I have been keeping a close eye on the performance of Moses lately, one concerning stat I have come across is that over the last 3 years he is only producing a try assist every second game on average.
I'm a little bit concerned by this stat to be completely honest, Jonah Pezet has only played around half the games Moses has this season and it equal on Try Assists, Brian Kelly who is a winger is also level with Moses on even though he has missed two more games than Moses.
For a bit of a comparison, Dean Hawkins last season in his 12 appearances was up near an assist a game.
Leaders in this area over the sample years are:
2024 - Ben Hunt (Dragons) = 1.4 Try Assists per game
2025 - Sam Walker (Roosters) = 1.8 Try Assists per game
2026 - Tom Duffy (Broncos) = 1.5 Try Assists per game (only played 2)
- Jerome Luai (Tigers) = 1.4 Try Assists per game
This leads me to ask, what are the key responsibilities of Halfback?
For me I want to see good Game Management, Creativity and Match Awareness in a Halfback.
Moses has the best long kicking game in the competition, there is no doubting that but I have been noticing lately that his short kicking game lacks any sort of real creativity.
Defensively Moses is one of the better Halfbacks in the competition, when he came from the Tigers he was an ordinary defender but he has really improved this area of his game.
Moses is stated as being on big money, are we really getting true value out of what Moses is giving us ?
Replies
I think this is more an indication of the players around him. How many good lines do you see players like guymer and other forwards running to score tries. Or outside backs getting in a position to score.
I understand your point but as I stated above, Dean Hawkins had less of a problem than what Moses is having.
Simple fix and I think they understand now get him playing both sides so he has the ability to affect the game more and to improve the mentioned stat.
You can't improve a stat like that if your fowards are getting arseholed it's one of those media pieces that can be put together to start a narrative on a guy.
Simply Moses can't affect games outside of burying teams in corners until we get some sought of consistency in the middle of tha park.Hell at least his defense is half decent shit I remember a time when he could catch a cold tackling a back rower.
Can't score a try.
1. if we can't hold onto the ball.
2. Can't cart the ball up field.
3. Have an average of 30 points scored against us which significantly drops our possession.
No try means no try assists.
Wouldn't it be nice, if those around him could actually help get us into the oppositions 20m zone for Moses to shine in the try assist dept. Relying on Mitch's monster kicks to get us into position on the field can not do it all.
Im more concerned that players can't hold the ball long enough and get to the end of our sets for Mitch to actually set up more then 1 try assist per game on average.
70% completion rate last game, 76% against Manly, 79% against the Tigers, 73% against Penrith and 63% against Melbourne.
Then we have Tallyn Da Silva, going against Mitchs calls when in the attacking zone too many times this year, we have had players kicking on the 2nd and 3rd tackle when in the 20m zone. With these things going on, it's a wonder Mitch is even averaging 1 try assist a game.
Try assists also need a backline that is capable of running the hole Mitch creates at speed, or able to out jump the opposition and take a catch, they must have some football nouse. Our backline except for Addo Carr hardly creates fear in the opposition. Whilst we are on it i'm more concerned with our backline then Mitch. This week alone saw Kelly have a tackle efficency of 41% Penisni was at 66% and Volkman was at 66% , how do we keep an opposition team down their end when our backline cannot show any resembalance of defense. How do we get good field position. Our back 5 trying to run the ball out at the start of a set is atrocious, that must be close to worst in the league, i'd suggest. Mitch this week had to make 22 tackles that was the same as a couple of our forwards. If we continue to make Mitch tackle more because of how bad those around him are, there has to be a downside when in attack, i'd assume. A look at other halfbacks this week Sam Walker made 10 tackles, Reynolds made 10 tackles, Nico Hynes 12 tackles etc. Not sure how definitive that is and how much defense is taking out of Mitch,but we are relying on Mitch in defense more and more these days. Then we have the easy target, we don't really have any other option in attack, defense know Mitch will get the ball and he is heavily marked / targeted/ double teamed etc.
Nah my concern isn't with Mitch, it's with how does the club find some talented players to help him out. Mitch's stats down in try assists is I'd suggest , more a by product of how bad those around him are playing and how much work we are asking him to do throughout the game as a consequence.
By the time we create something, Moses throws a great ball and some knob head drops it.
yup haha
without moses most of our games we wouldd lose by 70.