For all the hardship which Latrell Mitchell has endured during 2019, he remarkably remains on track to achieve a feat which has only been achieved eight times in the 112-year history of the NRL.
Heading into Saturday’s clash with Penrith, the Roosters strike centre is within reach of topping the league’s try-scoring and point-scoring tables.
Mitchell has 17 tries for the year and heading into the regular season’s penultimate round he is one four-pointer clear of Reuben Garrick, Ken Maumalo and Maika Sivo.
He is already all but guaranteed to reach the finals series as the competition’s top point scorer with 239, well ahead of Canberra skipper Jarrod Croker (204).
The significance of Mitchell’s potential achievement isn’t lost on Roosters coach Trent Robinson, a keen student of the game.
Since 1908, only six players have topped both lists in a single season, with no player having done so since Mal Meninga in 1990.
And if he can do the double, he will join an illustrious club which also includes Horace Miller (1908), Harold Horder (1913-14), Benny Wearing (1925), Jack Lynch (1931) and Immortal Dave Brown (1934-35).
Since taking over the goal-kicking last year, Mitchell has been a point-scoring machine for the Roosters, especially at the SCG where he’ll face Penrith.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary admitted his side had no hope of stopping Mitchell, only containing him.
According to Fox Sports Stats, he has single-handedly outscored opposition sides at the venue this year 132-86.
And with two games remaining in the regular season, he is also in with a shot to set a club record for most points in a year, set by Cleary in 1998 with 284.
The 21-year-old has endured a rollercoaster season, including being dropped by NSW for games two and three of the State of Origin series, but Robinson said his hard work was paying off.
“I’m not going to talk about how his year has gone but he’s nailed his opportunities on that left edge,” Robinson said.
“That’s why he’s at the top of the try-scoring and pushing that. And he’s worked tirelessly on his goal-kicking and that’s why it’s been what it has been.
“We haven’t talked about it at all but I know Mal was the last one to do it. It doesn’t change what we’re doing but it’s a nice pat on the back.”
WALKING WITH GIANTS
Players to have topped the point-scoring and try-scoring list in a single NRL/NSWRL season
* Horace Miller (Eastern Suburbs, 1908) 47 pts, 15 tries
* Harold Horder (South Sydney, 1913) – 65 pts, 13 tries
* Harold Horder (South Sydney, 1914) – 87 pts, 19 tries
* Benny Wearing (South Sydney, 1925) – 80 pts, 12 tries
* Jack Lynch (Eastern Suburbs, 1931) – 118 pts, 16 tries
* Dave Brown (Eastern Suburbs, 1934) – 121 pts 11 tries
* Dave Brown (Eastern Suburbs, 1935) – 244 pts, 38 tries
* Mal Meninga (Canberra, 1990) – 212 pts, 17 tries