Mitchell Moses will look to continue his stellar start to the 2016 season this weekend, however he comes up against a red-hot Parramatta Eels side led by opposite number Corey Norman.
Moses and Norman have been in outstanding form to open the year for their respective sides, playing a big role in both Wests Tigers and Parramatta winning two out of their three starts.
Moses currently leads the NRL for try-assists, sitting equal on five with North Queensland captain Johnathan Thurston.
Norman, on the other hand, has already developed a dangerous combination with new halves partner Keiran Foran and shown a strong kicking game with a huge 1013 metres off the boot.
While this game was not short on quality match-ups to pick from (Brooks v Foran, Tedesco v Gordon, Nofoaluma v Radradra and more) the Moses v Norman clash is worth the price of admission alone.
The atmosphere of the Easter Monday clash is a great arena for one of these two exciting playmakers to stand up and lead their side to victory – however who will come out on top?
History…
The tale of the tape shows that both Moses and Norman have one win each against each other after meeting twice last season. Moses was part of Wests Tigers’ 22-6 victory on Easter Monday, while Norman got one back on his opposite number in 28-16 Eels win in Round 17.
Norman reaches his Eels half century
Since joining the Eels from Brisbane at the start of the 2014 NRL season, Norman has made 49 appearances and scored six tries. Monday afternoon will be his 50th appearance for the Blue and Gold, missing just two matches for the club so far.
The 25-year-old played 63 games for the Broncos before joining Parramatta, taking his total career tally to 112 NRL matches.
Moses’ accuracy down in 2016
Moses nailed five from five conversion attempts during the 2015 season but has had a tough run to open this year after taking over the kicking duties full-time from Pat Richards. The Carlingford junior has managed 10 conversions from 18 attempts, leaving his strike rate at 55.5%.
Three of his misses came last week against the Titans, with two late in the game from the sideline as he rushed to get the game restarted. Look out for Moses to improve his accuracy over the coming weeks after putting in plenty of hard work at training recently.
Norman lacking six appeal
While Norman has won four out of his seven clashes with Wests Tigers, the former Bronco’s record with the number six on his back isn’t great. Norman has won just one out four games against Wests Tigers when he has started at five-eighth – that means all three of his losses against the joint venture have been in the number six jersey.
What he said…
"They've probably been the in-form halves of the competition so far," Moses said in his press conference on Thursday.
"Kieran has really been steadying the ship for the side and Corey has been playing off the back of that, and he's particularly been in really good form ever since the Nines.
"You can see in their footy that they look like they're really enjoying it.
"They looked really good down that left edge in particular last week," he said.
Be there on Easter Monday as we take on the Eels at ANZ Stadium! Get your tickets here!
