As he lay motionless on the Allianz Stadium turf struggling to breathe after NSW team-mate Nathan Cleary landed on his neck in a sickening accident on Friday night, Sydney Roosters and Blues young gun Latrell Mitchell was thinking about Alex McKinnon.
A terrified Mitchell was stretchered from field in a neck brace early in the second half of the Round 15 clash against Penrith.
Thankfully he was cleared of any serious damage that night and has been named in Brad Fittler’s 20-man squad for Sunday’s Origin II at ANZ Stadium.
“I thought of him straight away,” Mitchell told NRL.com in reference to McKinnon, who was paralysed while playing for the Newcastle Knights in 2014.
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“I remember when he went through it. I thought, ‘Is this me now?’ I got real scared and I was thinking ‘Is my career over?’ … I went into panic mode.”
Mitchell, who turned 21 on Saturday, revealed he felt a ‘massive crunch’ and couldn't catch his breath after the impact of Cleary crashing down on top of him.
“I was a bit emotional when I was laying there waiting for that stretcher to come out, I felt like am I ever going to play again, is this the end?”
But in an amazing recovery, Mitchell appears set to line up for the Blues in Game 2 next Sunday, with coach Fittler declaring the centre ‘should be right’ for the ANZ Stadium clash.
“He’s in pretty good spirits, I think he’s a bit embarrassed he got taken off on a stretcher but it’s good to see him smiling again I’ve got to say that,” Fittler said on Sunday.
“… I can’t imagine he should have much trouble running but we’ll definitely keep him out of any contact for a while.
“But he’s in pretty good spirits and he just says it was a pretty big scare at the time and he’s glad he came out of it healthy.”
