Our Dally M Half back of the year is yet to put Pen to paper. Self imposed deadlines have come and gone. As we all hold our breath and await news on what amounts to this.
The Eels have made the largest offer that they ever have to a player under salary cap rules.
The offer puts Mitch Moses in the top 2 or 3 highest paid players in the NRL.
Whats known is that Mitch has delegated all contract talks to his cousin and manager Issac Moses, and in his words "so he can concentrate on footy". I wonder is this working.
This week Joseph Suaalii also managed by Issac Moses signed with the Roosters. Politis having publicly declared that he had had enough of Issacc Moses games and foot dragging on Suaalii's deal, demanded that the deal get done immediately, or reprecussions would be felt by Issacc Moses. The deal was signed the following day.
Which brings me now to ask , is this deliberate tactic by Mitchs manager, Issaac Moses now a distraction. Case in point is the ramping up of media articles, football segments on TV, social media and the like. Here are some recent snippets , that are surely starting to have a detrimental effect on our playing group and coaching staff.
News.com - Greedy NRL Stars Frosty Moment
SMH - Fired Up Moses defends Contract Talks
Sporting News - Moses defends contract standoff
Fox Sports - Moses Fires up in Testy Exchange
SMH - Not Being Greedy
Sporting News - They've Got No Idea
Code Sports - Eels Need To Pressure Him
Fox Sports - Is he being Greedy
Fox Sports - Were The Eels Conned
Fox Sports - Mystery Delay on $1.2m deal.
Fox Sports - Tigers Left In The Dark
Fox Sports - Distraction
Fox Sports - Moses Under Fire
Yahoo Sport - Mitchell Called out over Contract Saga
WWOS - Cameron Smith Weighs in on Biggest Decision
Fox Sports - Why the Saga is Dragging On.
Advertiser - Eels teammates make pitch to stay
Apple - Mitch Moses Mayham
Telegraph - Eels Officials becoming Frustrated
These are just some of the recent headlines. Surely this is becoming a distraction and will be felt by Mitch on the paddock, our team on the paddock, and perhaps our future recruitment, with no end in sight and literally no time limit.
I might be taking it too far but players Like Dylan Brown have publicly made his opinion known that he wants Mitch beside him for the long term Having recently signed a long term deal to do just that. Is Mitchs decision and non commital to the Eels effecting his form, I feel its a genuine concern.
The calls are getting louder and louder. What is the holdup. Fans have been rather patient, Should the Eels set an end date. Should Issacc Moses be called to EelsHeadquarters and read the riot act " like the Roosters did". Will we suffer on the field as it drags out. Is it a distraction to our team. Have your say.
Im normally a patient person but this saga being dragged out by Mitchells Management and by extension Mitch himself, is now becoming an over the top saga, thats just not warranted. The Eels offer is a good one, whats holding it up and what else can they gain.
Replies
In fairness I don't care I want him to stay but if he goes he goes someone else will come along
With this club I always expect the worst case scenario so this time I'm just waiting to see what happens next
Agree Offside- Mitch is my favourite player, but i have to admit, its begining to feel like time is up. Everyone has been patient, and i appluad the professionalism of the Eels maintaining the talks inhouse. But this only comes to a point, I think we are begining to overstep that point in time. I'm getting the feeling People, fans, admin, perhaps even team mates are begining to question Mitchs commitment to the team, moving foward. This must be impacting onfield and if not its about to.
The club should have put in a timeline so this does not happen; it's all nice for MM to have this time to make a call but we need clarification- simple time to sign or not; then pull offer and seek other players. No one is irreplaceable- not even Tolsen Tolett. Football is a business and works both ways.
I am not sure what Moses actually wants. Maybe a 5-year contract at top dollar? That sounds like a big risk for the club to realistically entertain and will automatically rule out any emerging talent in the club to aspire to be a half who may end up showing more ability to what Moses has to offer. If this sets the standard for other players to play this game it will weaken the club long-term.We could get stuck with players who we would prefer to move on and make it difficult to take on new talent. I would suspect other clubs would not also want to get stuck in this position with a long-term contract.
The captain started this cuckolding the club negotiation tactic. It will take a player like a Moses to have an offer retracted to send a message. Moses has played it smart , we can't even talk to anyone else as he had us put an option in his favour for next year. We will be going through this with Brown every 3rd season now. And if Moses re-signs you can bet your arse he will have player options every 2.
Shows you just how stupid the player option really is.
Agree 5 years is not feasible at his age. We are seeing a lot of clubs being held to ransom so to speak with players retiring or long term injured due to career ending injuries at an older age. Its leaving Salary cap $$ being used up on players no longer able to play. Some recent examples - Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, Crichton, Boyd Cordner are some examples.
If its an extra year thing then perhaps the old Testimonial game could be arranged like they did for Smith, or Thurston. Both made a cool million from that, all off the cap and all sanctioned by the NRL. - Just a thought.
Yeah , I think it's come to the point we are within our rights to start questioning whether or not Moses is just being greedy or not. It would not shock me if there are other clubs outside of us and the Tigers that have asked his manager for a few weeks to see if they're current combinations are going to work before he commits and he's obliging. I've heard of managers accepting coin from rival clubs to hold their players back for an agreed time.
Would not be shocked to find out that Uncle Nick or Wayne had indicated they'd like a few weeks to see if they're going to enter the bidding war for Moses . Mitch hasn't signed so he's obviously not too loyal or committed to our club to not entertain this scenario.
I hadnt thought of that - your devious Wiz - but thats a real possibility.
Yeah mate , it happens. Moses stalls by asking for a ridiculous term like a 5 year deal and leaks the chatter to the media to distract the chatter away from asking why he holding off signing , almost a pressure release , whilst in the meantime Bennett or Politis as an example has asked for 3 rounds to see how their combos are going to work with a promise of a 1.5 a season offer ( example ) if they decide to enter the race.
It's a stall tactic used in all kinds of negotiations.
If he doesn't sign with us , I don't believe it will be with the Tigers. Hasn't made sense from the start considering the way he left. I reckon the tigers are a slight of hand distraction.
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