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****

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