We feel sorry for Latrell Manus family plead for calm after brutal tackle

Joseph Manu’s family has pleaded for social media users to stop attacks on Latrell Mitchell, claiming they “feel sorry” for their son’s former teammate despite his tackle which left the Roosters star in hospital with severe facial fractures.

Manu’s father Nooroa, who was one of the first visitors to arrive in Australia from New Zealand this year when the trans-Tasman travel bubble opened, delivered a heartfelt response as the bitter fallout between the arch rivals continued.

Just hours after Roosters captain James Tedesco urged his NSW teammate Mitchell to curb his aggression, Nooroa Manu said his family’s thoughts were also with Mitchell, who won’t play again until 2022.

“We actually feel sorry for Latrell,” Nooroa told the Herald. “He’s copping a lot of abuse and we don’t want that happening. We want to make sure he’s going to be all right too.

“He’s very talented and we know his family, they are really good people. That’s just how we feel and it’s up to Joey how he feels. It was just unfortunate [what happened on Friday night]. Joey is ready to move forward and we’re happy as a family. I think the main thing is we move on.”

Manu had three plates inserted into his fractured cheekbone during surgery on Saturday and took to social media on Sunday to claim he was on the road to recovery.

Mitchell has sent Manu a text message since the contentious tackle, which the NRL admitted should have resulted in a sending-off rather than a sin-binning for South Sydney’s biggest weapon.

The Manu and Mitchell families got to know each other when their sons were premiership-winning teammates in 2018 and 2019. Joseph and Latrell often spoke about how they spurred each other on in opposed training sessions.

As reports emerged Mitchell and Manu’s teammates, including Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, were involved in a heated confrontation after the game, the NRL will determine on Monday whether Roosters coach Trent Robinson should be fined for calling the bunker “an absolute farce and laughable” for not sending Mitchell off.

The three-time premiership-winning coach has a $10,000 suspended fine hanging over his head for comments after the Roosters’ loss to the Eels earlier this year. Drew Hutchison was hospitalised after being clattered by Dylan Brown’s knees and Tedesco was clocked high by Marata Niukore in that game.

Roosters ace Joey Manu was re-united with his father Nooroa (far left) and mother Darnel for the first time in 15 months earlier this year. Also pictured is Joey’s younger brother, Kani.

Tedesco conceded Robinson was likely to be fined for his post-match tirade after the Rabbitohs loss, and had a word of warning for Mitchell, whose judiciary record is now ranked among the worst in the game.

“He said he didn’t mean it and it was an accident,” Tedesco said. “It happens pretty quick when you’re at fullback and I don’t think Trell would do it on purpose, but it’s forceful contact to the head. Whether it’s accidental or not, it causes someone to break a fair amount of bones in his face … you just can’t do that.

“I love Latrell. I love playing with Latrell. He’s a fiery player and he plays the game in that manner. He wants to be dominant, but you’ve got to be careful, I guess, because he’s got in trouble before making contact with the head - and it’s happened again.

“His fire and passion makes him such a great player, but I guess it’s finding that balance not overstepping over the line. You don’t want to be breaking peoples’ faces.”

South Sydney lodged an early guilty plea to a grade two reckless high tackle, meaning Mitchell will miss six matches. He could have been rubbed out for nine games of he unsuccessfully challenged at the judiciary.

Rabbitohs prop Liam Knight will also be missing until the second week of the finals for a hip drop tackle on Siosiua Taukeiaho, while Dane Gagai was fined $1600 for swearing at referee Ashley Klein after being sin-binned late in the match.

The incidents will only add to the theatre around a potential finals re-match next month with the Roosters likely to face sudden death in the first week of the play-offs.

On his son, Nooroa Manu said: “It was a little bit of a scare, but he’s in the right place to be recovering. It sounds like he’ll make a full recovery within six weeks. He’s been very lucky with injuries and this is his first real serious one. He’s on the mend which is a good thing.”

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Adam Pengilly is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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