Emotions win out as Moses picks Eels over Tigers payday

Star halfback Mitchell Moses will be staying with the Parramatta Eels until at least the end of the 2028 NRL season after telling the club he would be taking up their extension offer this week.

There was plenty of chat over the offseason about where would Moses land after his current deal expired, with the Eels and Tigers ending up as the two key bids.

The Roosters also apparently emerged late, but that was only being reported by Paul Kent on NRL 360.

Either way, the saga is over—Moses told Parramatta powerbrokers on Thursday afternoon, just hours before their matchday protocols began, that he would signing on the dotted line. The extension acceptance stretches the 28-year-old’s blue-and-gold journey until at least 2028.

In the end, it was emotions that won. The Parramatta playmaker reportedly decided, those close to the situation are saying, with his heart—and turned down $1 million more—and picked loyalty with the Eels. He previously went the other way when he walked out on the Tigers in 2017. Wests apparently offered around $1.4 million a season.

The new deal Parra deal will catapult Moses right into the ranks of the highest paid players in the NRL.

Moses’ long-awaited decision keeps the Eels halves together for quite a while; Dylan Brown just signed a long-term deal with the club, though it has a series of ‘get-out’ clauses across the next few years.

Fullback Clint Gutherson is signed through to 2025 right now too.

The question at Parramatta now moves away from Moses and his re-signing saga and to what’s going wrong in Sydney’s blue-and-gold western heartland.

The Eels have started the 2023 NRL season with a 0-3 record and may stretch that to 0-4 tonight in the grand final rematch.

Brad Arthur’s name has started to circle around in articles and discussions about coaches in trouble. Right now it’s not likely the Parramatta powerbrokers are considering the chop—he just took them to a grand final—but things may get worse before they get better for the Eels.

Tonight they play the Penrith Panthers in a Thursday night blockbuster to open the round.

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