Million-dollar Moses sinks the Panthers in golden point as the Eels falter.
Mitchell Moses signed a deal and, miraculously, led Parramatta to their first win of the season with a golden-point field goal.
Why couldn’t it have been that way a month ago?
Call it a coincidence or pure luck, but the conclusion to the biggest contract story of the last few months coincided with his club really winning a game under the most dramatic circumstances.
On a night when Nathan Cleary showed everyone why he’s worth every penny of his extravagant salary with an incredible 45-metre, two-point field goal on the final play of normal time to send it to golden point, Moses delivered in the grand final rematch.
Moses hit a one-pointer in the fourth minute of overtime to give his team its first win of the season, 17-16, at CommBank Stadium on Thursday night.
Arthur must be breathing a great sigh of relief that he can now focus on winning football games, which have at times looked like a footnote to the will-he-or-won’t-he Moses saga.
Even better, for once, the Eels won a close game.
Moses remained consistent for the majority of the game before delivering the extraordinary. He accomplished what he needed to do, punting persistently to Sunia Turuva’s wing on a greasy night, denying Brain To’o the leverage to carry the ball back with gusto on the opposite wing. He scored all of his goals, which has been an issue for him this season.
Was it a performance befitting of a man ready to break the $1 million mark in his next deal?
Two competition points and one game-winning goal would seem to indicate this.
Even still, Moses refused to confirm the contract during post-game interviews on the field.
“I’m not sure, it’s all with my management,” he replied. “I’ll let them speak for themselves. We blew golden point in round one. I wanted to be calm and get to the left post so I could put the ball over.”
With 18 seconds of normal time remaining, Parramatta co-captain Junior Paulo was sin-binned for a high shot on Zac Hosking, setting up Cleary’s audacious two-point field goal.
Penrith finished with 12 men after Mitch Kenny was also ejected for a high shot on Waqa Blake, giving the Eels field position for Moses’ match-winning goal.
According to history, if the Eels lost, they couldn’t win the competition. But who expected the Dolphins to start the season unblemished, indicating a much tougher competition this year?
Ryan Matterson’s first game back since the NRL grand final following a three-game suspension rather than a $4000 fine was pleasing, but the Panthers appeared to be gaining the upper hand after fighting back to square the scores at 8-8 just before half-time.
But maybe Penrith 3.0 are not as good as the ones gone before them, not that their coach was worried.
“Wasn’t it a pretty good game?” “I was really impressed by both teams’ hard work,” Ivan Cleary stated. “I liked how we came back from an eight-point deficit twice, and it was a long, hard slog both times.” It was frustrating to lose, but I believe we will learn a lot from the game.”
At the outset of the season, you could have bet on Matt Doorey and rookie Brendan Hands orchestrating an upset against the Panthers. However, the former Bulldogs lower grader returning from an ACL tear sent Will Penisini racing away for Hands to score seven minutes into his maiden NRL game.
Late substitution for Liam Martin (hamstring) When Zac Hosking sprinted onto a Cleary pass, he produced possibly the most ridiculous moment of his career, landing the two-point field goal to send it into golden point as the hooter blared.
