Mitchell Moses knew it all. Then a prop showed him a whole new world of playmaking
You think you know your way around a game or think you know everything you need to know.
“But the last seven months under Jason Ryles and Nathan Brown, I’ve learnt so much about my footy.”
You think you know your way around this game, and then a front-rower teaches Mitchell Moses more than he’d ever dreamt of about being a $6.5 million halfback.
You think you know someone. But one-time rugby league ratbags Todd Carney and Mitchell Pearce prove the catalyst for Moses revealing more about his game than ever before, in their hour-long Sixes and Sevens podcast that offers rare insight to the art and craft of NRL playmaking.
Moses will give up his dominant half status at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night. He plans to ride shotgun to Nathan Cleary in their first game together, though Cleary sees the on-ball role as interchangeable.
Ask the 30-year-old whether he’s ever sledged or slandered his new halves partner in the middle of a game, and all you get is a giggle.
But the Eels skipper is far more expansive on the impact Ryles has had on him in less than a year, and an enduring bond with coaching godfather Warren Ryan, whose affection for Moses shows just how far the Blues five-eighth has come.
First though,the seismic shift Moses sees in his game this season – despite being limited to just four games by a foot injury and Parramatta still sitting at the wrong end of the ladder.
“Tempo,” he says. “That’s what has changed a lot in my career, and it’s probably been the biggest change for me throughout. This year, it feels like I’m finding it a lot more.
“Knowing when to play fast and when to play slow as a playmaker. It sounds easy but it’s not.
“It’s what the defence is doing and knowing how to react to those defensive cues, managing what the defence is doing to try and shut you and your team down.
“The next step then is how fast you should play, or how slow you should play in response. And then guiding your teammates, or building the connection that they respond to what you’re trying to do.
“There’s a lot of video that goes into that, so that you’re aware of what they’re going to do and how they’re going to come at you.”
Sitting on a lounge with Carney and Pearce, brilliant playmakers in their own right, Moses goes further. They too see the irony in the fact it is a front-rower turned coach who has turned this halfback’s world upside down.
Moses is coy on the defensive cues he values most, unwilling to give away trade secrets. But naturally, a defender’s body language and eye movements are key.
As is endless video work, where Moses will spend his days off poring over every try scored in the NRL, picking apart the movements of back-rowers, centres and wingers and storing it in his own playmaking Rolodex.
It’s a long way from the uber-talented, uber-erratic kid whose god-given speed off the mark meant “I played footy at 100 miles an hour” during his formative years.
“Which helped me at times, but it also hurt me at times, I think,” Moses told Carney and Pearce. “Especially with how the teams are defending at the moment, they’re up hard and jamming in, and there’s a lot of rushing defences.
“So just slowing down and ball-playing [to create doubt in the defence] instead of just going 100 miles an hour, it makes a lot of difference.”
Ryles, for his part, is chuffed with Moses’ approach since he arrived, but deflects credit to his attacking coach and old Dragons teammate Nathan Brown.
“Working with Mitch, it’s a little bit different to what I expected,” Ryles says. “I didn’t know if he would be a bit guarded or how receptive he’d be to the change.
“But I couldn’t be more pleased with how much he’s bought into what we wanted to do. And Browny’s idea with the attack is to let him be a bit less structured and play a bit more ad-lib.
There’s obviously the framework to give that freedom, so that’s how we try to build that for him. He’s just so naturally fast as a half and one of his strengths as a junior was his support play. For it to work, the rest of the team needs to be really clear on what the game style is.”
It all sounds a lot like the Moses of old. All speed and always searching for space. But now, knowing when and where to use the former and find the latter.
It also sounds a bit terrifying for Queensland’s right edge if Cleary runs the shows and Moses can skip away with Angus Crichton, Latrell Mitchell and Brian To’o outside him.
Not for nothing do Ryles’ old teammates describe him as a halfback in a prop’s body.
Of his playmaker whispering, he offers: “I think about it like when you leave school and want to be an engineer, but you don’t know anything about engineering.
“So you go to uni and you learn. That’s what I’ve done at Melbourne, the Roosters and under Eddie [Jones] at England Rugby, I’ve gone and learned for 12 years.
“I don’t know everything, but I know how to identify the strengths in someone. And if I don’t know something, then I’ll get someone in to help me do it. Browny’s working really well with Mitch at the moment and he’s really invested.
“He’s impressed me with his love for footy and love for the club and I think I’m very lucky that I’ve got him at a sweet spot in his career.”
Moses, Ryles and Blues coach Laurie Daley aren’t the only admirers of the playmaker’s sweet spot.
When Andrew Johns introduced Moses to Warren Ryan at the Maroubra Seals four years ago, for a beer and playmaking powwow using coins and salt and pepper shakers, Ryan told him he was seen around the game as a flat-track bully.
He then had to explain what a flat-track bully was. That Moses was a world-beater when his forwards were going forward, but went missing when things weren’t going his or Parramatta’s way.
Understanding a playmaker’s tempo was the key. Four years later, it still is.
“Last time I caught up with Wok, we had a coffee. He was full of praise and I carry that with me a bit,” Moses says.
“I don’t think he gives too many people a wrap, I think you really have to earn it with him.
“So for me, that’s pretty special. He’s a champion coach, champion bloke and he’s been a big influence on me and my career.”
Rugby league’s ratbags are bemused. Warren Ryan is full of praise. But the NSW and Eels star has a front-rower to thank for taking his game to a new level.
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