NRL backflip sees Mitchell back for round one opener

South Sydney legend Craig Coleman has supported the NRL’s decision to allow the Indigenous Allstars game next month to count as a suspended game for Indigenous star Latrell Mitchell.

Mitchell was suspended for one game and fined $20,000 after an image emerged online of him with a white powder substance during a coaching trip trip to Dubbo last year.

The NRL had initially said the pre-season game would not count but both. Mitchell and banned winger Josh Addo Carr appealed the decision.

Addo-Carr was suspended for four games for testing positive to cocaine while driving – a ban that cost him his contract at the Bulldogs. He has since signed for Parramatta. He successfully appealed his ban and can now return to NRL action a week earlier.

Mitchell will now be free to play against the Dolphins in round one and Addo-Carr will return in round four for the Eels against his former club.

“Having Latrell back for round one is good news for all South Sydney fans,” Coleman told AAP.

“You want your best team in round one and to start the season off on a good note, especially after the last couple of seasons where we have been pretty bad.”