Canterbury young gun Moses Mbye admits he’s in a “pickle” over where he can fit into the Bulldogs NRL side next season.
Coach Des Hasler and teammates heaped praise on Mbye for his sterling performance filling in for injured ‘Dogs skipper Michael Ennis at hooker in Sunday’s 30-6 grand final loss to South Sydney.
Normally a half, Mbye topped the tackle count for both teams with 44 and punched out 69 minutes in the middle in a high-intensity game of football.
However, Mbye faces a selection battle just to play first grade next year, with boom recruit Michael Lichaa coming to the club from Cronulla to play hooker, and the Bulldogs already boasting the NSW State of Origin halves in Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson.
Mbye’s talents have been compared to that of Dally M winner Johnathan Thurston, but whispers out of Canterbury suggest he’ll share time with Lichaa out of dummy half next season.
The 21-year-old is unsure what position he’ll play in 2015, but is confident he’s in Hasler’s plans.
“I couldn’t answer it to be honest. I guess you’d call it a pickle if I want to play games,” said Mbye, who played nine games in his debut season.
“We’ve got the two best halves in NSW and I think Lichaa is probably a future Origin player as well. But we’ve got the best coach in the game and it’s not a bad club to be at if you’re learning.
“I’ll cross the bridge down the track.
“I’m contracted, I’m happy here and I want to hopefully play some games but we’ll see how it goes, I’m not sure how they’re working it.
“I think (Hasler) has some good plans for me and I hope all the plans fall into place and it’ll be a good career.”
Hasler said post-match that Mbye had “a huge future in front of him.”
Halfback Hodkinson confirmed there was no question Mbye would feature somewhere in Canterbury’s 17 every game next year.
Mbye said he’ll learn from the disappointment of a grand final loss.
In a battle with Reni Maitua to fill in for Ennis, Mbye got the nod and also the support of his disappointed, but proud housemate.
“Ren’s pretty much like a brother to me. He’s really taken me under his wing and shown me the ropes,” he said.
