‘We’ve been in his ear’: Eels teammates make pitch to keep Mitch Moses at the club

Junior Paulo is still hurt by last year’s grand final loss but is confident Parramatta’s premiership window is still open, especially if Mitch Moses stays.

Eels teammates have spoken to Mitch Moses about his future as they attempt to keep the star halfback at Parramatta. Picture; Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Mitchell Moses and his Eels teammates spent Monday morning signing autographs and taking photos with the club’s loyal supporters at a fan day in sweltering conditions at the team’s base in Kellyville.

But Parramatta officials want him to sign one more piece of paper as they look to re-sign the star halfback just weeks after Dylan Brown inked a new deal with the blue and golds.

Moses’ future looms as one of the biggest storylines this season, with a number of clubs reportedly in the hunt to lure him out of Parramatta, with the 28-year-old still holding a player option for the 2024 season.

The Eels would love to keep Mitch Moses just weeks after they re-signed Dylan Brown. Picture; NRL Photos

The Eels would like to have his future sorted before they open the new season against the Storm as they look to bounce back from last year’s grand final heartbreak.

But money could be a factor, with the Tigers reportedly willing to break the bank to bring him back home after he left them midway through 2017 for the Eels.

Contract issues hovered over the Eels for much of last season, which is why they’d love to sort out Moses’ future as soon as possible.

“We’ve been in his ear,” said Junior Paulo who returned to training for the first time since a trip to Samoa to celebrate their efforts at the World Cup.

“We’d definitely love for him to stay. He’s been a big part of this club building what we’ve been able to create over the past couple of years.

“He’s a big driving factor for our team and we’ve seen what he’s been able to achieve over the past couple of years and how far his game has gone. I definitely want him to stay.”

The club can build around Brown after his best season in the NRL. Picture; Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Getting Moses to commit would be the cherry on top for the Eels after they were able to keep Brown on a massive deal until the end of the 2031 season if he triggers an option after the 2025 campaign.

The five-eighth’s future was a major talking point last season with a number of clubs – led by the Dolphins – in the market to steal him away from the grand finalists before he eventually put pen to paper a week before Christmas.

“It was a bit touch and go there with ‘Dyl’, wasn’t it? I think he was keeping everyone guessing,” Paulo said.

“He’s pretty cruisy so he was happy to just go with whatever. We’re definitely happy to keep Dyl and we’re definitely looking forward to another year or nine or however many years they’re talking about.”

Keeping Brown and Moses long term would keep Parramatta’s much talked about premiership window open for many years to come as they look to recover from the losses of star players Reed Mahoney and Isaiah Papali’i.

The Eels have recruited well and are confident they can handle those losses, but it’s the grand final defeat that still lingers out west as they come to terms with what happened against the Panthers in the biggest game of the year.

Junior Paulo is still dealing with last year’s grand final result.

“I guess the whole year,” Paulo replied when asked how long that loss would stay with him.

“We had a long enough off-season to think about it. You take it as lessons and try to find ways to be better now, and that’s exactly what the boys have done.

“Everyone treats it differently. I’ve looked back on it and had time to go over things. You can only use that as motivation when you head into this season. It starts with what we do here at training.

“It would have been nice to win. They outplayed us in a lot of fields and definitely had the experience.

“I think that’s one thing we can look back on now is that this team has a lot of experience playing together. We’ll be looking forward to kicking off from where we left.

“They talk about a premiership window, but the majority of our team are still together from our starting squad. Brad’s done a good job of leading the new recruits that have come in and he’s helped change their game.”

Originally published as ‘We’ve been in his ear’: Eels teammates make pitch to keep Mitch Moses at the club