After receiving death threats in the wake of South Sydneyโs loss to Penrith on Thursday night, winger Jaxson Paulo has taken inspiration and confidence from the actions of a teammate who faced similarly problematic issues.
In April 2021, Latrell Mitchell received racially abusive message on social media which ultimately led to police involvement. The investigation successfully led to the charging of two men, and the positive outcome has inspired Paulo to take further action.
Rabbitohs boss Blake Solly spoke to Triple M about the matter, after also addressing the issue in the immediate aftermath.
โ(Paulo) felt he could bring this up because of what Latrell has been doing,โ Solly said.
โLatrell has led the way and itโs great they feel they can bring it to public attention.โ
Solly confirmed that the NRLโs Integrity Unit was engaged soon after Paulo discovered the messages and switched his Instagram profile to private.
โ(The Integrity Unit) are working with police and will investigate,โ Solly confirmed.
โJaxson and the club will take it further if the police believe they can.
โThese cowards are using aliases and burner accounts to abuse people. The police do everything they can to track them down.
โWe have to call it out when it happens and make it public. By raising it publicly, it makes people think twice before they do it again.โ
Solly also revealed the club would happily revoke memberships if the abusers turned out to be season-ticket holders.
โThe people who do this arenโt real fans or members. They are cowards.
โItโs not something our club will tolerate, and hopefully we take the strongest possible action.โ
