Moses Discusses Brown's $6M Decision and Its Impact on Eels

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Mitchell Moses has declared he’d “love” for Dylan Brown to remain his Eels halves partner, branding him a “massive” piece of Parramatta who he hopes will stay at the club long-term.

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Moses, who was appointed club captain ahead of the 2025 season, has been no stranger to drawn-out contract negotiations, having previously had his dealings widely publicised.

The 30-year-old eventually agreed to a three-year extension in 2023, with a player options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, with clauses in his favour included in his new deal.

Brown, meanwhile, signed his own fresh deal in December 2022, but his contract is littered with get-out clauses which could see him depart Parramatta as early as the 2026 season — and he is set to be the subject of a $6 million bid from Newcastle.

Under the terms of his deal, Brown has until Round 10 to inform Eels bosses where he will remain at the club beyond this season, but Moses has urged his teammate to stay put.

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Dylan Brown Mitchell Moses.Source: Supplied

“I’d love him to, but it’s up to him,” Moses said to foxsports.com.au.

“He knows how much I love him and he knows how much everyone loves him at the club.

“It’s not only what he does with us as a footy team, as a club, it’s what he does outside that people don’t see. All the time he gives kids, all the outside stuff he does.

“It’s massive for the club and he knows how important he is to our club, and he knows how important he is to the group of boys that we have there.

“We all love him, but he will make his decision when he’s ready and he’s got no pressure from us at all, so he will make that decision when he’s ready.”

Brown’s name has been front and centre in rugby league headlines in recent weeks, and Moses admitted the constant speculation can take an emotional toll on players.

“If you want it to,” he explained.

“I feel like if you’re a bit younger, and I’ve had it pretty much my whole career.

“So I’ve learnt to deal with it in different ways, and I probably didn’t deal with it very well early in my career, but if you want to look into it, you can and definitely see it.

“You can block it out, but as much as you want to block it out, it’s always going to be there a little bit but as long as it doesn’t affect you, you will be right.

“It comes down to putting your head down, focusing on what you can do for your club and when that time’s right, you can sort that stuff out.”

Moses’ plea to Brown comes after a turbulent 2024 campaign for Parramatta that saw coach Brad Arthur sacked mid-season before Trent Barrett steered them to a 15th place finish.

Moses Discusses Brown's $6M Decision and Its Impact on Eels

Moses himself had a rollercoaster campaign, enjoying success at representative level while injuries curtailed his club performances.

“It was tough at the start, I did my foot three games in and didn’t think much of it, I was out for 10 or 12 weeks,” he said.

“But I knew when I was coming back that the team needed me and I couldn’t just drag myself around training, I needed to work hard.

“I worked my backside off to get back as early as I could, and I was lucky enough to do that and obviously come back, play a few games and then play Origin.

“That middle part of the year wasn’t too bad, but then I did my bicep at Game III in Origin. It was tough, when I did my bicep our season was over so it was a bit of a weird one.”

Meanwhile, incoming coach Jason Ryles also named Moses captain following the departure of club stalwart Clint Gutherson who was released to join the Dragons.

The gun halfback was confident the extra responsibility will only elevate his game.

“Yeah, I hope so, that wouldn’t be too bad,” Moses said.

“But I don’t really want to change my role too much, I felt like I was always a natural leader I guess and being a halfback, every halfback is a natural leader.

“But it’s probably doing more of these things (interviews) and doing more outside of footy, but yeah, I don’t want to change myself too much around the footy arena.

“But I’m really proud to be honest, the club that I grew up supporting and for me to be able to captain them now, I’m really proud and excited to lead a new group of boys.”