Paul Kent: Mitchell Moses has enough pressure on him without the death threats

No fans do crazy quite like Parramatta fans, writes Paul Kent, and the proof is in the chatter that surrounded the death threats that were made against Mitchell Moses.

Eels star Mitchell Moses. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

With a collective sigh the tinfoil hats were removed overnight, for all our sakes.

Few organisations do conspiracy theories better than the NRL and the legion of lunatics who chat about it in their own little echo chambers, and so it began over the weekend when news emerged that Parramatta halfback Mitch Moses needed protective security to leave Commbank Stadium Friday night.

Moses had received death threats, it went, delivered by phone through his sister.

The usual reasons were forwarded, by the reliably informed trolls on social media, quoting their sources on what he had done.

That NSW Police elevated the risk to a need for personal security, which seemed to legitimise the conspiracy theories.

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Eels star Mitchell Moses was the target of death threats. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

Moses had been spotted on the Grassy Knoll, he was still on the run from the Great British Train Robbery, he was spotted with the Mona Lisa in his back pocket while lighting a cigarette inside a plane toilet.

It is fair to say all kinds of rumours circulated and many contained a nasty undertone that reinforces most of the rubbish players have to put up with nowadays.

Completely devoid of truth, they were forwarded as fact.

Monday it all ended though when two boys, 15 and 16, were arrested for making the death threats against him.

“They will both be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act for using carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence,” a police spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

For all the conspiracy theories raised and mild hysteria it generated, it barely amounted to a hill of beans.

They seemed to be irate Parramatta fans, unhappy with the halfback for the simple offence of being the Parramatta halfback, and no doubt will be disappointed to learn they are not the first of their kind.

Parramatta fans unhappy with their halfback can form a line that goes back more than 30 years now, and more than a few sorry souls can tell them the heartache such choices bring.

What impact the threats had on Moses last Friday when Parramatta scrapped home against the Warriors can never be properly assessed.

Mitchell Moses (top right doing a radio interview) was shadowed by security last Friday night.

He was escorted into and out of the stadium by security, in underground tunnels.

Certainly in between the Eels struggled to put the Warriors away, who looked up for the fight.

But then they have done that before.

They lost to Canterbury this season when the Bulldogs were running last and they lost to the Wests Tigers when they were running last, yet against that they remain the only team to beat Penrith and they also beat Melbourne when the Storm was travelling a whole lot better than they are now.

Jekyll and Hyde is not half of it.

Mitchell remains crucial to Parramatta’s success this season and, with this recent trouble now in the past, it is time to respond.

If nothing else, the comfort he now gets knowing police have apprehended the youths, along with the knowledge there appeared nothing more sinister than it being two young, disillusioned and immature fans, should allow Moses to move past it as quickly as possible.

Mitchell Moses is key to the Eels’ push for a drought-breaking premiership. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

He is the key to Parramatta’s chances this season, and all because of the number on his back.

Halfbacks have always been important in the game but the depth of that importance is perhaps never more reliant than now.

For all the talk of the collective threat from the spine in the game nowadays, the half, five-eighth, hooker and fullback, the halfback has retained his status as the most important player in the team. Without a seven, most spines struggle to click.

It is a big reason Penrith remain the competition front-runners, and by some margin.

Nathan Cleary is a man of stone.

Cleary’s mindset never deviates and his performance, at elite levels, is so solidly consistent the Panthers are riding his brilliance to another title.

Elsewhere, Adam Reynolds’ impact at Brisbane continues to be celebrated as the chief engine in the Broncos’ charge up the ladder.

Similarly, North Queensland’s fortunes have turned on the back of a tough defence and a new halfback, Chad Townsend, who does such a wonderful job of finishing the Cowboys sets

Manly remain competitive mostly on the performances of Daly Cherry-Evans.

Nathan Cleary is the driving force behind the Panthers dominance. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Moses holds similar status at Parramatta as the Eels chase their elusive title.

He has the ability to tear a game apart, kicking or running, he’s not particularly choosy, but he has inherited a jersey that comes with a handful of baggage for reasons that are not easily clear.

Why Eels’ fans continue to torture themselves over the halfback position since Peter Sterling’s retirement remains one of rugby league’s more unusual quirks.

Steve Mortimer retired at Canterbury several years before Sterling, was at least his equal, and there was none of that at the Bulldogs. The Raiders and Broncos have never fully filled the jerseys Ricky Stuart and Allan Langer vacated yet their fans don’t do crazy like Eels fans.

Nobody has been able to replace Andrew Johns at Newcastle.

Moses is certainly the best regular No.7 to play at Parramatta since Sterling and is best placed to take the Eels to their fifth premiership.

Death threats, though, are a new spin on how to demand it.

Originally published as Paul Kent: Mitchell Moses has enough pressure on him without the death threats