Former NRL coach Shane Flanagan has suggested he’d only pay Latrell Mitchell $800,000 on his next deal if he was in charge of making the decision. And veteran journalist Phil Rothfield believes part of the decision should be centred around whether the South Sydney star continues to flout NRL rules around media obligations.
Mitchell is currently on $1.1 million per season at Souths on a deal that’s set to expire at the end of 2027. He’ll become a ‘free agent’ on November 1 unless a new deal is agreed before then.
Debate has raged for months about how much Mitchell should be paid on his next contract. The 29-year-old has only played nine games this year, and in seven years at Souths he’d played one game fewer (95) than he did in four at the Roosters (96).
Latrell Mitchell has only played nine games for Souths in 2026. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Last month, leading journo David Riccio said Mitchell should follow the Tom Trbojevic path and offer to take a pay cut. With salary cap increases coming in recent years, a player of Mitchell’s calibre could earn $1.4 million per year.
But speaking on Triple M this week, Flanagan said he’d only be willing to offer the centre $800,000. “He’s getting older. We all know how many games he’d been averaging,” the former Sharks and Dragons coach said.
“I still think he’s worth about $800,000. Paul Gallen had to take a pay cut. Wade Graham, Luke Lewis. All these guys had to take pay cuts at the back end of their careers because their best footy was behind them.
“Latrell probably isn’t in the same situation yet. But if the club is going to take a little bit of a risk and he still wants to be paid really good money, I don’t think that’s too much of a pay cut.”
Latrell Mitchell played more games in four years at the Roosters than he has in seven at Souths. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Should Latrell lose money for flouting media rules?
Rothfield then threw a curveball in the mix and said Mitchell should cop the ‘hair cut’ if he doesn’t want to fulfil his media obligations. Earlier this month it was reported that Mitchell and Reece Walsh are among the ‘worst offenders’ when it comes to meeting NRL rules around speaking to the media.
The NRL requires players to be made available once every three weeks, but the rules are rarely enforced. However the NRL has reportedly started cracking down.
Mitchell went 18 months without speaking publicly before he only recently ended a self-imposed media ban. According to Rothfield, it should come into the calculations when Souths decide how much to pay him.
“What disappoints me with paying Latrell so much money, I think the expectation when you’re on $1.1m is you have a responsibility to promote the game as a really elite star,” Rothfield said. “The fact he does no media is really disappointing, and I think it should be taken into account as to how much he gets paid.
“If he doesn’t want to do the work to talk up rugby league and talk up South Sydney like every other player does, I’d shave a little bit off.”