Ryan Girdler, Jamie Soward on Wests Tigers debacle

IT’S no secret the Wests Tigers are an absolute basket-case right now, and the horror show is only getting murkier.

The news keeps getting worse for Tigers fans.

FORMER NRL stars Ryan Girdler and Jamie Soward have laid into Wests Tigers five-eighth Mitchell Moses after it was revealed he was looking to leave the club this season.

Moses reportedly wants to join Parramatta as soon as possible, but the Tigers on Thursday denied the playmaker an immediate release.

Moses’ desire to leave was sparked by the Tigers retracting a contract offer they initially presented to the pivot, but Girdler says the 22-year-old owes it to his teammates to tough it out with the club who launched his NRL career.

“He’s been paid overs his whole career based on potential and again now he’s been offered contracts based on potential and not on what he’s actually done,” Girdler said on Triple M’s Dead Set Legends on Thursday.

“Then all of a sudden the club’s in the absolute s*** and all the other players that have spent the past five or six years building this club and working hard at this club are in it and he wants out.

“At some point it doesn’t become about the boards and your management and all that sort of stuff, it becomes about the guys you’re training with and playing with and your mates, and that’s what I can’t believe at the moment.

“It needs to be, ‘OK I’ll finish out the season, I’ll do the right thing’ not by the club, but by the guys he’s playing with week in week out. There’s got to be some sort of connection with those guys.

“How do you think they’re going to feel … putting the jumper on with a guy they know doesn’t want to be there?”

Soward says Moses hasn’t proven himself in first grade yet and doesn’t have the right to play hard ball when it comes to demanding big money.

“To want a release after six games when your team is really playing pretty poorly, it’s unfathomable to think you would walk out because you’re not happy,” he said.

‘IT’S OFFENSIVE, HE’S OFFENDED BY IT’

Moses’ future at the Tigers is cloudy.

Balmain Tigers legend and Mitchell Moses’ uncle Ben Elias says his nephew doesn’t want to leave the club but is being forced out because other players are more highly valued.

Elias says after re-signing halfback Luke Brooks for two more years, the Tigers are now focused on securing the signatures of Aaron Woods and James Tedesco.

“They’ve prioritised the other two (Tedesco and Woods) ahead of Mitchell and they’ve told him that and said, ‘Look, we take the contract off the table we originally offered you.’ So it’s basically saying, ‘You’re not wanted here,’” Elias told Channel Nine.

“It’s offensive. He’s quite offended by it, he’s very emotional. He loves the club and he loves the blokes around him.”

Wests want the four most influential players at the club (Moses, Brooks, Woods and Tedesco) to stay on in 2018, but will find it difficult to afford them all. Despite the turmoil, Elias wants Moses to remain at Concord rather than leave midway through the season to wear an Eels jersey.

“I think he should stay at the Tigers especially if the club wants him, the management wants him, they’ve stated clearly now they want to keep him,” Elias said.

Moses declined to comment on Thursday when approached by reporters at Sydney airport as the Tigers headed for Townsville, as did his teammates in waiting at Parramatta training. But new coach Ivan Cleary said he didn’t expect problems from his five-eighth.

“I would have thought if he’s made the decision to move on, like other players at other clubs, it’s important that you finish well at the club at you’re at,” Cleary told Triple M.

Cleary also backed the club’s stance to focus on the signatures of Woods and Tedesco.

“Over the weekend, there was a bit an adjustment in the salary cap forecasting for next year, so in fairness, we wanted to secure some risk against the club,” Cleary said.

“So we decided to prioritise James Tedesco and Aaron Woods and withdrew an offer for Mitchell.

“Since, my understanding is that Mitchell has signed (for Parramatta).”

Cleary also reiterated his stance that the Tigers’ big-name players had to decide if they wanted to be a part of the club’s future or not.

“It’s pretty simple for me and the club — we want players who are committed to the club, committed to building a future here,” he said.

TEDESCO SMACKS DOWN ‘ANNOYING’ TIGERS

Will James Tedesco and Mitchell Moses be broken up?

James Tedesco admits the off-field stability at interested NRL rivals like Canterbury and the Sydney Roosters is “tempting” him to leave the Wests Tigers. Tedesco revealed he had been pursued by both the Bulldogs and Roosters.

“Those two teams are interested,” Tedesco told C91.3fm.

The 24-year-old fullback insists his first priority is to stay at the Tigers but it is stability and success, not money, that will secure his signature.

Already a NSW State of Origin representative, Tedesco is yet to play finals football since making his debut in 2012 and is about to play under his fourth full-time coach at the club.

“The Tigers have always been down the bottom,” Tedesco said. “They’ve always been having off-field dramas and that stuff gets quite annoying over the years when you have to keep putting up with it.

“That stability at other clubs is tempting, I guess, when you think about it.”

Tedesco is craving stability.

Tedesco would be valuable at either the Bulldogs or Roosters, but is yet to enter formal negotiations with either.

Fullback Will Hopoate is off-contract at the end of the year at Canterbury, while custodian Michael Gordon is considering retiring at the end of the year from the Tricolours. Tedesco, meanwhile, is clear in his desire to work closely with Cleary as a fellow fullback but also wants to see clear improvement across the entire squad.

“Our performances need to improve,” Tedesco said. “Ivan might be able to come in and improve that and I might be able to see long-term that we are able to win premierships.

“I think when you look at clubs like the Bulldogs, for instance, you know they’re always going to be strong.

“They’re always going to be run from the top very powerfully and you know they’re going to be up there.”

Meanwhile, Cleary made obvious his expectations that Moses would remain committed to the Tigers while at the club in 2017.

— with AAP

Originally published as Ryan Girdler, Jamie Soward on Wests Tigers debacle