The majority of South Sydney Rabbitohs fans could finally have their prayers answered as Latrell Mitchell is shaping up for a move away from fullback.
Photos emerged on Wednesday showing Mitchell training at left centre, rather than his preferred spot at fullback.
The move comes as a surprise due to Wayne Bennett’s reluctance to play Mitchell anywhere other than fullback last season, despite Jye Gray’s blistering form.
But with Gray knocking back R360 to sign a contract extension to remain in Redfern, it leads to speculation of whether there is a clause in Gray’s contract giving him the first shot at fullback.
For Mitchell, though, while a move to left centre may not be favourable, he will be returning to a familiar position in which he played for two seasons at the Sydney Roosters and for 11 State of Origin appearances.
When asked about the switch in training, Rabbitohs teammate Cody Walker wasn’t giving much away.
“We’ll see what happens,” Walker told reporters.
“We haven’t spoken about that internally as yet.
“The pre-season’s about getting fit and putting the work in now, and I’m sure after Christmas we’ll do more game-planning on where we want to play and how we want to play.”
However, journalist Cody Kaye revealed on Fox Sports News that the photos were not a one-off and Mitchell had been exclusively training at left centre during pre-season.
“It was fascinating to be out there today with their new recruit David Fifita and watching Latrell Mitchell spend the entire time running at left centre,” Kaye told Fox Sports News.
“Now if that isn’t an indication that the Latrell at fullback move is over then I don’t know what is and speaking to the rusted on Souths fans that go there to every single training session, that’s where Latrell has been.
“Souths aren’t going to come out and say we are committing him to left centre, but it looks like that is where he is going to play.”
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