Bulldogs’ Mbye undecided on NRL future

In-demand playmaker Moses Mbye insists he’s in no rush to sort out his future after firming his reputation as one of the NRL’s best young halves in Canterbury’s impressive win over St George Illawarra.

Mbye led the way in Monday’s 29-16 win over the Dragons, kicking a sideline conversion to even up the scores late in the game before booting the field goal which sealed the victory.

The 21-year-old, who was thrust into a starting role by coach Des Hasler ahead of representative five-eighth Josh Reynolds, led the side with the confidence and poise of an NRL star.

And, in a mighty show of faith from Hasler, when Reynolds finally did come onto the field in the final quarter it was incumbent Blues No.7 Trent Hodkinson who he replaced, not Mbye.

Mbye is off contract at the end of next year, and is certain to be one of the game’s hottest properties if he’s not sewn up by the Bulldogs before then.

He’s already been linked to the Gold Coast, who are cashed up and desperate for a half following Daly Cherry-Evans’ last-minute backflip to stay at Manly.

But Mbye says he’s not spoken to other clubs and is in no rush to sort out his future.

“I’ve still got another year,” he said.

“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest, there’s a lot of talk about it but I honestly haven’t thought about it or spoken to anyone about it. That’s why my manager takes a percentage of my money.”

The affable Queenslander’s future could be decided by Hodkinson’s movements.

The Blues half is off-contract at season’s end and the Bulldogs face a near-impossible task to keep all three of Hodkinson, Reynolds and Mbye.

They will also be wary of letting him Mbye go after allowing Johnathan Thurston to leave for North Queensland after the champion playmaker started his career as a bench player for the Bulldogs in similar fashion.

Hasler said Mbye would not start for the Bulldogs every week this season and he would take a horses-for-courses approach with his halves rotation.

The coach said he had elected to play Reynolds off the bench because of his versatility after centre Tim Lafai went into the game under an injury cloud.

Mbye said he was willing to bide his team and expected to be benched throughout the rest of the year.

NSW Blues and Bulldogs back Brett Morris said the bright talent was undoubtedly a rep star of the future.

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