Mr Fix-It Mbye still prepared to be everywhere man
Author
Chris Kennedy
NRL.com Reporter
Thu 20 Feb 2020, 05:01 PM
He's played six positions through his seven-season senior career and Wests Tigers co-captain Moses Mbye says he's no closer to settling on one as the start of the 2020 season draws near.
The former Bulldog has been used at centre and fullback in his two seasons at Concord having also played a bench utility for Queensland last year and as a hooker, halfback and five-eighth in his time at Canterbury.
With Robbie Farah retired, Jacob Liddle injured and a Harry Grant swap deal seemingly dead in the water, Mbye is facing a return to the dummy-half role he first tasted in the 2014 grand final coming in for an injured Michael Ennis in just his ninth NRL game.
"Everything's been going really good – I did a bit of work with the back five, I've been through the halves as well," Mbye told NRL.com."I'm covering all bases as usual. I've been doing it for five or six years. It's actually quite enjoyable to play a few different positions and learn a few different skill sets."
Mbye said he wasn't yet sure if the club's hopes of nabbing Storm reserve hooker Grant for a year was officially off but if it doesn't happen, he backed himself, Josh Reynolds and Billy Walters to fill the breach.How the captain's challenge will workHow the captain's challenge will work
How the captain's challenge will workHow the captain's challenge will work
"We are happy with what we do have in the ranks of nines," he added.
"We've got Josh Reynolds there. We've got Billy Walters there, some quality players to fulfil the role whether we get Harry or not. If we get him it will be a bonus to our depth, if we don't we've got players to fill that role."
Walters is traditionally a five-eighth like his father, Broncos and Maroons great Kevin – though uncles Steve and Kerrod were top-tier No.9s."I think he would certainly be competent in the role, he's tough enough and got the skill set to do it, he's come from a really good system [at Melbourne] and applied himself really well in his first year at the Tigers," Mbye added.
Mbye has played 20 of his 26 games for the Tigers at fullback and while ready if required, doesn't anticipate playing there with Corey Thompson and Adam Doueihi pushing each other at training. "Corey, it's his spot, he played some really high-quality footy for us last year and was great around the small effort areas and brought a lot to our side when he went back to fullback," Mbye said.
"Doueihi's a quality player, I think he's come over here as a fullback. It's healthy competition and adds to our depth. He certainly fits in but I don't know where at the moment.
"I guess time will tell after a few trials, we'll start playing footy and see what sort of a role he plays and what he brings to our team. He's a quality player which is what we're looking for."
