Parramatta players have paid tribute to injured halfback Mitchell Moses’ toughness after he played 25 minutes with a broken foot, while they’ve also backed young gun Blaize Talagi to handle the move to five-eighth for the next two months.
Moses will miss up to eight weeks after he fractured his left foot in the win over Manly, with the playmaker now emerging as one of the toughest men in the game having also played most of an Origin match with a broken back.
“I think he did it with 25 minutes to go and he didn’t want to come off,” skipper Clint Gutherson said.
“He knew he needed to stay on the field for us to win, and that’s what he did. I don’t think it would have changed what he did if he knew what the result was.”
Moses was fantastic in the win over the Sea Eagles, with back-rower Shaun Lane in awe of the toughness he continues to display after originally being questioned about his physicality when he came into the NRL.
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“He wanted to play (a game) with a broken face as well – actually he did play a whole half and he wanted to keep going,” Lane said.
“For someone who started their NRL career and had people question their toughness and his physicality, Mitch has become such a tough competitor over the past four or five years.
“He’s developed his game so much so the contrast between those early days, it’s like he’s a new man.
“If you have one of your leaders in your team competing like that then it sets the standard for the rest of the team. You might not be able to play injured, but you never give up. He’s a great leader for us in that way.”
The injury is a major setback for the blue and golds who will desperately miss Moses’ kicking game against the Wests Tigers on Easter Monday, but it does open the door for Talagi to show off his raw skills in the halves.
Talagi made his debut last week at left centre but will move to a role he knows well in what shapes as the biggest game of his young career.
“It’s going to be a learning process for Blaize. He’s played a lot of six coming through but doing it full-time at the top grade is another level,” Gutherson said, explaining why he didn’t shift from fullback into the halves.
“If you start moving too many people then you’re moving people out of their preferred position.
“We’ve got full trust in Blaize doing a good job for us … so instead of moving too many people around, we’ve just made that one change and everything we want to do stays the same.”
Lane played next to Talagi in round 3 and was impressed with his maturity and physicality, which included running over Tom Trbojevic to score.
“Nothing really scares him or rattles him, so I think he has an exciting future ahead of him. Once he gets used to playing in first grade systems, I see him going up and up,” he said.
“He’s a fearless competitor, and that’s why he’s stood out at the age that he has. He’s willing to try to run through a brick wall to score a try, so he’s pretty special like that.
“The real positive for me was that after conceding a few early tries on our edge, a lot of people can go into their shell and let the game get away from them and be lost.
“But it shows the resilience and toughness that he has to be able to bounce back, and then he came back and ran over Tom.”
Meanwhile, Gutherson says Bryce Cartwright is a “realistic chance” of taking on the Tigers despite fears he could be out for a month with a rib injury.
“He didn’t train today because of the long turnaround which means you can afford to give people a rest. You only get judged on one night a week so you don’t need to train, you’ve just got to be prepared and ready to go,” he said.
“He did it in the first minute of the game but played through it and did what he needed to do.”
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