'Mobile phones end careers': Josh Morris' warning to NRL stars amid Latrell drama
09:07 Share

Trell Mitchell, who's been breached by the NRL over that leaked photo. Now, what we will say is it showed him standing over a white powder. That's all we can say at this point. We don't know exactly what it is, what it was. Boys, what do you make of it and the person taking the photo? Look, I'm along with, I think, a lot of people in rugby league that I think it's really disappointing. And I heard your comments, Mark, last hour on Wide World of Sports about, you know, the ordinary person who's obviously...

taking that photo and then trying to make a dollar or whatever or trying to get people in trouble over that incident. Look, obviously Latrell's got to work out...

You know, the situations that he puts himself in, and I think it came out today that he won't be playing for the rest of the season. So he obviously needs to get through this incident. He's got a meeting with South Sydney and obviously got that breach notice from the NRL. Get through that. He's got the injury. He needs to get that right and get himself ready for a big pre-season at the back end of this year.

What about you, Josh? Oh, look, I think it's pretty low act these days. I mean, it was apparently taken on Snapchat and then sent to people and then they screenshot it and then you hear that they're trying to sell it for money. Look...

Players have got to be careful. Mobile phones can end careers. They've got to be able to trust... They've got to trust the people that they're hanging around with and trust that they won't put them in a situation like that. So it's an error of judgement by Latrelle. He shouldn't have put himself in that situation and he has to deal with the consequences as well. But in terms of people trying to make a quick buck...

our NRL players. It's just the league needs to come down hard and just say, no, look, we're not going to do this. They've got to protect their players as well. I know it's up to the players as well to not put themselves in those situations, but the NRL has to come out and say, look, we're not going to

stand for people trying to make a quick buck out of the players as well. Yep. Couldn't agree more. Some well-known names on the list of players and contributors being elevated to the Rugby League Hall of Fame. I referenced the whole Les Boyd thing, right? And I've spoken to Daryl, who's very upset about the whole thing, and he wants to have his say about it tomorrow, and then we'll draw a line in the sand and move on. But as far as some of the other players who are elevated, I said earlier on Wide World of Sports, I'm a bit surprised by Sam Burgess. Now,

Now, I don't want to take anything away from Sam's career because he was a great footballer and obviously unbelievable for the club that I support, South Sydney, in 2014. But I just think it might be a little premature to elevate Sam Burgess given there are a whole host of former great players...

who have been waiting for their opportunity to receive the recognition that Sam Burgess has been given. What about you boys? Are there any other names that you're a little surprised by? No, I wasn't really surprised by all the more current players. I think all of those players deserve their position. I understand the question marks over Sam Burgess, but Sam Burgess to me, he was one of...

I think he's one of the best English players that's ever come over here. So I understand. But I do understand and agree with you in the fact that I think there are so many other unbelievably talented players

NRL players and past players that should be there first. Like, I don't know, and someone will have to explain, I'm sure someone will be able to, what's the whole process? Like, what's the whole system? Like, are we ticking off decades and then once that decade's ticked off it's all over or are we going back all the time or it's just to the discretion of the 18 panel members, I think it is. That's what's a real murky, I think, for a lot of people that they don't know how the whole process works and

why, you know, some players can go right back and then now we've got current players. Like, are there former players on the panel?

Are there? Well, I know Wayne Pearce is on there. So that's one former player is on the panel. And this is nothing against the panel. I'm just saying in general. Why wouldn't the Immortals be brought into the discussion for players in the Hall of Fame? Yeah, that's a good point. Like, if they're the best of the best of the best, the Immortals, why wouldn't they be able to have conversations about who were the best players that they came up against in their era and who they rate? Because...

