South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou has rejected criticism of Latrell Mitchell's perceived lack of involvement, saying the fullback is more active now than when at his best last year.
Mitchell said this week he had been personally challenged by Demetriou to get his hands on the ball more against Canterbury on Friday, after only having three first-half runs against Melbourne.
One of the most dangerous players in the competition, Mitchell does not have the same involvement rate as the likes of James Tedesco and Tom Trbojevic.
Instead, his strength is in what he does with the touches he has, given his ability to break tackles or put others over the line as he prepares to play his 150th NRL match against the Bulldogs.
"I don't want Latrell to be Tedesco. I don't want him to be Turbo," Demetriou said on Thursday.
"I want him to be Latrell Mitchell and I want him to play what suits our game.
"Do I want him to get his hands on the ball a bit earlier? Yeah. Does that mean I want him doing 200 metres in a game? No, I don't.
"I want him to do the things that he does better than any other fullback in the comp and that's get his hands on the ball and create opportunities for himself and teammates."
Regardless, Demetriou said the question marks over Mitchell's involvements were drastically exaggerated.
"He came back last year after the rehab stint in America and everybody said how great he was playing, he was averaging 80 metres a game," Demetriou said.
"He's averaging 140 now and we're saying he's not doing enough.
"At the end of the day we've had middles missing. We've had a lot of change in our roster that's affected our cohesion with our attack.
"But I'm really happy where he's at, and I'm looking forward to seeing him play tomorrow."
Souths will have Junior Tatola back in their pack for the clash with the Bulldogs after a knee injury, while Taane Milne returns on the wing for the concussed Alex Johnston.
Milne was terrorised under the high ball by Nathan Cleary in his final game last year, and now must contend with Matt Burton's bombs on his return.
"I don't think Taane is the only winger in the comp who has been targeted by Nathan Cleary bombs," Demetriou said.
"Plenty of them have nightmares about them.
"He's on a different wing this time as well, so Izaac (Thompson) will be the one who's catching those most of the time and Latrell."
