NSW’s elephant in the room exposed: ‘Those two are going at each other’

NSW legend and rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has given Mitch Moses the ultimate compliment, but there’s a big elephant in the room.

NSW may have a great problem on their hands. Photo: Getty Images

Mitch Moses has finally arrived in the Origin arena.

The NSW halfback has long been the understudy to Nathan Cleary at Origin level but the Eels star announced himself as a fully-fledged leading man after a blinder in the Blues’ 38-18 thrashing of the Maroons.

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The halftime score of 34-0 was the highest in Origin history with Moses having an absolute field day.

Three try assists in the first half alone saw the 29-year-old heaped in praise as the Blues erased the demons of Game 1 in a first half onslaught like the game has never seen before.

Moses finished with four try assists for the match, equalling Brad Fittler for the most in Origin history from Game 3 of the 2000 series.

Even more incredibly, since 2018, no player has had four try assists in a series, let alone a game.

He also added two line break assists and controlled the game with his boot.

Having previously been criticised for his performances in big games, having not won a live Origin rubber before and having lost the one and only Grand Final he’d played in, Moses showed exactly what he can do.

And it happened right from the outset.

Moses showed he wasn’t going to shirk any hard work as he forced a collision from the kick-off — although maybe not in the most ideal way.

Moses ran into Maroons enforcer Reuben Cotter as he chased the kick-off, pushing the forward to the ground.

That's one way to embrace the collision I guess. Photo: Fox Sports

Referee Ashley Klein saw the incident but didn’t penalise Moses.

It was a sign of intent if ever there was one as Moses and his Blues teammates pummelled the Maroons, eclipsing the previous highest halftime lead of 21 with ease.

Former NSW coach Brad Fittler called Moses’ performance “perfect” after he laid on To’o’s second try to make it 22-0.

Commentator Mat Thompson added: “At 29 years of age, he’s in the sweet spot of his career Mitchell Moses. And this is the most distinguished performance of his career on the big stage.”

NSW legend and rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns said: “The kicking game of Mitchell Moses has been a masterclass early in this game. Laid on two tries with some short kicks, but his long kicks …”

It wasn’t the only thing that caught Johns’ eye, later added: “He’s been impressive Moses. Defensively really strong. Not known for his strong defence.”

Moses was monumental for NSW. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

But Johns wasn’t done there, raving about the performance — although not quite giving him a perfect score.

“I think it was a nine out of 10,” Johns said post-game. “He had just total control of the game.

“The first 10, 15 minutes his kicking game, his long kicking game, his organisation, but also his voice, organising the players around him.

“When you’ve got that voice as a halfback, the players around you are relaxed.

“Then after that, when they got the field position on the back of his long kicks, his short kicking game. He got Lomax over in the corner, he came to the other side, sprinted from the right to the left, he got To’o over.

“I thought he combined really well with Jarome Luai, them two really combined well.

“His defence, his tackling was aggressive.

“It’s the best game I have ever seen him play at the highest level and that’s the biggest rap you can give a halfback.”

A million dollar question hangs over the performance however with three-time premiership Panthers half Nathan Cleary generally expected to be one of the first players selected for NSW.

Cleary has owned the jersey in recent years. Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images

Moses has some competition. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

While injury ruled him out of the entire 2024 State of Origin series, Johns said Moses’ performance had created some healthy competition.

“It means both those players in the off-season are busting their backside to get in front of each other,” Johns said.

“There’s nothing like competition to keep you up here. Sometimes when you’re successful and going well, you can just drop your guard a little bit and you drop that five per cent, but those two are going at each other.

“Together, I don’t know how they would play together. They’re both first receivers and both very dominant players. I’m sure they could make it work but I see them both as first receivers.

“It’s really good, not only for NSW and Australia, but for their clubs. They’ll be working so hard to get in front of each other.”

Former NSW coach Phil Gould was equally enamoured with Moses’ performance.

“For me, the different persona about this team, the different character in the team, was the 7, the 6 and the 1 — they were really dominant,” Gould said.

“Mitchell Moses came in and did what you want an Origin halfback to do. He gave them leadership and he gave them confidence.

“He got them on the front foot with their kicking game. He combined with his five-eighth on both sides of the field.

“When you do that, these elite forwards and outside backs can do their thing.

“I honestly believe that Mitchell Moses was the difference between game 1 and game 2. No doubt about that.”

Moses was all over Tom Dearden all night. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The plaudits didn’t end there with coach Michael Maguire heaping admiration on the No. 7.

“Mitch has come in and he did what I believed he was capable of doing, and what we all believed he was capable of doing,” Maguire said.

“He kicked well. I thought he jumped into the campaign straight up when he first walked in. He was strong with the way he wanted to play the game. But everyone just jumped on board and did their jobs.”

Fans were equally blown away by the turnaround with Moses at the helm.

The SuperCoach Brain account posted: “As much as it’s not fair to compare a 12v13 Nicho to a 13v13 Moses, it’s absolute night & day with our fifth tackle options. Much more control over our attack. Props to Moses & Luai. Hard to fault.”

Another fan wrote: “Mitchell Moses put on a Masterclass I haven’t seen from a NSW halfback in a LONGTIME. The team were awesome.”

Another fan also asked the Cleary question.

“Fair to say Mitchell Moses has done what Cleary hasn’t, dominated at origin level…., don’t think that can be denied. What happens if Cleary was fit for game 3 ? If the blues win the series, what happens next yr?” they posted.

Another commented: “Congratulations to Mitchell Moses on his Man of the Match, and securing the number 7 jumper for both the blues and the green and gold for as long as he wants them. Best HB in the game. No debate.”

While Moses lamented some “silly stuff” in the second half that stopped the result from being a complete blow out, the halfback paid tribute to his teammates.

“It’s a good feeling but I thought it was a team performance and I wouldn’t have been able to do the things that I did on the field without the forwards laying an outstanding platform and the back five were amazing,” Moses told Channel 9.

“We had a simple game plan, we stuck to it, got to our spots, kicked to the corners and just played simple footy.

“We earned the right to play footy, we defended well first and had some brilliance in our team that could finish off tries.”

Originally published as NSW’s elephant in the room exposed: ‘Those two are going at each other’