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"HKF, not only have this board never fired a coach, they have never hired on either. They don't know any different from a hiring process of interviewing different coaches. They only know BA."
"Sometimes it really is as simple as needing a fresh voice. It doesn't need to be complicated. I've seen this many times over the years of watching NRL. A team becomes stale, disconnected, they stop believing and eventually players start playing for…"
"I just hope Blaize is playing fullback at nrl or cup. He shouldn't be playing any other position regardless of nrl or cup"
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an hour ago
Christian Nicolussi
The Daily Telegraph
Subscriber only
IT’LL come as a huge surprise to Eels fans that cult hero Tepai Moeroa has been shopped to at least one rival NRL club.
Despite regular interest from cashed-up Japanese and French rugby clubs, Moeroa has made it clear to his management “my first, second and third preference is to stay at Parramatta’’.
The Eels extended the deals of Bevan French, Corey Norman, Kenny Edwards, Isaac De Gois, Brad Takairangi and Manu Ma’u, but have not shown the same amount of urgency to keep the 21-year-old fan favourite out west beyond the end of 2017.
Moeroa has instructed his manager, Craig Baker, to make Parramatta his only priority, and wants to achieve big things in rugby league before switching to rugby.
“Tepai is happy where he is and his preference is to stay at Parramatta,’’ Baker told The Daily Telegraph.
“One day he’ll go back to rugby, but Tepai said to me he wants to play State of Origin, he wants to play for Australia and he wants to win a premiership.
“Something would have to fall down for him to go to rugby now.’’
A one-time Australian Schoolboy rugby player who had huge interest from the Waikato Chiefs a few years ago remains on the radar of rugby officials.
Baker confirmed there had been regular inquiries from Japanese rugby, and an email sent from a French rugby official as late as last week.
The Daily Telegraph can confirm at least one rival club was offered Moeroa recently, which suggests the 21-year-old hard-hitting backrower will need a big season to remain a part of coach Brad Arthur’s plans.
Moeroa said once the Eels front office was settled, he expected contract talks to resume.
“I’ve had a chat with Brad, he’d like me to re-sign, but with all the dramas and rebuilding going on with the front office, once that’s settled we’ll sit down and talk,’’ Moeroa said.
“I’m not in any rush. I’m contracted all of 2017. I have to focus on playing good footy and we’ll see what happens.’’
Moeroa has produced no shortage of brutal hits in his short time in the NRL, and was happy to put behind him a horror 2016 campaign for the Eels, which included the docking of 12 competition points for salary cap breaches.
The club was also stripped of its Auckland Nines title.
Moeroa said Arthur had addressed the forgettable season on day one of pre-season training, and it was now up to them to “right the wrongs’’.
“Brad came in and said, ‘what happened last year happened last year, and we can control what happens in 2017’,’’ Moeroa said.
“We left the room and opened the door to 2017.
“We’re resilient, a lot of things went wrong but we all stuck together. That was the biggest learning curve.’’
Moeroa grew up in Sydney’s west and remains one of the most popular players with fans with his random hairstyles.
Parramatta are $9 with the TAB behind the Warriors ($4) and North Queensland ($5) to win the Nines in February.
Craig Baker shops client Tepai Moeroa around despite Moeroa's preference of staying at Parramatta.
FTFY
Disagree - they need him. He is the future. This bloke is still a kid and his best footy is still ahead of him. If he was to go somewhere else and become a superstar, then what. We see the same story again, the local eels junior that got away.
He wants to stay and Brad wants him to stay then he will be there, especially if he has a massive season in 2017. I think it will be his breakout year.
I think he has been put on notice by Brad, go to the next level or see you later. He showed more potential in his first season than he has produced since.
“I’ve had a chat with Brad, he’d like me to re-sign, but with all the dramas and rebuilding going on with the front office, once that’s settled we’ll sit down and talk,’’ Moeroa said.
Potential only goes so far! He has to develop an offload, he had one in 20s but lost it somewhere, so could we all help to find it? Still misses too many tackles for my liking.
I guess it's time for another Parra story about nothing.
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