There’s a huge Mitch Moses problem the Eels “have to figure out” with the star halfback’s unavailability in recent years placed under the microscope.
Parramatta haven’t got anywhere near bang-for-buck on their Moses investment which is around $1.3 million a season.
Moses has dealt with several injury issues and just hasn’t been able to get on the park for the most part.
In fact, as foxsports.com.au’s Paul Crawley revealed on NRL360, Moses has played in just 33 club games out of a possible 63 since the start of the 2024 season.
Crawley noted that Moses has only played two games more than another oft-injured player in Latrell Mitchell.
Last week, Mitchell’s status as a marquee player was questioned given the amount of time he’s spent on the sideline.
“We sat here having a crack at Latrell last week and his million dollar deal and whether he’s a marquee player because of the amount of the games he’s missed,” Crawley said.
“Mitch Moses right, if you go back to the start of 2024, Moses has played 33 games for the Eels. Latrell has played 31.
“If you look at their contract values, Moses is listed as a $1.3 million player while Latrell is listed as $1.1 million so in my books, Parra aren’t getting as good a value for money out of Mitch as Latrell is doing for South Sydney.”
“It’s a valid point,” NRL360 host Braith Anasta added.
“If you’re going to talk about Latrell and the amount of games he’s played for Souths and then you compare that to Mitch and the impact … I would say for certain that Mitch isn’t even a bigger loss to the Eels as Latrell is to Souths. And Mitch is on a lot more money.
“They’ve (Parramatta) got to figure that out. He’s got to play more games for the money he’s on. They depend on him so much, we’ve seen that over the past few seasons.”
Since making the grand final in 2022, the Eels haven’t been back to the finals.
Despite expectations they’d improve sharply this season, it appears Parra are again destined to finish near the bottom of the table.
Moses has only missed three games this season but his form has been up and down.
However, the skipper isn’t the only Eels problem.
While there have been some good moments in the halves by the likes of Ronald Volkman and Joash Papalii, there’s no clear answer as to who should play five-eighth next season and beyond.
Stop gap option Jonah Pezet was underwhelming before he suffered a serious injury but he’s not even going to be at the club next year.
“They’ve got a number of roster problems to fix. Front row, outside backs but they also need a half to partner Moses,” The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio said.
“They haven’t covered the loss of Dylan Brown.”
Anasta believes trying to find a top notch six willing to play second fiddle to Moses will difficult before Riccio noted they could have had they let not a quality junior slip to a rival.
“Mitch wants to be the man, be in control and have the ball so you’ve got to find a half that comes in and isn’t that player and that’s a challenge,” Anasta said.
“Trying to find an elite six to go in and partner a guy who wants to own the team is a challenge.”
“Blaize Talagi is the one that they lost,” Riccio interjected.
“He would’ve beena good partner in crime. The way he runs the ball, strong, powerful and lets Nathan weave his magic,” Anasta replied.
The Eels will attempt to keep their slim finals hopes alive when they take on Manly this Sunday.
With Moses in Origin camp, the Eels will be steered around the park by Volkman and the returning Pezet.
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