Moses Following Uncle Benny's Selfish Lead (2017)

Last week was yet another tumultuous one for the Wests Tigers, with the appointment of new coach Ivan Cleary effective immediately, then the retention of halfback Luke Brooks while rumours surfaced that James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Mitchell Moses were all set to leave the club.

Shortly after Brooks re-signed, Moses had reportedly agreed to terms with Parramatta after knocking back a $3 million deal over three years at the Tigers – deal that was on the table for quite some time. 

Moses then requested an immediate release which the Tigers refused.

The next day, Moses’ uncle and Balmain great Benny Elias stated to the media that Moses had no choice but to leave.

“Mitchell does not want to move, he never wanted to move, his mates there are all very, very close, he loves the club,” Elias said.

The problem with this information, Benny, is that there’s plenty out there to suggest otherwise.

Last year Moses had the option to stay with the club for another year and he mulled over it for months before finally agreeing . Some would say that is not a sign of love for a club.

Moses had been playing rather poorly and very inconsistently all year while his contract decisions were being deliberated over behind closed and in the media. However, once it was all resolved he played brilliantly, to the level that his ‘potential’ tag had suggested he could.

Last week he again had his contract matters resolved and just like last year, he came out for the Tigers and played a starring role in their amazing victory over a North Queensland Cowboys side on their home ground, who were expected to replicate their 64-6 smashing of the Tigers the last time they travelled to Townsville in 2014.

If Moses loved his club, he’d have done a similar thing to what players like Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall and Chris Lawrence have all been claimed as having done while at the Tigers: taking pay cuts to help the team out when they needed it most.

Moses, though, knocked back a deal he never deserved to receive, a rumoured million-dollar-a-season to instead go to Parramatta on what has been suggested is a smaller salary. That offer from the Tigers was on the table and he failed to sign it when he had the chance.

That yells from the rooftops that he wanted out. He wasn’t pushed.

If he was pushed out, he wouldn’t have had such a rich contract offered to him at all. That’s not the actions of a club wanting to rid themselves of a player.

Also, if those mates are all “very, very close”, why are they all being linked to different clubs? 

Brooks will be at the Tigers, Woods is rumoured to be linking with the Bulldogs, Tedesco has the Roosters chasing him hard and Moses will be at Parramatta.

These comments from Elias come just a few weeks after he became very animated on Fox Sports’ NRL 360 program, talking about the unfairness at Wests Tigers that only two Balmain delegates are on the board dominated by Wests and Wests Ashfield delegates. He didn’t once go into the detail as to why Balmain were in that situation, because he knows he’s a large reason for that.

Coming out with crocodile tears fooled nobody. In June 2012 the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Mr Elias has been lobbying heavily for the controversial $300 million Rozelle Village development on the club’s former site, which is now before the state government’s independent Planning Assessment Commission.

What Mr Elias has failed to tell fans is that he owns a 50 per cent stake in the company behind the development, and stands to make millions if it goes ahead. And that company, which bought the club’s property for $1 plus the clearing of a $23.5 million debt, is earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from crippling fees charged on loans to the club.

The development never got approval as it continually failed to comply with the local council requests.

Elias has had a genuine role in what has become the miserable state of the Balmain Leagues Club and their dire financial state, which both the NRL and Wests Ashfield have helped to rectify. It is because of those actions that Balmain does not have an equal say in the Wests Tigers and rightly so.

Benny’s ‘love’ for the club is because it was gullible enough to believe that he would deliver on an almost fairytale like potential, that would take them to great success.

Sounds familiar.

 
The club appears to be turning a corner and have stopped believing the bullshit.

****This article appeared on Commentary Box Sports website on  April 12, 2017****

The Halftime Spray #10 (2014)

This week the guessing game surrounding James Tedesco's home in 2015 was finally settled, when he agreed to a three year deal at the Canberra Raiders.

The decision though raises a few questions, not about the deal itself, many of which have seen heated debates across the League Unlimited forums:

Players should do their contract negotiations in the off season.Teams signing players mid-season has long caused ire amongst most fans. Watching a player wearing your teams colours, knowing that they won't be doing so the following year. Wondering if said player is focussed on the current season. Questioning if they are putting in enough effort etc.

These are legitimate concerns and fans could not be excused for thinking any of these. If players are allowed to negotiate and make deals about where they are playing the following year, then why not go all the way and just have a mid-season transfer window. If a player agrees to a contract mid-season with another side, he should be allowed to switch to that side straight away. The new club then takes over his remaining salary for the current year.

Should a player who has been signed mid-season be retained in the first grade side?
This is a very tricky question. In the case of Tedesco, he is the Wests Tigers best fullback, but if the club has decided that it won't shop around for a replacement, then they should continue working towards their plan of improvement in 2015. 

Why should the club enhance a departing player's credentials and abilities and suppress that of a retained player? In the Tedesco case, by playing him, his current side would only be helping Canberra at the detriment of the Wests Tigers. In other cases, the side may be a strong premiership chance and will use that player to help reach that greatest of goals.

Should players who leave a club purely for more money be seen in a poor light?
It's understandable for fans to instantly turn on a player after they've announced they are changing clubs and receiving a bigger salary. Loyalty is raised a lot in the modern game, but isn't really shown by any parties (the teams, the players or the governing body) anywhere near as much as it used to, or should do. In short, any player who has the good fortune to be offered a high salary is most likely going to take it. Rugby League players have around a decade to earn essentially the majority of their 40 years of income. If a seemingly injury prone player is in the same situation, then he is even more inclined to take the bigger money offer.

