Damien Cook has warned the Sydney Roosters that any attempt to rattle South Sydney superstar Latrell Mitchell will be a pointless exercise in Friday night's NRL grudge match.
Mitchell's rematch with his old club remains one of the most-anticipated regular season games of the NRL in years, after his high shot on Joey Manu last August.
The Roosters have been at pains to stress this week they won't make a point to go after Mitchell, having taken too much emotion into an early-season clash with Souths last year and be beaten.
But there is still a feeling the game could explode at some point, after a bitter fallout last season left Mitchell widely condemned and banned for six games while Manu was hospitalised.
And while Cook believed the pair's claims that they have made up are genuine, he admits he would be surprised if the Roosters didn't try to unnerve Mitchell.
"Why wouldn't you (try to rattle Latrell)? He's a star player, one of our best," Cook said.
"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."
Mitchell's importance to the winless Rabbitohs was blatantly evident on his return, with teammates citing their fightback against Melbourne last week as a turning point.
Cook said he would be ready to tell the 24-year-old representative fullback to rein in his emotions if he required, but did not believe it would be necessary.
"I think he knows that," Cook said.
"We forget how young he is sometimes and how much pressure we put on him as a star player.
"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."
There is also a thought that emotion could bring out the best in Mitchell, as well as serving as a distraction for the Roosters.
But the Rabbitohs captain Cameron Murray insisted there was no plan to bait their arch-rivals, as they try to turn around their own poor start to the year.
"We're thinking of being at our best and focusing on us, we won't be going into that game with tactics like that or anything," Murray said,
"Their tactics are their tactics. They can approach it however they want want to approach it.
"Like I said, we'll be focusing on us."
