EXCLUSIVE: Why $1.25 million Eel Mitchell Moses should study rival playmaker
5 hours ago
After the Eels' string of losses against NRL powerhouses early in the season, Billy Slater has urged Parramatta coach Brad Arthur to pore over vision of Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes with No.7 Mitchell Moses.
The Eels are stumbling in their bid to go from grand finalists to premiers this season, having lost to the Storm, Sharks, Sea Eagles, Roosters and Broncos over the first eight rounds.
The men in blue and gold clawed a one-point win over the Panthers in round four, but a major question mark continues to linger over their premiership credentials because of the defeats they have suffered to other competition juggernauts.
In the wake of the Eels' 26-16 defeat to the ladder-leading Broncos in Darwin, Slater directed attention to the reigning Dally M Medallist on Wide World of Sports' The Billy Slater podcast.
"You look at how Nicho Hynes plays. If I was Brad Arthur, I would be sitting Mitchell Moses and (five-eighth) Dylan Brown down, especially Mitchell Moses, and just showing him a little bit of Nicho Hynes, and how much he wants the football on multiple plays in a set, trying to adapt a little bit of that style into them and just get them playing the football a little bit more," Slater said.
"That'll actually bring the big guys out, that'll actually bring (second-rower) Shaun Lane and these edge players into the game, because you're actually demanding a little bit of shape around you and you're actually using the football."
Slater believes Arthur's Eels place too much focus on dominating teams through the middle of the park with their big men, primarily Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo.
In the likes of Moses, Brown, Clint Gutherson and Maika Sivo, the Eels are blessed with attacking weapons and could do more to capitalise on their brilliance, Slater argued.
"If there's an opportunity, Mitchell's got the ball in his hands rather than Reagan Campbell-Gillard ... Then you've got to get the ball off him," Slater added.
"So, when those opportunity come you want the football in your hands so you can pull the trigger, rather than trying to get it off one of the ruck forwards."
In March, Moses signed a four-year extension with the Eels reportedly worth $1.25 million per year, tying himself to the club until the end of 2028.
Parramatta is placed 13th on the ladder ahead of round nine and will meet Newcastle at CommBank Stadium on Friday night.
Eels second-rower Bryce Cartwright will play his 150th NRL game in the Knights clash.
Replies
BRAD ARTHUR.
Actually I agree with Slater, I have always said both Moses and Brown play too wide, the idea this year was that Hodgson would be the creative one in the ruck area and give Moses & Brown more space.....the coach is causing this problem.
I agree with you Poppa
Slater has never coached an NRL team and furthermore I guess he is just making this type of statements with the hope of attracting listeners to his podcast. He would want more than coaching 3 games of mixed players in a representative side before I would listen to him more particularly as he is Queensland coach and his motivation could be to stir up trouble .
Brissy its great that you obviously have not lost your love for the Eels 100% as you indicated would happen when your Redcliffe local team applied for and were offered 2023 NRL inclusion. Keep it up as long as you can !!
Firstly Dreggsie would not know if you were up him or not.....he is just a dumb fcuk, who is obsessed with being anti Unicorn or whatever......nothing wrong with being a Unicorn Dreggsie!
To prove that, I am going to say there has always been a scarcity of who would coach the side if BA left/sacked or whatever.......in this case I am impressed enough to believe that I would be comfortable taking on Slater as the Parra coach and the inherit risks that would go with such an appointment, lets say specifically more than his NSW counterpart......who is greatly admired by a good friend of mine.....I think Slater (I was never a huge fan) has shown enough "clear" thought to be by number one pick amongst the potentials, leaving out the big two.
We are definitely heading into this territory. Interesting to know if he was offered the job, if he would take it once interviewed and understanding the types of restrictions that could be placed on him.
The more I think about it, the more I like it!...lol
Yes it was thanks for the response to that moron "Scott Greggs" . Saves me the trouble of calling him an imbecile . How he can still be a member here is the greatest mystery since the game kicked off in 1908 . Greggs needs a big kick up the arse .
We definitely need to play some more football. And by that I mean particularly in our own half we need more shape, more variety and more options.
The first half against the Bulldogs was probably the best they've played all year. Every set was with purpose and with good shape. We'd hit the edges really well and worked the defence to move around. To me that's the blueprint.
(Note: Doorey deserves the right edge spot. He's the best hole runner in our squad currently. He'll just get better with more game time).
We do rely way too much on Jnr and Reg. So now that's no longer an option what's the plan?
Mutt & Brissy, not disagreeing with you, Doorey has looked great & constantly seems to break tackles in the line, but the reason he wasnt persisted might have been more to do with fitness & conditioning than form?
BA obviously likes his edges on for big mins, and the few times Doorey has played big minutes he's looked gassed.
But do agree, he looks a really strong potential option for locking in that right edge. Seems to work well with Penisini also.
Agree game conditioning is the best way to get your fitness up, but he struggled a little with that knee injury & figured that might have been why he went back to cup for the week, to get some minutes in?
Because there is no way he's not in our best 17.
Of course, could be 100% wrong Brissy, and maybe it was something else entirely?
But he's looked great with the ball, his defence seems solid, only think I could think of was that he has looked gassed pretty quickly.
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