If Mitchell Moses wants to leave the Wests Tigers to Parramatta, he needs to ask for a release himself
Michael Chammas SMH
\
\
\
If Mitchell Moses wants a release from his final year at the Wests Tigers to join Parramatta this week, he needs to march into Ivan Cleary's office on Tuesday morning and demand it himself.
Not his manager. He has to do it himself.
\
\
As it stands, the only request for a release has come from his manager, which came straight after the club withdrew its offer to Moses over a fortnight ago.
Cleary hasn't spoken to Moses about leaving. Nor has Moses given any indication with his attitude and performances that he wants out. Perhaps he wants to see out the year? Maybe he wants to leave immediately? Either way, it's unlikely the Tigers will allow him to walk away until he tells them he wants out.
\
\
After Monday's victory against the Tigers, Moses' manager, Isaac Moses, was in the Parramatta dressing sheds. You don't need two guesses to work out one of the topic of conversations would have been.
Cleary doesn't want to let Moses go. He also doesn't want a player in his team that doesn't want to be around. You're either on the bus or off the bus, remember?
\
\
\
"I haven't changed my mind," Cleary said after the loss to the Eels. "If there's a request that comes in, I'll consider it. I haven't changed. I've said many times that Mitch is a part of the team and he certainly hasn't shown anything to suggest he's not. He's a talented player. I haven't spoken to him about it since the first day. I haven't considered it, I've been too busy doing other things."
A fortnight ago Wests Tigers hierarchy were resigned to losing Aaron Woods and knew James Tedesco was standing right behind him at the exit doors. But after a shock victory against the Cowboys in Cleary's first game in charge of the joint venture, they noticed a change in the mindset of the players.
\
\
\
\
Suddenly, there was a feeling that if they managed to muster a victory against Parramatta on Easter Monday, the players would buy into the vision of Cleary. That they'd not only return to their seats on the bus, but they'd willingly buckle themselves in for the bumpy ride.
So after a heartbreaking loss to the Eels at ANZ Stadium, where exactly does that leave the big two? Keeping in mind that in five days time they will run out against the team they could join next year when they square off against the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
"I don't want to rush into a decision and then make the wrong one," Tedesco said. "I have had contract dramas before [reneging on a deal to join Canberra in 2014]. So I want to make it right before I rush into anything just to get it over. We'll take as much time as we need. We had a bit of instability in the coaching in the first few weeks when we didn't know who was in and who was out. Ivan came in and gave us a simple game plan. That's helped our footy on the field.
"You can see the improvement we have had in the last few weeks and that is positive for me and positive for the team that we're going in a positive direction. It's good to have that. I am just taking everything into consideration."
