Blues coach Brad Fittler has urged under-fire centre Latrell Mitchell to close the book on the newspaper headlines, both positive and negative, and understand that scrutiny is part and parcel of being a superstar.
Mitchell is facing the first major speedbump of his young career, finding himself at the centre of a barrage of criticism as frustrated NSW fans and media look to point the finger anywhere they can for a disappointing series-opening loss.
Fittler initially didn't help put out the fire, declaring the 21-year-old must ''work on his motivation'' and put whatever it was that was distracting him aside if he wanted to contribute in game two.
But the Blues coach has relaxed his approach towards Mitchell with a change of tone in his language, offering him a sage piece of advice to help him deal with the off-field attention.
“He’s a superstar, he does things on the footy field that no-one else can do so he’s going to be heavily scrutinised,” Fittler told Macquarie Sports Radio.
“On the other hand, he gets a lot of praise and four or five weeks ago everyone was saying he’s the best player in the world, so Latrell’s life is going to be like that because he’s that good.
“He needs to learn not to read the good stuff and learn not to read the bad stuff.”
The Rooster weapon called for his detractors to throw their support behind himself and the state, labelling the backlash as ''harsh'' - a view also shared by Mitchell's former teammate Dylan Napa.
Napa took a direct swipe at the media and compared the different ways they portrayed Mitchell when he was in and out of form.
“Absolutely, I really feel for Latrell,” Napa said.
“That’s media-driven. He’s 21-years-old and you’re getting on his case about having a couple of bad games.
“A month ago you were saying he was the best player in the competition.
“When he’s going good you want to be his best friend, when he’s going bad you want to drop him for Origin.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
Former Blues coach Phil Gould has been one of Mitchell's loudest critics but believes NSW won't be able to save the series without him.
I don’t think NSW can win without him but the question is will he be a distraction or will he be an asset?” Gould said.
“In his current frame of mind and doing what he’s doing right at the moment, not a month ago against the Wests Tigers, he’ll be a distraction.”
