After a number of seasons being one of the top clubs in the NRL, and even making it to the 2023 NRL Grand Final, the Parramatta Eels made a tough decisions last year to hand the reigns over to a new coach in Jason Ryles and start the process of a rebuild.
2024 was nothing short of a terrible season for the club, ending the regular season down in 15th place on the NRL ladder. Injuries had hit the clubs hard, but there was also no doubt that a number of the key players at the club that drove them towards their 2023 Grand Final appearance had their form fall off a cliff.
Now, Jason Ryles is looking to rebuild, and will use the clubs strong junior development system to drive that rebuild. That brings into question if the clubs rebuild will align with the clubs veteran players….and that brings us to Mitchell Moses.
Moses is still at the peak of his powers, having turned out for New South Wales in State Of Origin and even Australia in the Pacific Championship last year.
The thing is, Mitch Moses is 30 years old now. I’m not saying he is long in the tooth, but he is without question much closer to the end of his career than he is the start of it. Most halfbacks don’t play until the age of 35, and only a few halfbacks in the games history have played beyond that.
The other thing to consider is that with halfbacks, more so than players in any other position, tend to hit the wall hard. Think of Johnathan Thurston as a a great example of this. A legend, one of the best halfbacks of all time, he was a key player for the Cowboys and then all of a sudden it was over very quickly.
By the time the Parramatta Eels finish their rebuild, if it goes successfully, Mitchell Moses could be hitting his mid 30’s. Does he have the time to wait for the Eels team to get better around him? Would it be better for him to maybe look to move to another club where he could walk straight in and be a possibly premiership swaying addition like we saw with Cooper Cronk at the Sydney Roosters in the late stages of his career?
A lot of it will depend on what the personal motivations of Moses are at this point. He might be very content as a Parramatta Eel, have no thoughts of leaving the club, and be more than willing to be part of their rebuild under a new coach.
Money is also a factor in this. Moses is well paid at the Eels, as he should be, and the only way opportunities would arise elsewhere at other clubs is if those clubs have the salary cap space, and the willingness, to offer Moses a million dollar deal that extends longer than his current Eels deal, thus improving his overall career earnings in the latter stages of his career. Not every club will have that salary cap space available, especially when it comes to teams that are close to vying for a title.
Then you have to consider how many clubs in the competition are in the position that they may just need that final piece in the puzzle to get them over the line. Would a team like the Bulldogs be a true, top of the line Premiership contender if Moses was the halfback guiding them around the field? Could the Brisbane Broncos move into that category if their halves were Moses and Ezra Mam? Would the Cronulla Sharks Premiership odds shorten if you replaces Nicho Hynes with Mitch Moses?
There’s only a few of those teams in that position, which again would cut down on not only the options Moses would have, but the chances of him deciding to make a move at this stage of his career.
I find it all really interesting because it is not often you get a top of the line halfback who is clearly a premiership winning quality player, but who has not actually won a premiership.
If you think of all the best halfbacks over the last couple of decades, Andrew Johns, Brett Kimmorley, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Daly Cherry-Evans, Adam Reynolds, Jahrome Hughes, Nathan Cleary…they all had a Premiership under their belt before they got to this stage of their careers.
Ben Hunt is an example of a very good halfback who didn’t get a title early on in their career.
So I think this 2025 NRL season will be a very important one for Mitchell Moses, and one where we see him make a decision that will be very important towards the rest of his career.
I personally hope he stays at the Parramatta Eels. I think his guidance will be very important in the clubs rebuild, I think his leadership will be key, and I just think the game is better when players at least play the majority of their career at one club.
