Goolagong said he had spoken to Mitchell every day since Friday’s incident and that the star fullback had no intention of injuring Manu.

“He’s been playing that way ever since he strapped on footy boots,” Goolagong said.

“He’s always been an aggressive player, he just likes to win. There was no malice in it whatsoever.

“He was just protecting his line, obviously. It was just unfortunate the way the tackle happened. Look, he’s regretful, it’s just unfortunate. [It’s] the speed of the game or whatever else.”

Speaking on Nine’s 100% Footy, Phil Gould clarified his comments regarding why those who haven’t played the game aren’t in a position to understand Mitchell’s tackle.

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“That’s taken out of context,” Gould said.

“What I said was if you haven’t been in that position that Latrell Mitchell is in, coming across the field with Joseph Manu stepping and pulling out of tackles and what he’d done previously in the night, trying to stop the offloads, stopping [him] scoring a try, ‘I’ve got to get to him quick’, ‘I’ve got to get to him before he passes it’, ‘I’ve got to deal with that’ ... Unless you’re actually in there you have no idea how these tackles go wrong so very, very quickly.

“That’s what I’m saying. I’m not saying you’re not entitled to a comment, I’m not saying you’re not entitled to an opinion. But whether I respect that decision as to someone who knows what went on in the minds of Latrell Mitchell and Joseph Manu, then I’m going to take my own opinion.”

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