State of Origin: Mitchell Moses on track to join exclusive NSW Blues halfback club at Suncorp Stadium
Immortal Andrew Johns and the great Ricky Stuart are the only NSW halfbacks to win a decider at the cauldron. Now, Mitchell Moses is 80 minutes away from joining that exclusive list.
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Immortal Andrew Johns and the great Ricky Stuart are the only NSW halfbacks to win an Origin decider in Queensland – but now Mitchell Moses is just 80 minutes away from joining that illustrious list.
First, Moses has to overcome a Suncorp Stadium record as painful for Blues fanatics as it is daunting for the NSW No.7.
The Blues have only had two series-deciding wins north of the border from 13 attempts – a feat last achieved by Johns in 2005 and Stuart before him in 1994.
But Moses doesn’t want to talk about the piece of State of Origin history he is on the verge of creating.
“Let’s sort it out first, then we’ll speak about it,” Moses said ahead of Wednesday’s decider at “The Cauldron” in Brisbane.
The Parramatta playmaker can’t be blamed for being coy.
Some of the greatest NSW halfbacks, past and present, have tried and failed to win a decider there.
Like the legendary Canterbury playmaker Steve Mortimer in 1983, Eels great Peter Sterling in 1987, and Nathan Cleary – the three-time premiership winner rubbed out of this year’s series by injury – who fell short twice in 2020 and 2022.
This might only be Moses’ fourth Origin game but his uncle, Benny Elias, the Blues and Balmain great, believes his nephew was made for this moment.
“Being in the same breath as Ricky and Joey, that’s overwhelming, but he can etch himself in the history books,” Elias said. “All he has ever done is lived, breathed, slept and dreamt of playing rugby league.
“He’s dreamt about this moment his entire life.”
It’s a moment that easily could not have come.
Only a long-term hamstring injury ruled out Cleary from the No.7 jumper in this year’s series.
When Michael Maguire went looking for a replacement in game one, Moses was still sidelined with a broken foot, so the Blues coach went with Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes.
But things didn’t go to plan for the Blues in game one.
Forced to play with 12 men for 73 minutes after Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was sent off, Hynes was left floundering at Accor Stadium.
Enter Moses.
He produced a masterclass at the MCG in game two, in what Johns described as “the best game I have ever seen him play”.
“Yeah, you take confidence, I guess. But it means nothing,” Moses said of Johns’ comments. “I’ve got to go up there and do a job in game three, then you can talk about those things. (Right now), it means nothing.”
Moses had been parachuted into game two to save the series for NSW, just like Johns was in 2005 after overcoming a broken jaw.
And Moses, like Johns in 2005, delivered a technical masterclass to guide the Blues to an emphatic win.
It’s not the only parallel between the two. Both possess a healthy amount of arrogance, as Andrew’s brother Matty Johns explained.
“Mitch has definitely got an edge to him,” Johns, a Fox League expert, said.
“I don’t mean that in any detrimental sort of way, but he’s got enormous self-belief – a healthy arrogance.
“But you need it, if you’re going to go into a decider in Queensland, you have to have swagger, that arrogance to go there and believe you can get the result.”
The 29-year old’s calmness, and competitive nature will be Maguire’s biggest asset at Suncorp Stadium tonight in front of a 50,000-strong enemy crowd baying for the Blues’ blood.
“I don’t think he feels pressure at all,” Moses’ current coach at Parramatta Trent Barrett said.
“He’s confident, he knows what he needs to do. He’s got it all covered, so I don’t think pressure ever really gets to him. The occasion won’t worry him.
“The penny has dropped with him, understanding what it takes to be an elite halfback.”
Originally published as State of Origin: Mitchell Moses on track to join exclusive NSW Blues halfback club at Suncorp Stadium
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