Apr 5th, 2017

Apr 5th, 2017

The Wests Tigers have withdrawn an offer to five-eighth Mitchell Moses, reportedly valued at $3 million, and knocked back a requested for an immediate release to join Parramatta.

Channel Nine reporter Danny Weidler reports that Moses, hot off the back of reports of the Wests Tigers agreeing to terms halfback Luke Brooks, is keen to look to Parramatta as soon as this season rather than remaining with the joint venture.

Weidler says that the Tigers have placed other key re-signings Aaron Woods and James Tedesco above renewing Moses' contract, and that they may re-visit the offer.

Upon the Tigers withdrawing the offer, Weidler reports Moses requested a release to join the Parramatta Eels. The Eels are reportedly a strong contender for his signature in 2018. The Wests Tigers rejected the five-eighth's request, and he will remain at the club.

The club released a statement on Moses after Weidler breaking the story.

"Due to the current uncertainty surrounding the salary cap for 2018 and beyond the Club has decided to prioritise the re-signings of Captain Aaron Woods and James Tedesco.

"As a result the current contract offer that was with Moses’ management was taken off the table by Wests Tigers.

"After being made aware of this decision Moses’ management requested an immediate release from the remainder of Moses’ current contract; this request was denied by Wests Tigers.

"This decision was purely made due to the current uncertainty surrounding the salary cap, with the Club not willing to put itself in a risky position for 2018 and beyond.

"The Club informed Moses’ management that it would be willing to revisit negotiations once the 2018 salary cap figure was confirmed."

The so-called 'Big Four', comprising halfback Luke Brooks, fullback James Tedesco, prop and captain Aaron Woods, and Moses are all off contract at the end of 2017. Channel Nine's Peter Sterling said be believed it was unlikely the Tigers would be able to keep all four of their stars for the 2018 season.

“I don’t know whether they’re going to keep all four, I wouldn’t be surprised if one maybe two have to leave.”

On his podcast Six Tackles with Gus , Channel Nine's Phil Gould said Brooks and Moses may need to part ways for both to reach their potential as NRL players.

“He came into first grade with a boom on him and he probably hasn’t lived up to expectations,” Gould said of Brooks.

“I think that club suits him at the moment and I think the coach suits him as well so that’s a good decision by Luke to remain with the club.

“Whether that means the other three players sign with the club it remains to be seen.

“I have a suspicion that Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses probably wanted to both sell themselves as halfbacks and that the combination, even though they’ve been together for a while and they have known each other for a while, probably doesn’t gel on the field the way that they would like and there’s been a thought from the management of both those players that maybe they need to split them up to get the best out of them and that their careers have to go separate ways.

With Brooks reportedly already agreeing to terms, it appears the Tigers are moving onto other positions before looking to secure another half.

Brooks and Moses, who've played together throughout junior age groups and through their senior careers thus far, were always a chance of being separated at the end of this season.

The news of both halves' contract arrangements follows the appointment of Ivan Cleary as new Tigers coach until 2020 earlier this week.