Mitchell: No-one should be compared to GI

The sight of Latrell Mitchell leading the Indigenous All Stars war cry symbolised the beginning of a changing of the guard in the NRL.

And in a frightening prospect for his 2019 opponents, the moment also became a realisation for Mitchell that he's only just scraped the surface on what he's capable of.

Mitchell's seventh appearance in the well-chronicled Roosters-Rabbitohs rivalry on Friday night at the SCG will come with an added piece of significance.

He missed the Roosters' preliminary final clash with the Bunnies en route to last year's grand final. Now he faces the prospect of lining up against Greg Inglis - the man many have likened Mitchell to since his 2016 debut.

Mitchell is glad the comparisons with Inglis have died down as his standing in the game has grown.

"I'm glad that tag isn't around anymore because no one should be compared to him," Mitchell told NRL.com.

"Greg's been a leader for years and I was bummed he couldn't play in the All Stars game with us.

"He's someone I've looked up to for years and I had goosebumps all over my body performing in the middle of the boys there. I used to watch GI lead in the past and never thought I could do the same.

"He's still one of the best players in the game and hopefully he'll be fit for the game.

"My nails are still growing back from missing out in that prelim game against Souths last year.

I've achieved a lot of things but feel like I haven't hit full potential yet either

Sydney Roosters centre Latrell Mitchell

"I know Cody Walker said to me he's coming out firing so I want to give him a bit of a taste back."

Perhaps the only criticism that came Mitchell's way during the 2018 Telstra Premiership was that the 21-year-old didn't see enough of the ball.

That perhaps seems a bit stiff considering the success that came the Roosters' way.

Despite 18 line breaks leading to 17 tries and achieving 118 tackle busts and six try assists, Mitchell finished the regular season averaging just 78.5  running metres per game. His ball carrying numbers were also down.

"Can you go talk to Luke Keary? I've been in the coaches' ears about a game plan more to the left," he laughed.

"Look, I just went with the flow. I felt like I could've got a bit more but it's something to work on. I know plenty of teams do video like us and I'd like to think I'm a marquee player and teams are going to look at what I'm doing.

"It's very hard, you've got good centres out there like Esan Marsters, Dean Whare and Will Chambers … they look at you and study your style. I do that myself and try to limit them as they do me. That's where your instinctive play kicks in and you play footy around that."

Mitchell credits his settled life off-field for the game-breaking moments people see on it.

The question for the new year is can the Taree product repeat a premiership, Origin series win and play more games in the green and gold?

He understands some players don't achieve any of the above in their whole careers, let alone 12 months.

"It's all just happened in a flash, I can't put it into words," Mitchell said.

"It's hard to back that up, the 2018 season was awesome. I'm still frothing over it but I've got to let that go now though and recreate those little things that helped get me there.

"I've achieved a lot of things but feel like I haven't hit full potential yet either. It all comes down to internally, just working on myself as a person."