{"id":920817,"date":"2026-10-08T16:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920817\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T16:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:22:24","slug":"nrl-news-2026-latrell-mitchell-interview-kangaroos-world-cup-selection-rabbitohs-future-contract-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/920817\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Latrell Mitchell interview, Kangaroos World Cup selection, Rabbitohs future, contract speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Latrell Mitchell<\/a> has declared his focus remains on helping the Kangaroos<\/a> defend their World Cup<\/a> crown, brushing off questions about his NRL<\/a> future.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old\u2019s contract situation has become a hot topic recently, after the Rabbitohs centre opted to head to the open market<\/a>, despite coach Wayne Bennett<\/a> publicly expressing his desire to keep Mitchell at the club.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Latrell Mitchell.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mitchell will be one of many Kangaroos stars juggling tournament commitments with contract talks, as the November 1 free agency period looms.<\/p>\n

But when asked on Thursday about where his future lies, Mitchell remained coy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me, just focusing on camp is most important. I\u2019ve got a different colour on to the Rabbitohs … it\u2019s all about this camp and focusing on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When pressed further on his contract or whether a deal with South Sydney had gained any steam, Mitchell cheekily said \u201cI\u2019ll ring Wayne\u201d before walking off. <\/p>\n

One of the biggest superstars in the game, Mitchell was limited to just 12 games for the Bunnies this season due to back and calf injuries.<\/p>\n

His output for Souths has become an issue, managing just 98 appearances in seven seasons \u2013 two more than he played in four seasons at the Roosters.<\/p>\n

Despite his limited game time in 2026, Mitchell was selected in the Australian squad and shut down any lingering concerns about his body.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t wanna talk about injuries,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

One thing he was keen to speak about though was the potential to square off against Dane Gagai<\/a> next week, after the Knights veteran successfully switched his allegiance to New Zealand despite already playing seven games for Australia.<\/p>\n

The pair had a heated battle<\/a> during Newcastle\u2019s upset elimination final win over Souths last month and Mitchell is ready to renew the rivalry.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go, we love it,\u201d the Aussie star said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDane\u2019s a competitor, I\u2019m a competitor, and that\u2019s where we leave it, on the field. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Latrell Mitchell and Dane Gagai.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI love him, he\u2019s a good man, and you walk off and know you\u2019ve done everything you can to try and win a game. He just never stops talking, never goes away, you know? He gives you shit \u2026 and I\u2019m very competitive, so I just can\u2019t let it die really.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Gags. I wish him the best, but yeah, I\u2019m definitely ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia begin its RLWC campaign next Thursday against the Kiwis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Latrell Mitchell has declared his focus remains on helping the Kangaroos defend their World Cup crown, brushing off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-920817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}