The South Sydney Rabbitohs will be fighting for a spot in the NRL top eight without their superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell after he was slapped with a Grade 2 Dangerous Contact Charge.
With Mitchell out for the remainder of the regular season, Rabbitohs’ utility Blake Taaffe is set to fill in at fullback for the seventh time this season.
Taaffe has put in plenty of consistent performances previously replacing an injured or suspended Mitchell, leaving SEN’s Bryan Fletcher to believe Taaffe could see out the season at fullback.
“If Latrell comes back, would you consider putting him in the centres?” Fletcher said on SEN 1170 The Run Home.
“I think they get more from Blake Taaffe in the sense of on the ball, he’s always pushing up getting those 20, 25 carries.
“Having Latrell on the left, you’d have to say to him, ‘You’re out on the left side here, this is their strong side, you’re going to get the chance to go one-on-one with people, that’s where you need to attack’.”
SEN’s Joel Caine agreed with Fletcher’s idea to move Mitchell but suggested a hybrid role, similar to that used by the Sydney Roosters with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Anthony Minichello.
“Bryan, I have been so big on this for so long, the hybrid fullback spot,” Caine added.
“I’d say to Blake Taaffe, ‘Prepare for left centre and prepare for fullback’, so start Latrell at fullback or left centre, then say you’ve got him at centre for the first half an hour of the game, then you say, ‘Righto Latrell, go back there’, he’ll just be so fired up to let loose.
“Let him go for 20 (minutes), ‘Righto mate just get yourself back on the left centre to have a spell’, (then) you bring him back to fullback.”
Mitchell has plenty of experience playing in the centres throughout his time with the NSW Blues and Roosters but is yet to start an NRL game in the centres for the Rabbitohs.