South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou has called speculation that Latrell Mitchell will be picked for Game 2 of the State of Origin series as "not fair."
Mitchell, who was due to return from a hamstring injury for South Sydney last week, which would have given him two NRL games before Origin, will now play a total of zero games before Brad Fittler picks his squad for the trip to Perth.
It comes after the star fullback, who played at centre for the Blues last year and was expected to do the same for the state this year before his injury, tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
Mitchell hasn't played since early in the season when he injured his hamstring, and while Demetriou had club interests at heart, he told reporters that it would be simply unfair to throw Mitchell into the Origin cauldron.
“I’m not going to discuss my conversations with Latrell,” Demetriou said.
“Latrell knows where he’s at, I know where he’s at, and we’ll leave it at that.
“I think it’s a bit unfair on Latrell, as a guy who’s going through nearly 10 weeks of rehab. He battled at the start of the season with a knee, and that led to a hamstring injury.
“That’s where it’s at. It’s not on Latrell that they (NSW) lost Origin I. It’s not on Latrell to get back any sooner than he’s capable of playing.
“It’s not fair to put him out there until he can do the job he knows he can do.
“I would love Latrell to play Origin, and Latrell would love to play, we all would. But unfortunately the timing isn’t quite right.”
It's understood Mitchell will be fit for Origin 3, with an NRL return still likely after the representative round when South Sydney are slated to take on the Parramatta Eels in a Saturday night blockbuster at Homebush.
Mitchell's possible speculation has been speculated as an option after the Blues fell to the Maroons in Game 1.
It was clear that the influence of Mitchell and another injured fullback who played centre in Tom Trbojevic impacted the Blues enormously during Game 1, as they struggled to maintain the dominance over a new-look Queensland side that they enjoyed during the 2021 series, with much of that set up by Mitchell and Trbojevic.
With Mitchell unlikely to play, and Jack Wighton putting in a stellar shift during Game 1, it means Kotoni Staggs could yet hold his spot in the side, although will face stiff competition from the likes of Stephen Crichton, who played from the bench in the opener, Campbell Graham and Siosifa Talakai.