Just bring it, mate
THEY have pushed each other to the limits as teammates, now Sydney Roosters premiership winners Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu will come head to head on Saturday night prompting Mitchell to declare there are “no mates on the field”.
The pair will square off with Mitchell making his debut for the Kangaroos and Manu for the Kiwis.
The softly-spoken Manu is fast developing as one of the game’s best defensive centres – highlighted by his grand final efforts in helping protect an injured Cooper Cronk – while Mitchell is arguably the most feared attacking player.
While Mitchell is unlikely to reprise the in-your-face aggression that saw him outplay Will Chambers in the premiership decider, he has vowed to take it to Manu with the pair having risen through the Roosters junior ranks together.
“It’s going to be a good clash,” Mitchell said. “We train against each other all year. We just sharpen each other up. It’s shown throughout the year with what we’ve done. (We’ll see) what we do up against each other.
“To play in the green and gold and him for the Kiwis, it’s an awesome achievement for us. I’m honoured and keen to go up against one of my mates. There is so much competition there. We don’t want to be beaten by one another. We have to be on. That’s why we tightened up in defence this year because we’ve been going hard at each other.”
Mitchell said the pair had already exchanged a few texts this week.
“I don’t want to show him too much respect,” Mitchell said. “After the game we will be right. He will be the same. He has some aggression there. He is so strong. The last six months he has put on so much muscle. I’ll give him the respect he deserves but then again no mates on the field.
“I should (know his game well) by now. He has a few tricks up his sleeve. So do I. It’ll be game on. I’m just ready to play against him.”
Roosters teammate James Tedesco has already witnessed first-hand the two go at each other at times during training.
“Joey is very quiet,” Tedesco said. “Latrell is a bit more outspoken. I don’t think Latrell will be carrying on too much against Joey because Joey is too nice.
“Those two go pretty hard at training. When we are doing things at 50 per cent those two are going at 100 per cent at each other.
“Latrell is a great attacker and Joey is a great defender so that will be a good battle.”