I think you've got to have a player's perspective or former player's perspective on all of those decades, you know, from the 50s to the 60s to the 70s to the 80s, as much as you can, to get an idea on who were those players that deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. I think you've raised some fairly valid points there, Piggy. Well done. Josh, were there any that surprised you? Oh, look, I was probably with you. I mean, like Sam Burgess, obviously, he'd come through, you know, the 2010s,

all those Melbourne Storm players, they were kind of early 2000s as well. So, you know, you could look at some forwards there in the 90s as well and the 2000s that maybe you could include. But, you know, as Piggy said, he's one of the best Englishmen to come across and obviously won Souths the competition. So he would be in it eventually, I would assume. But, yeah, look, I think those...

Big four from Melbourne, certainly. And I think, you know, it will only be a matter of time before, you know, maybe all four of them may be Immortals as well. So I guess they had to have that before they then get recognised as Immortals. Just having a look here on Channel 9, they're talking to Billy Slater at the moment about his incredible career. He's... Obviously, I didn't get to see some of the great fullbacks of the past, but what he was able to do with the number one jumper was freakish. You played with and against him. Yeah, well, that's the thing. You know,

When you're talking about Immortals, they changed the way that position or the game was played. Like, Joey Johns changed the way halfbacks played his kicking game. Like, they took torpedo bombs, he brought them in, and that completely, you know, revolutionised the games, and he terrorised fullbacks with that. And then, obviously, his goal-kicking, his defence, he was a complete player. But you look at Billy and the way that he changed the fullback position

organizing the defensive line, you know, the support play, the ability to ball play at the back and become that third genuine ball player. He certainly changed the way that fullbacks play the game today. And I was lucky enough to play alongside Bill. It wasn't a fluke. I saw how hard he worked.

on his game and he wouldn't look out of place as an immortal. Alright, we move to Val Holmes. Val Holmes, boys, who signed with St. George, Illawarra. Piggy, you're a Dragons man. What sort of an impact will he have on the Red V next year? I'm stoked. If he can find the form that we know he's more than capable of, then...

then I think it's a great purchase for the St. George Illawarra Dragons. Damien Cook's coming in the nine jersey. I'm not sure where Val's going to play yet, but he can play a number of positions in the back line. We needed some signings, the Dragons. They needed some signings. Flano's got Cookie, as I said. He's got Val. There's plenty of talk about another middle forward coming. So, you know, not only has Flano turned things around this year with the team and the wins and where they sit on the ladder, but...

The projection for them over the next year is that they're going to keep going that way. So I'm stoked that they've signed Val and hopefully a couple more before they start pre-season. Josh, we move to Nathan Cleary.

Nathan Cleary, he won't be back until the finals. Will this hurt their chances of winning a fourth straight premiership? No, I don't think so. I think he's spent most of the year out and they're still sitting in second. So, you know, they'll make do without him and he gets a chance to freshen up again. And I think they're in this position last year as well. And Jerome Luai was under a cloud and...

They know what to do. They've won the last three years. They've had to deal with all this kind of stuff before. They'll handle it. If anyone can deal with it, the Panthers can. They'll be fine. They'll be fine. And then Kyle Flanagan, suspended for four matches by the judiciary for biting Stephen Crichton. He didn't give evidence, which I find the interesting aspect to this. I mean, if an allegation is made and there's no evidence given by the victim, is four weeks harsh?

I think four weeks was fair. Yeah? For me, that's just my opinion. I think it was fair. Yeah, look, if you get referred straight to the judiciary, you're going to be fined more than two weeks at least. So four weeks. It's unfortunate. I don't think he got in his mouth, of course. Mate, I reckon it's a reaction. Yeah, that's what...

If you're trying to breathe and wrestle and you've got a mouth guard in your mouth and something gets in there, you're trying to breathe, your reaction is probably to... Well, then my follow-up question would be if it's a reaction, a natural reaction. Four weeks? Four weeks.

But it's biting. You know the whole, it's biting. Kids, watch our game. We can't, you know, be looking to let that go. I think the fact that his nose was bleeding as well. Yeah, the optics of it all weren't. But he had a mouthguard in. Mate, I think four weeks is fine. We move on.