And then it became a big thing,a national thing,a divisive and debated thing,until it ended up turning into two years of solid shame for the AFL with a bitter aftertaste that has not abated to this day.

If anyone should be disappointed with Mitchell lately,it should be Rabbitohs fans. But they clap their foreheads and roll their eyes and mutter under their breath and ask why he’s in Moree and not training the house down at Redfern.

As frustrated as they are,they don’t orchestrate the kind of unpleasantness that should be saved only for referees,and then only until they give your team some square-up penalties.

Yes,Mitchell deliberately antagonises. Yes,he speaks his opinion (doesn’t he know his place?) and he taunts opposing crowds and he flouts the professional constraints about playing the percentages. He can be irritating to fans and foes alike,and to be irritated by him doesn’t make you racist. But what is emerging is something different.

It’s one of those bandwagons where bigotry ridesunder the false flags of “gamesmanship” or “entertainment”. They came for the footy but they stayed for the thrill of disguised racist abuse. The fact that they could believe booing Mitchell is something other than bigotry only made them bigger dopes than they already were.

In Wednesday’s photo op at Moree,who was getting the reflected glory off whom? Was Mitchell,having a ragged season with an underperforming club,trying to get protection from the premier and the police commissioner (themselves in a bit of a form slump)? Or were the big chiefs trying to look good by standing next to Souths players?

Latrell might be missing tackles,but he’s still the one that the most powerful individuals in this state want to be near.

The police minister was there too – was she trying to get close to that Trell magic or just avoid dropping the balland having another shocker?

What about the people of Moree – who were they lining up for a selfie with? Peter V’landys? Their local member?

All questions were soon answered. Latrell might be missing tackles and trying too many things that don’t come off,but he’s still the one that the most powerful individuals in this state want to be near. And that’s eye-opening.

Former NSW premier Bob Askin didn’t stand next to Souths legend Bob McCarthy to improve his reputation. Neville Wran didn’t clamour to get near Bob Fulton or Arthur Beetson (except on grand final days). Power has shifted. Latrell can change lives and government can’t do it without him. We now live in a rugby league state of mind.

Going to Moree to make a difference to crime rates won’t stop NRL crowds from booing Mitchell. It will probably make them boo him more. He seems bold enough,or habituated enough,or weary enough,to cope with it. But he’s 26 years old. See how he feels if he gets another five or eight years of it. See how you feel.

In Moree,the stakes aren’t a few points or a win or a loss or an Origin series or a place in the final eight or whatever. The stakes are human lives. The stakes are whether a community can live in peace. The stakes are whether or not despair gets institutionalised and mutated into crime.

If the state premier and the police commissioner and the police minister had gone there to announce a new program,they would get booed off the local park. If V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo went up there,even if they conceived the program,they couldn’t make much of a difference alone. All of that titular authority needs Latrell Mitchell. He got backing from Cody Walker and Tyrone Munro and the NRLW players Quincy Dodd and Rhiannon Byers,but they needed him too.

That’s a lot of responsibility for a 26-year-old to bring onto his shoulders,just as he brings so much else onto his shoulders. He’s a brave and optimistic young leader as well as a wayward genius and,many weeks,an unfulfilled talent. Why would you boo that? Or put it another way – why would you boo it just because the person next to you is?

A decade after Goodes’ retirement,the sporting community might have had some time to think about this and try to do a little better. In the next month or two,we’ll see if they have.

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