South Sydney star Damien Cook is backing Latrell Mitchell to keep his cool when his faces his former club the Sydney Roosters on Friday night.
Souths are priced at 29/20 to beat the Roosters in the round-three clash but much of the talk in the build up to the game will centre on Mitchell, who could be targeted by the opposition.
Huge suspension
The gun fullback copped a six-match suspension towards the end of last season when his high shot on Joey Manu left the Roosters star hospitalised with a fractured jaw.
There has been talk of the Roosters targeting Mitchell on Friday, but Cook is confident Mitchell will not get sucked in and will keep his cool.
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"Why wouldn't you (try to rattle Latrell)? He's a star player, one of our best," Cook told reporters ahead of the game. "You want to get them off your game. We have seen sides do it to other players as well, so I don't see why they wouldn't try to.
"But I think Latrell is maturing as a player, he is at such a young age and done so much already. Each year he has become more mature as a player and knows how to handle these things."
Maturing Mitchell
Meanwhile Cook also says he will have a word with Mitchell during the game if he needs to, but that is the case with any player, not just the fullback.
"We forget how young he is sometimes and how much pressure we put on him as a star player,” Cook added. "It's like with anyone, if you see them getting a bit hot-headed, no matter what player it is, sometimes someone has to grab them and say 'next job'.
"But that's not just Latrell, that's anyone."
