On a chilly Monday evening in Penrith, there were four constants: the Roosters’ shoddy defence, Blake Ferguson’s perennially worrisome kick returning, Nathan Cleary’s ability to do whatever he pleased around the try line, and Latrell Mitchell’s lack of involvement.
The Tricolours’ 18-year-old has been a rare bright spark in a season where the reigning minor premiers find themselves languishing on the bottom rungs of the NRL ladder.
However, as the Roosters found themselves trailing by an insurmountable margin – once again – Mitchell cut a periphery figure on far right edge.
The number of involvements featuring the No.5 could almost have been counted on one hand, as the Panthers attacked time and time again, exploiting holes in defence inside the youngster.
As fellow youngsters Connor Watson and Ryan Matterson failed to make their mark on the match in the halves, it was tough watching a man as skilled as Mitchell not allowed any time with the ball in hand.
The Roosters have long been playing for pride rather than any competitive prize this season, so coach Trent Robinson should play around with his stuttering side.
With Mitchell Pearce a late withdrawal for the game at Pepper Stadium, and Connor Watson failing to produce much in the 6 jersey, it would have been nice to see Mitchell given license to create with the ball in hand.
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