Roosters insiders first started to have concerns about Latrell Mitchell’s head space when the Kangaroos centre was spotted rocking up to training in a flash new Mercedes S63 Turbo AMG sports car valued at around $250,000.

Given the Roosters chairman Nick Politis has amassed part of his $600 million fortune courtesy of the motor vehicle industry, the obvious question was had Uncle Nick helped Latrell find a new set of wheels?

The answer is an unequivocal no. So where had the mystery Mercedes come from then? Mitchell apparently told teammates it belonged to a friend.

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Round 20

The first sightings of Mitchell driving the S63 Turbo began leading into the finals series in September.

When purchased brand new, the luxury line of Mercedes sports car can retail for as much as $370,000 and has a top speed of 300km/h.

Given all the speculation swirling since May about Latrell testing his value on the open market and wanting a contract worth more than $1 million a season, the Roosters took note.

For a country kid from the NSW north-coast town of Taree, a Mercedes S63 Turbo is one hell of a flash ride.

The Mercedes Benz S-Class S63. Source: Supplied

Looks pretty slick on the inside, too. Source: Supplied

Was Mitchell beginning to listen to too many people around him? Were his values changing? Was he getting swept up in the fast lane of big-city life?

The Roosters began to ask all these sorts of questions as they prepared to make an offer of $800,000-a-season for 2021 and 2022, with Mitchell already under contract for next year.

Had Mitchell accepted the offer, it would have made the Kangaroos star the highest paid centre in the game.

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Instead, he baulked and wanted more time on the open market.

So the Roosters did the honourable thing by their club and its principles and pulled the offer off the table.

Where Mitchell ends up next is still very much up in the air. But he’s almost certainly played his last game for the back-to-back premiers.