WESTS Tigers fans should be ashamed.
And if the club’s management has an ounce of respect left for Mitchell Moses it should grant him an immediate release to join Parramatta.
Moses was subjected to the ultimate act of cowardice on Saturday night. It is alleged that a full can of beer was thrown at the departing local junior after the game at Leichhardt Oval.
The incident prompted an immediate and furious response from Cronulla forward Andrew Fifita.
The Tigers released a statement yesterday in which they said they were working with police and “do not condone crowd disturbances, or the throwing of objects on to the field”.
But surely chief executive Justin Pascoe and chairwoman Marina Go must take charge today and bring about peace to what is obviously an increasingly hostile situation.
Moses should be granted a release for the sake of everyone involved.
Fans were also spotted holding disgusting banners at the game that included “Woods is a dog”, “Tedesco is a cock”, “No Dogs on the bus” and labelling Moses “slimy”.
How can you attempt to justify this type of behaviour?
While the fans’ frustration is understandable, they need to take a look at other clubs. There aren’t similar scenes facing other departing players such as Cronulla’s Jack Bird, Melbourne’s Cooper Cronk or Brisbane’s Ben Hunt.
This comes just a week after Pascoe and Go attempted to calm the growing anger with another statement asking fans to be more positive after Aaron Woods was booed before his man-of-the-match performance against Canterbury.
The concern is what will come next if the Tigers’ management doesn’t bring about a resolution now.
What fans must understand is that Moses and the other outgoing players are not at all responsible for this mess.
In Woods’ interview on Fox Sports yesterday following the announcement that he will be joining the Bulldogs on a four-year deal, the Tigers skipper blew the lid on the lack of support he had received from management.
Woods spoke about how he could no longer tolerate the ongoing controversies, and claimed he didn’t receive any support for “three weeks” following the sacking of Jason Taylor.
Without knowing who was going to be the long-term coach, the club expected him to agree to a three- or four-year deal.
Moses has already asked for a release on several occasions and you can bet he will be doing the same thing today. And how could anyone blame him for wanting out?
Ivan Cleary has steadfastly refused to grant Moses’ request, saying Moses will remain at the club until the end of the season.
What fans must understand is that the club pulled the offer that was originally put to Moses after Luke Brooks agreed to a new deal.
It was Cleary who decided Moses was not a priority and the club would focus on trying to retain Woods and Tedesco.
The Tigers then signed Josh Reynolds on a contract reportedly worth a similar amount to the offer Moses had taken away from him.
Pascoe, Cleary and Go should see this as a chance to calm the tension.
They have already said they didn’t want Moses after signing Reynolds on huge money.
Why should Moses be put through any further humiliation?
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/tigers/wests-tigers-must-release-mitchell-moses-to-eels-for-everyones-sake/news-story/eb90ff9cd2f9288ce1b38999596a2a26
