It’s been a seemingly endless and painful eight-year wait for Parramatta fans to breathe that September again – and star Mitchell Moses would know.
The Eels five-eighth remembers shedding the same tears the entire blue-and-gold army did when Melbourne ruined their 2009 fairytale run to the NRL grand final.
And the powerhouse club haven’t been to the finals since.
“I was actually in year nine at Holy Cross (Ryde), and I was a big Parra fan so I went to that grand final so it was pretty heartbreaking,” Moses said on Wednesday.
“I was a Parramatta fan growing up, so I definitely remember that one. I was in the stands.”
So it’s a good thing the 22-year-old admits being in career-best form heading into Saturday’s qualifying final against the Storm at AAMI Park.
Moses has been a major factor in the Eels’ best regular season showing since the minor premiership of 2005, with the club winning eight of 14 games following his mid-season arrival.
Not only does did he finish the season with a team-high 20 line break assists to go with his 14 try set-ups, but Moses also owns a sharp goalkicking 85 per cent goalkicking rate.
Now in his fifth season in the NRL, Moses says he’s never felt more confident on the field.
“I’m feeling really confident with the players I’ve got around me, with the coaching staff, and how I’m playing my footy,” he said.
“I guess you could say it’s the most confident I’ve been since I started playing NRL.
“It’s just getting my head right for each game and the combinations that we’ve got working at the moment, it really helped me and making my footy a lot better.”
Even his defence has improved from his first few outings in Eels colours, when he was lambasted for a concerning high amount of missed tackles.
“Parramatta always had a pretty good defence and pretty aggressive defence. I think that’s definitely helped me a fair bit with the players I’ve got around me,” he said.
“I get a lot of help from (Michael Jennings), Tepai (Moeroa) and when Kenny (Edwards) comes on. They help me out a lot and support me pretty well.
“I was carrying a few injuries around that time so I wasn’t too worried. I was just getting my body right.
“I wasn’t really afraid to go away from the contact, it was most just sticking and finishing off my tackles. I’ve worked on that with our tackle tech coach, and it’s been working well.”
