not that sure about that. Yes he is fast and strong which are the physical attribute to play anywhere but Latrell is a massive human being, even without the KFC. He will need to carry that big frame around for many kms to do his job. cant think of another fullback that big other than Inglis and he couldnt last there for long.

 

[Perth Red]

THe avg nrl FB weight is 91kg. Slater was 89kg, Tedesco is 95kg
Mitchell is 102kg. (Although he allegedly returned from off season at 108kg)

 

[Captain Apollo]

I guess people are picking up on the fact that Latrell doesn’t appear to compete on every single play - you’ll find a fair few examples each game where he doesn’t get himself in position for those ‘Just in case’ scenarios... Those are the types of efforts that made Billy Slater such a great player - he was always there, even when not needed, but then for the odd occasion where some slips, or there’s a weird bounce, that effort has got him in position to make a play.

Fox Sports had a 2019 NRL Grand Final Review program they aired over the weekend, ran for 30 minutes. It comprised Luke Keary, James Tedesco, Boyd Cordner, Cooper Cronk, Trent Robinson and Jared Warea-Hargreaves watching the full video of the Grand Final and them offering their comments (obviously they only included the interesting bits of their commentary). Tedesco commented that when Keary went down the short side and he knew he had to support up the middle "just in case" the break was made, and when Latrell put Tupou away Tedesco was in position to receive the inside pass to score what turned out to be the match winning try.

That said Latrell's problems have often been about his defensive positioning. It is why in 2017 he got sent back to NSW Cup for a few weeks in early 2017 by Trent Robinson.

 

[BadnMean]

I think it’s insane that people want to throw him to the wolves as a fullback already.

tbh I’ve been arguing with my own team’s fans for years about the undue pressure heaped on Latrell. They all saw him as the messiah and nothing below immortal level expectations would do, which IMO is just setting him up to fail.

he is already in the top 5 fullbacks just by deciding to play there. Whether he can get beyond that remains to be seen.

personally I don’t think it’s his work rate that needs improvement. It is, and has always been, his defensive positioning. He looks lost regularly on where he should be standing, and is caught out often not following the play or overcommitting to one side of the field.

if Bennett can fix that, he’ll be great.

Can't quite put my finger on it but there is something so very Roosters about crowing that Latrell is already a top 5 FB just by deigning to play there- then outlining the reasons he is not actually a very good FB yet at all...

That mixture of entitlement & cluelessness... perfect.

 

[Exsilium]

My wild prediction for the week is that Bennett will find some reason, in and around round ten, to move Latrell back to centre.

He said what he had to and got his man but the Wiley Old Fox is always scheming.

 

[Tommy Smith]

My wild prediction for the week is that Bennett will find some reason, in and around round ten, to move Latrell back to centre.

He said what he had to and got his man but the Wiley Old Fox is always scheming.

Latrell, "but I came here to play fullback!"

Wayne, "it's ok Latrell, come to biddy..."