New coach Wayne Bennett is already having an impact at the Rabbitohs.
Former NRL player Jimmy Smith has predicted Latrell Mitchell is going to silence his critics and emerge with the Dally M award in 2025 after reuniting with former coach Wayne Bennett. The South Sydney Rabbitohs endured another poor season in 2024 having missed out on the top eight for the second straight year.
The Rabbitohs started 1-6 and never recovered, with Jason Demetriou departing half-way through the season. And after his departure, it was announced Bennett would join the club in 2025.
Bennett will be missing Mitchell for round one of the 2025 NRL season with the fullback serving a one-game ban after a photo emerged of him with what appeared to be a white powder during a trip to Dubbo for some coaching clinics. He will also be missing captain Cameron Murray for the start of the season with the lock injuring his wrist playing for Australia.
Keeping his best players on the field will be a challenge for Bennett in 2025 with a number of stars missing a huge chunk of the season. Mitchell only played 11 games this year for the Rabbitohs, Murray only played 14 and Campbell Graham missed the entire campaign.
Regardless, Bennett appears to have already prompted change at South Sydney with Mitchell already looking to be in top shape early in pre-season. Corey Parker originally praised Mitchell having claimed the Rabbitohs No.1 appeared to be putting in the work in the off-season.
And now Smith is buying into the hype and has claimed the NSW State of Origin centre is ready for the biggest year of his career. Mitchell’s position in the Rabbitohs line-up was questioned this year following his suspension against the Warriors, with many suggesting he should move from fullback to centre.
Latrell Mitchell ‘will win Dally M medal in 2025’
But Mitchell returned and elevated his game until his foot injury derailed the end of his season. And Smith has now claimed Mitchell will be more determined than ever to silence his doubters, but admitted he would need to play more games and be more consistent to have a chance.
“I will put it on the record, Latrell Mitchell will win the 2025 Dally M player of the year. He could win it…” Smith said on Tuesday on SEN Radio. Smith was confident of Mitchell’s chances and reporter Michael Carayannis agreed he appears set for a big improvement.
“He is going to be primed. You already look at him now…he looks fitter,” Carayannis said. “Wayne’s going to be able to manage him, cuddle him, blast him and do all the things Wayne can do. And we saw the form Latrell was getting towards when Wayne left the club. So I think that is a good shout.”
Corey Parker praises Latrell Mitchell
In October, Parker spoke on SEN Radio and claimed he saw photos of Mitchell with his family recently and the fullback was looking fit ahead of pre-season. “I am actually pleased with what I have seen, and what I have not seen, from Latrell,” Parker said.
“I saw a bunch of photos the other day…he looked extremely trim. He looked fit. Hopefully there are some really good things to come. Obviously Wayne’s had a chat to him. But I don’t dislike the fact I haven’t heard Latrell come out and say things. Keep your nose down, Latrell.”
Mitchell has remained quiet since the end of the NRL season and appears to have put his head down and got to work. And last month, Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly claimed Bennett’s pending arrival had prompted some of the players to start pre-season early.
Yeah it’s been an interesting eight weeks since that period when Wayne came down and spoke to the players,” Solly said. “We just had so many injuries in the 2024 season. A lot of the senior guys have been in here two or three days a week rehabbing and getting physio on their injuries so it almost feels like guys like Latrell, Cody (Walker), Jack (Wighton) and Campbell (Graham) have never been away because they’ve just had to keep getting rehab on those injuries from earlier in the season.
“So I think in some ways that’s set them up for a really good pre-season and again Wayne’s reputation goes before him. And the players, we have young guys back on deck already who are excited to be coached by him. And then seeing the senior guys around the cafe or around the building, they’re really excited to have him back as well and want to make sure that when they start pre-season they’re as fit as they possibly can be.”
