{"id":496041,"date":"2026-03-18T18:25:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=496041"},"modified":"2026-03-19T03:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:25:17","slug":"idiots-grubs-league-great-defends-muzzled-latrell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=496041","title":{"rendered":"'Idiots, grubs': League great defends 'muzzled' Latrell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league great Timana Tahu has launched a passionate defence of Latrell Mitchell<\/a>'s self-imposed media ban and taken aim at online trolls who hurl racial abuse, branding them "grubs with ghost accounts".<\/p>\n

The NRL<\/a> is celebrating its annual Multicultural Round this week but\ufeff fans don't get to hear from the game's most powerful Australian Indigenous figure \u2014 and one of the biggest stars in all of rugby league \u2014 because of a media freeze dating back to August 2024.<\/p>\n

Tahu, the former Newcastle, Parramatta and NSW State of Origin\ufeff star, has both Aboriginal and M\u0101ori heritage and is the NRL's indigenous pathways boss.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'What's the point?': Trbojevic urged to consider retirement<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Asked ahead of South Sydney<\/a>'s clash with Wests Tigers in Multicultural Round about Mitchell's media shut-out, Tahu did not mince his words.<\/p>\n

"There are people that are idiots that were smashing him every time he was posting [or saying] something, if it was controversial, or if it was around humanity, or about rights, or calling people out," Tahu told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"Latrell<\/p>\n

"I think that was probably the biggest thing, is that when he calls people out, people seem to go against it instead of supporting it.<\/p>\n

"It's a bit sad that he can't say anything without being criticised … He's probably muzzled himself from it. I think in one way he's been wise in his decision, but in the other way, it's sad that he can't use his platform to speak up for himself if he has to."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Mitchell decided to bar himself from the media following the "white powder" scandal of August 2024<\/a>, when a photo emerged of the Rabbitohs star standing over a white substance in a Dubbo hotel room.<\/p>\n

A common argument used against players who shun the media is they wouldn't be on such hefty pay cheques if not for broadcast deals and the wall-to-wall coverage provided by newspapers and online publications.<\/p>\n

Another common argument is the media is the gateway between players and fans.\ufeff<\/p>\n

But Tahu doesn't believe it's fair to use those arguments against Mitchell, whose adversity has repeatedly sparked fears he may be driven out of the game much like Adam Goodes was tormented out of the AFL.<\/p>\n

"I think he's in a unique situation because it [the media ban] stems from him stepping up, and people making racist comments or challenging him on his race," Tahu said.<\/p>\n

\"Timana<\/p>\n

9News rugby league reporter Danny Weidler put forward a strong defence of Mitchell's media ban in The Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"Those who say Mitchell needs to man up and talk should read some of the hateful and often racially motivated comments he has to endure when he does speak. It's sickening," Weidler wrote.<\/p>\n

"He doesn't appear to have attracted the same flak since he has gone quiet."<\/p>\n

Mitchell has only agreed to interviews not related to football throughout his media ban, and not many of them, such as a short chat he had with No Limit Boxing last year and an interview he did with ABC News about the Winmarra Foundation last week.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, Cody Walker<\/a>, Josh Addo-Carr<\/a> and Jack Wighton<\/a>\ufeff are among the dozens of Indigenous NRL players who've been targeted with racial abuse online.<\/p>\n

Mitchell and Walker have also been the victims of racial abuse perpetrated by crowds in the NRL.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Australians love a banter and I don't mind a banter," Tahu said.<\/p>\n

"… But the thing is that when there's racism and bigotry and derogatory words, I think that's when people cross the line.<\/p>\n

\"Latrell<\/p>\n

"It's been pretty sad over the last couple of years that I've been working at the NRL, seeing the comments that these fans \u2014 they're not even fans really; just grubs with ghost accounts.<\/p>\n

"These are the childish brains that they have; they've gotta have a couple of ghost accounts to actually get on and wake up in the morning and think, 'What should I say that's racist?'<\/p>\n

"There's so much darkness in some people's hearts when it comes to waking up and posting something online that's racist and has got nothing to do with footy.<\/p>\n

"We do have these antagonisers, we do have these wicked people with dark hearts that spread hate."<\/p>\n

Tahu fired a warning.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"If you're gonna be stupid and write racist slurs you will be found, because the NRL do have software to catch these culprits," he said.<\/p>\n

"I've seen culprits that have been racist online and are banned from games."<\/p>\n

Mitchell's Rabbitohs will face the Tigers in Gosford on Saturday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league great Timana Tahu has launched a passionate defence of Latrell Mitchell's self-imposed media ban and taken aim at online trolls who hurl racial […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":496043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=496041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496047,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496041\/revisions\/496047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/496043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=496041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=496041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=496041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}