Should the NRL be doing more to reward clubs who produce more local junior talent than others, to help those clubs retain those players when they hit the NRL?Short answer is no. You can't force players to play at particular clubs. Furthermore, some clubs are fortunate to have vastly larger and stronger junior pools to select their future stars from than other clubs. The main priority is ensuring as many of these young players get to play in the NRL.

Some people believe in the romantic concept where loyalty prevails over greed, but in today's world, especially in professional sports, such a concept is becoming more and more rare.

Rugby League is a business. Players are assets. Fans are consumers.

The Halftime Spray #1 (2014)

The Friday night clash between Wests Tigers and Souths was one that should be a great worry for referees. It was pretty clear that in the last 10 minutes, that the referees had lost control of the players. This was entirely due to the on-field referees being too timid about sending any players off the field.

Whether this fear is due to not wanting to make things unfair by allowing one side to have more players, or to avoid scrutiny by fans, or being a prominent factor in the result, either way, they failed.

Several players were put on report, 2 were sent to the sin bin (albeit one was for a professional foul not harming other players) and both fullbacks copped high shots, leaving Greg Inglis unable to play after just 5 minutes, and James Tedesco copping three heavy high tackles.

On Monday night, Melbourne Storm were penalised on several occasions in the first half alone for lifting in tackles, one of which went horribly wrong just seconds before halftime which has now left Newcastle Knights player Alex McKinnon in hospital with severe neck damage which could take between months and years to fully recover from.

Accidents do happen and that is the nature of the beast. However, I believe in both games, intervention from referees could have been vital in changing the players attitudes regarding their repeated infringements and thus changed the way the players acted.

Over the past few years there has been an immense increase in the number of players being reported for infringements and, compared to over a decade ago, a dramatic reduction in sin-binnings and send-offs for dangerous conduct.

I believe that if an incident is bad enough to be penalised and put on report, then it's bad enough to warrant at least 10 minutes in the sin bin.

If this policy was in place, it would make every player on the field, not just those on the team of the sin-binned player, to pull their heads in, as they know any illegal hits will mean that they are not only going to get ten in the bin, but it will also risk their team conceding points.

It will also allow referees to retain control of a game when things get heated after an illegal action.

And no one is going to complain when referees are making decisions based on the safety and welfare of the players, while also cleaning the game up and making it very clear that foul play will be dealt with immediately, which sends the right message to all involved.

As a side note, I'd like to send my best wishes to Alex McKinnon and I hope he has a full and speedy recovery. Right now, getting better and back on your feet is the only important thing.

Wests Tigers - Season Preview (2014)

In the space of just 18 months the Tigers went from being premiership favourites to narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon. Since 2012, the club has endured its most turbulent days in the last decade. It eventually lead to a swag of prominent first grade players leaving the club, the head coach getting sacked and the star player for so long, Benji Marshall, walking away from the club after salary negotiations broke down. But, much like in 2004, amidst all of this drama and chaos, a batch of exciting and brilliant juniors has made their way into the top grade.

2014 isn’t shaping to be a year that the Tigers will push for premiership honours, but it will be one where they plan to gain some consistency and form some solid combinations amongst the youngsters to secure the clubs success over the coming years.

Where they can win

Out wide. Boy do the Tigers have some firepower in the backline. James Tedesco is finally injury free and is looking faster than ever. Chris Lawrence is also free of his many niggling injuries and has shed some bulk too, so he will also be back close to his blistering speedy self. Throw in the exciting Tim Simona, the all-round power, skill and speed of David Nofoaluma, the exhilarating pace of Marika Koroibete, with the experience of Pat Richards and Keith Lulia and you can see that the Tigers backline is very impressive indeed. This coupled with the creative rookie Luke Brooks will see the Tigers playing exciting football once again.

Where they may struggle

In the middle. Up front. Anywhere there are forwards, the Tigers will struggle. While they have proven performers in Robbie Farah, Aaron Woods and Liam Fulton, there simply isn’t enough firepower, especially in the back row. Wests Tigers have recruited some decent toilers, but the club has been sorely lacking since Gareth Ellis departed and Adam Blair failed to live up to expectations.

Match winner

Robbie Farah. Arguably the best attacking rake in the competition as well as being a stubborn and tireless defender, Farah will have more responsibility on his shoulders in 2014 than ever before. He no longer has Benji Marshall to help him organise attacking plays. However, if he can form a solid combination with Tedesco and young half Brooks, then Farah could also be in for one of his best seasons, which will be key to the Tigers success.

Rookies to watch

Luke Brooks is the one who will have all eyes on him. After just one game (where he was Man of the Match on debut) he immediately drew comparisons with Andrew Johns. Massive wraps. He’d be best to try and ignore that and become Luke Brooks, not the next Andrew Johns. He has the skills required to make it, great passing game, a good short and long kicking game, solid in defence, a good step and quick off the mark. He just needs to get comfortable directing the team around and he will be all but certain of a great year.

The big plays

Brooks will form a lethal combination with Curtis Sironen, James Tedesco, David Nofoaluma and Tim Simona. They will link up often and in many various ways which will ensure that the Tigers won’t become predictable. Throw in the off the cuff attacking prowess of Farah and the Wests Tigers could prove to be a hard unit to contain when they get the ball out of the middle.

Best team

1. James Tedesco 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Tim Simona 4. Chris Lawrence 5. Pat Richards 6.Braith Anasta 7. Luke Brooks 8. Andrew Woods 9. Robbie Farah (c) 10. Adam Blair 11. Liam Fulton 12. Cory Paterson 13. Curtis Sironen
Interchange: 14. Keith Galloway 15. Martin Taupau 16. Ava Seumanufagai 17. Ben Murdoch-Masila