Jack Wighton has slammed the racial abuse of good mate Latrell Mitchell as outrageous but says life bans will eradicate the “minority” from the NRL.
It comes after the South Sydney star made his first public comment since he was the subject of a racial slur from a teenager during the Rabbitohs’ loss away to Penrith on Thursday.
Mitchell on Saturday night shared an Instagram post that read “In Menindee we stand with Latrell Mitchell”.
Good friend and Indigenous All Stars teammate Wighton told AAP that Mitchell had “obviously been impacted, but he’s doing well”.
“It’s outrageous but it’s going to get stamped out pretty quick, you’ve seen the reaction since then,” he said after the Raiders’ loss on Saturday to the Dolphins.
“But the sad thing is we have to get behind (and condemn) such a sick situation again in 2023.”
Indigenous league icon Greg Inglis has led calls for the perpetrator to be handed a lifetime ban.
“They’ll be banned for life hopefully; when you start keeping them away it will work, because it’s only a little minority,” Wighton said.
“He’s good; he’s a tough dude and a leader but obviously it impacted him.”
Dally M medallist Nicho Hynes has called for the teenage fan who allegedly racially abused South Sydney’s Latrell Mitchell to be educated rather than castigated.
Wighton thinks life bans will be effective but Cronulla halfback Hynes, who also an All Stars teammate of Mitchel, claimed that the teenager should be made to learn about why his words were so damaging.
“I think the game needs to do something about checking in on him as well, and his wellbeing,” Hynes told Fox Sports.
“We are obliged to make sure that we check in on him, because he’ll be copping it a lot.
“Part of it should be that he goes and educates himself now on Aboriginal culture or on racism in general.
“It could be a reflection of the people around him or what he’s been taught.”
The day after Mitchell was met with abuse, it was left to two other Indigenous fullbacks to shine in Friday’s NRL games.
Reece Walsh grabbed a try on his senior Brisbane debut as the Broncos beat North Queensland, while Cronulla’s Will Kennedy scored his first NRL hat-trick as the Sharks downed Parramatta.
“I back Latrell, he’s part of our mob and our people and we’ve got to get behind him,” Kennedy said.
“It’s not a good thing to happen at our games. He’s a big role model in the league.
“He leads well and he’s good for our people. I haven’t heard anything like that in ages and for it to come up is not a good look for rugby league.”
