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Opinion
There may be no player more maligned in the NRL than he who wears Peter Sterling’s No.7 jersey at Parramatta.
In the 36 years since the Eels last won a grand final, players the calibre of Jason Taylor, Tim Smith, Chris Sandow and Kieran Foran have all played halfback for the club but none have succeeded to the point that Sterling’s legacy has ceased to be more curse than blessing.
Mitchell Moses is now the man in the hot seat and with 105 games at the club, 104 of which were wearing that jersey, including eight finals appearances, you could argue he’s been the most successful of Sterling’s successors.
Which is particularly impressive when you consider Parra told Moses he was free to find a new club following a 2018 season in which he and halves partner Corey Norman led the club to the wooden spoon.
But instead of packing his bags and finding a third club, the former Wests Tiger decided to cancel an end-of-season holiday and knuckle down to become a better player.
“I thought ‘that’s it, enough is enough’. I’m 24 years old now and with the season I just had, I couldn’t reward myself with another holiday to Vegas. Honestly, I hadn’t earned it. I want to do something in this game. I don’t want to look back in regret of what could have been,” he told NRL.com.
“I knew going away wasn’t the best thing for me, I needed to get back and work on being the player I wanted to be. I just felt I needed to get a head start on everyone else.”
It was a decision that paid dividends in 2019, Moses earning the Dally M Halfback of the Year award, as well as the Ken Thornett Medal as the Eels’ player of the year as the club finished fifth on the ladder and made Week 2 of the finals.
Parra has made the second week of the finals in both of the following years, and Moses was rewarded for his part in this success with a fat contract extension in mid-2021.
Nonetheless, he continues to attract praise and criticism in equal measure – the chief of the latter being that he fails to stand up in big matches.
It’s an argument given weight by his team’s 2-6 finals record, as well as his sole Origin appearance, in Game 3 last year, seeing the Blues suffer their only loss of the series.
Mitchell Moses couldn’t get the job done in Game 3 in 2021 (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
But given Clint Gutherson has been in the same club team for those same finals matches, as well as lost two of his three Origin games, and has emerged without a ‘choker’ tag, you wonder if there’s something else to Moses’ reputation.
I suspect his perceived inability to close out a big game is fuelled by his fiery personality.
When things aren’t going his way, Moses has a tendency to lose his cool – at the opposition, at his teammates, at the ref, at anyone really.
Now, he’s hardly the first footy player to struggle to contain his emotions when the scoreboard isn’t in his favour – Andrew Johns was a shocker for it.
But Joey won big games, while Moses’ victories in matches that matter are limited to a 58-0 drubbing of the beginning-of-the-end Broncos in ‘19 and a 28-20 win over the Knights that was even closer than the scoreboard suggested in ‘21.
As for the suggestion the Eels were stiff to get knocked out by the Panthers 8-6 in last year’s semi-final, while that’s reasonable, it really only serves to further the Moses narrative. Doesn’t matter that he was solid in a game his team should have won, because they didn’t.
So it’s Mitch Moses’ fault.
Is that fair? Of course not. But life’s not fair – especially for the man wearing ‘Sterlo’s jumper’ 30 years after the man himself stopped pulling it on.
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Best-case scenario
Barring that disastrous 2018, this is a club that’s been there or thereabouts for the past five seasons.
And while a slew of high-profile departures in 2023 mean Parra’s premiership window appears set to slam shut at the end of the year, it is currently about as open as it’s ever been.
The Eels have a gun pack, some of the most exciting outside backs in the comp, an Origin-calibre hooker, the hardest-working fullback in the comp, and a halves pairing that looks like it could just click at any moment and rival even the Penrith pair for attacking potency.
Add the sense of urgency that comes with the knowledge this is the current crop of players’ last go-around together and everything is in place to finally break the most famous drought in rugby league.
Dare to dream Parra fans, this may be your last stand, but it could also be your finest hour.
If that happens, Moses will be the only other halfback in Parramatta’s history besides Peter Sterling to have won a title with the club, which means he’ll cease to be a flat-track bully, a choker, a whinger or a sook.
He’ll simply be a legend.
Worst-case scenario
Yeah, but there was that 2018 season, wasn’t there?
Somehow, Parra went from fourth in 2017 to dead-stone motherless the following year. You just never know what’s going to happen next with this club.
So while they’re saying the right things about wanting to finish well, Reed Mahoney, Marata Niukore, Isaiah Papali’i, Oregon Kaufusi and Ray Stone is plenty of talent heading for the exit, which at the very least suggests there may be something amiss in Kellyville.
But even if it’s simply a case of players leaving for a better financial deal rather than because they’re unhappy under Brad Arthur, it’s a lot of prominent guys to be departing, meaning there are excuses available if the Eels find themselves stuck in a rut at any point in the season.
You can imagine it, right? In a three-game losing streak, one of the fleeing five drops the ball cold, leading Moses to spray him, the departing dropper to give it back, and the dressing sheds to fall about 12 degrees in temperature for the remainder of the campaign.
Which is why, while the calibre of players on hand mean it should be all but impossible, personalities and attitude mean worst-case is a bottom-four finish and an end-of-year awards night at which someone takes a swing at Mitch Moses.
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