All eyes on Mitchell Moses as Melbourne Storm fight for survival
Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith has put a target on the head of Parramatta playmaker Mitchell Moses as the two clubs prepare to fight for their seasons in Saturday night’s sudden-death semi-final.
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Parramatta gun Mitchell Moses can consider himself a marked man when he leads the Eels into enemy territory in Saturday night’s sudden-death semi-final against Melbourne.
Storm skipper Cameron Smith said the performance of the Eels halfback in the back end of the season, and most notably in their 58-0 romp over Brisbane in the elimination final last Sunday had put Melbourne on notice.
Moses scored two tries, had two try-assists, and finished the win over the Broncos with 20 points, which could have been over 30 but for some errant goal- kicking.
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For the season he leads the competition in try assists (25) and is the runaway leader in kick metres.
Smith said they planned to pay close attention to the 25-year-old at AAMI Park as the Storm looked to bounce back from their shock 12-10 qualifying final loss to Canberra, which cost them a home preliminary final.
“On the weekend he was definitely their go-to man,” Smith said. “He had a hand in nearly all of their tries and a lot of the good stuff happened because of him or around him.
“He will certainly come down with a lot of confidence; he’s one of a lot of dangerous attackers in their footy side but he will be touching the footy a fair bit so we will have a look at him.”
The two teams have only squared off once this season, with Melbourne triumphant 64-10 in their Magic Round clash.
They did an excellent job shutting down Eels winger Maiko Sivo, limiting the competition’s top tryscorer to one late five-pointer.
Smith said his team wouldn’t be taking too much notice of that result, believing that Parramatta were a much better side than that scoreline suggested.
“I don’t feel Parramatta played anywhere near their best that night,” Smith said.
“We were on and everything went our way that night and Parramatta didn’t have a lot of opportunity.
“It would be pointless to think we are going to get a result or game like that one.”