New coach Ivan Cleary says he expects Mitchell Moses to play out the season strongly for Wests Tigers despite being denied an immediate move to NRL rivals Parramatta.
Moses declined to comment on Thursday when approached by reporters at Sydney airport as the Tigers headed for Townsville, a day after news emerged of his deal to join the Eels.
Just four days into his role, Cleary insisted the messy saga hadn’t affected his key playmaker’s attitude going into Saturday’s difficult NRL assignment against North Queensland.
“It’s (Moses’s attitude) been good. No problem,” Cleary told Triple M.
“I would have thought if he’s made the decision to move on, like other players at other clubs, it’s important that you finish well at the club at you’re at, especially if you’ve been there for a while.”
On Wednesday, the Tigers confirmed a contract extension offer to Moses was withdrawn, but a request to grant the 22-year-old an immediate release to join the Eels, reportedly on a three-year, $2.2 million deal, was denied.
Cleary backed what the club had said in its statement on Wednesday, identifying salary cap uncertainty as a part reason to review the Moses contract offer.
“Over the weekend, there was a bit an adjustment in the salary cap forecasting for next year, so in fairness, we wanted to secure some risk against the club,” Cleary said.
“So we decided to prioritise James Tedesco and Aaron Woods and withdrew an offer for Mitchell.
“Since, my understanding is that Mitchell has signed (for Parramatta).”
“Other than that, I haven’t even thought about him leaving now, because he’s part of the team.”
Cleary arrived at the club with a clear priority to sort out the futures of off-contract stars Moses, Woods, Tedesco and Luke Brooks.
While Brooks is understood to have agreed to a new deal, captain Woods and fullback Tedesco remain unsigned for next year.
“It’s pretty simple for me and the club – we want players who are committed to the club, committed to building a future here,” Cleary said.
“If good players who want to be a part of that, and these guys want to be a part of that, all individually, then fantastic.
“But if you don’t, and that’s okay, sometimes in this job that we’ve got here, it’s not always going to be smooth sailing, and that’s not for everybody. So we’ll see what pans out.”
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