Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary won't rule out asking Mitchell Moses to backflip on Parramatta Eels deal
Michael Chammas
Published: April 9, 2017 - 9:36PM
Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary has left the door open for the club to keep Mitchell Moses beyond this season, admitting he would consider asking the five-eighth to renege on his deal with the Eels.
Despite Saturday night's shock victory against the Cowboys in Townsville, Cleary won't budge on his decision to make James Tedesco and Aaron Woods his priority signings ahead of Moses.
However, given contracts aren't finalised until a 10-day cooling off period has expired, the club has nearly two weeks to get Moses to renege on his deal with the Eels for 2018 and beyond.
When Fairfax Media asked if he would attempt to get Moses to backflip on his Eels deal should Tedesco and Woods pledge their commitment to the Tigers before Moses' 10-day cooling period expired, Cleary said: "Yeah, possibly".
The coach is adamant Woods and Tedesco remain the focus.
"In terms of the priority and our decision to prioritise, that's not going to change," Cleary said.
"That's all that was, a priority. Mitchell decided he wanted to move on and you know what, that's fine. I understand that. All we ask is the player represents the jersey well for their teammates and for themselves. They all did that, including Mitch."
The Eels and Moses' manager, Isaac Moses, are applying plenty of pressure on the Tigers to release the five-eighth to join Parramatta this year.
The Tigers definitely won't release him and allow him to play against the Tigers for Parramatta on Easter Monday, but there remains a strong possibility he will end up in blue and gold at some point throughout the year.
However that is not Cleary's intention, admitting he wants Moses to stick around to see out his contract at the Tigers.
"I haven't contemplated letting him go," Cleary said.
"I'm still absorbing what has happened. He's part of the team. Essentially these things often get sorted out by the players themselves. I saw what you saw tonight. We'll see what happens.
"Mitch prepared for the game really well and always looked focused to me. Obviously I don't know him really well but he certainly wasn't showing any signs of being disengaged or anything like that. His performance showed that. He was one of 17 guys that went out there and did their best and were accountable for their own performances. And full marks to them."
One of the advantages for Isaac Moses in his bid to get the five-eighth across to Parramatta this season is that he will then have more money to work with in regards to Tedesco and Woods.
Moses' departure would see the Tigers free up space in this year's salary cap and dedicate additional funds to Tedesco and Woods.
It remains unclear whether the skipper and superstar fullback will remain in Tiger town, but Cleary is desperate to get a picture of what the future looks like at the joint venture.
"We want to get it sorted sooner rather than later," Cleary said. "We've stated that we want them to stay. It's over to them now. It'd be nice if they stayed, it would be fantastic."
Woods, who was quite emotional after the victory against the Cowboys, said the motivation behind the win was a pursuit to rediscover the love for the sport.
"You get a new coach in with a few new ideas - it's always good to hear a new voice," Woods said.
"Before we ran out we said: why do we play rugby league? We just said: because we love it and it's so much fun. When you finish a game as a kid, you want to play another game. That's what I said to the boys - let's just have fun like we did when we were kids."
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-on-parramatta-eels-deal-20170409-gvgyqy.html
