NRL 2021: ‘Sluggish’ Parramatta Eels take huge risk on Mitchell Moses deal

Parramatta don’t have a great record in negotiations with their high-profile players. The Clint Gutherson saga two years ago got out of hand. They cannot afford for it to happen again.

Parramatta’s delay in signing halfback Mitchell Moses is confusing.

Moses produced one of the best games of his career to steer the Eels to victory over the Canberra Raiders on Saturday night yet he remains a free agent.

This is at a time when the likes of the Broncos and Cowboys are desperate to sign a quality halfback.

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The Eels are taking a huge risk by being so sluggish in negotiations.

We tried to contact Eels chief executive Jim Sarantinos for an explanation.

The message came back that he was on a day off.

Mitchell Moses is off-contract (Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)

Moses’ form this season has been far more consistent than in previous years.

He is now 26 with 155 NRL games. This is at an age when most good halfbacks reach their full potential.

There is no question Moses wants to stay at Parramatta.

Parramatta don’t have a great record in negotiations with their high profile players.

The Clint Gutherson negotiations two years ago got out of hand and dragged out bitterly in the media for months.

They cannot afford it to happen again, not when the team is travelling so smoothly.

Mitchell Moses remains a free agent (Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)

HIGHLIGHT

The extraordinary drama around the most remarkable finish to a golden point NRL game your columnist has ever seen at Stadium Australia on Saturday night when Tom Burgess scored in the 82nd minute.

Anyone blowing up about too much fatigue should look at replays of the Burgess try and how the biggest player on the field somehow still had the energy to burst through a gap and miraculously get the ball down.

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Secrets before Morris’s dismissal

Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Twist in Staggs’ future

HIGHLIGHT II

Fantastic performances from the Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos and Manly Sea Eagles that prove the competition is not as lopsided as we feared when they were getting flogged in previous weeks.

Tom Trbojevic was brilliant for a resurgent Manly (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

HIGHLIGHT III

Former rugby league star Shannon Donato helping a motorist — Daily Telegraph NRL chief-of-staff Russell Jackson — push his broken down car to a secure place at a service station in Bondi Junction on Sunday morning.

Donato is now the chief commercial officer at the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

LOWLIGHT

Three charges in one game for South Sydney Rabbitohs superstar Latrell Mitchell. Latrell is not a dirty player but for some reason lost the plot.

SPOTTED

Manly champion turned rugby coach Geoff Toovey.

Manly Sea Eagles legend Geoff Toovey debuting as Warringah Rats assistant coach in a 29-12 win over Randwick in the Shute Shield on Saturday.

TOP REFEREE ON OUTER

One of the biggest selection stories in State of Origin this year will be around the referees. We’re getting mail that long-time favourite Gerard Sutton has slipped down the pecking order. The favourite at this stage is Grant Atkins to take over in what would be his first Origin game.

LEGEND OUT OF TOMMY MEMORIAL

Sadly Roy Masters won’t be at the Tommy Raudonkis memorial service at the SCG. The old Western Suburbs Magpies coach is laid up in Melbourne after undergoing knee replacement surgery last week.

GRATITUDE FOR PIGGINS

We mentioned last week how South Sydney Rabbitohs historian Brad Ryder had not mentioned George Piggins in a social media post about the people who saved the great club. Brad has since pointed out that he acknowledged George in his book in 2009 by writing: “I believe that Souths owe George Piggins a great deal of gratitude and I for one will always say that Souths wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for him.”

360 VIEW

Catch you on NRL 360 on Fox League at 6.30pm this evening with Ben Ikin, Paul Kent and James Hooper. Special guest is Newcastle Knights coach Adam O’Brien, who will no doubt be asked about the blow ups and madness inside his coaching box each week.