Mitchell Moses almost undid his future employers and Brad Arthur wants him wearing the blue and gold within a week after the Parramatta Eels waged a stunning second-half revival to snap a four-game losing streak at ANZ Stadium on Easter Monday.
The wantaway Tigers five-eighth played a starring role for the joint venture, but could be swapping colours and joining a winning side as soon as Tuesday to link with early-season Dally M Medal contender Corey Norman.
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Moses in middle as Eels come from behind
Mitchell Moses grabbed a try for the Wests Tigers against Parramatta at ANZ Stadium, only to see his future team-mates steal an improbable 26-22 victory after crossing three times in the space of ten minutes late in the match.
Moses' moral dilemma - playing the club he has asked to join immediately - didn't prove a problem as the Tigers star scored his side's first try and was generally outstanding alongside the in-demand James Tedesco, yet to ink a contract extension which has been on the table for months at Concord.
But it was a second-half fade-out from the Tigers which undid Ivan Cleary's promising start to life at the joint venture, the Eels racing in three tries in a 10-minute blitz to recover from a 12-point deficit for a wild 26-22 win.
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"When you've got some bad habits they come out under pressure," Cleary said. "It's a lost opportunity. We'll get it right and we'll keep chipping away.
"Our defensive reads and cohesion on the edges needs some work. Anyone who has been watching this team for a while now will say it's been like that.
"You can't just turn off like a tap or turn on like a tap. We'll keep working on it. We were exposed a bit tonight."Â
Kirisome Auva'a bagged a double for the hosts while wingers Josh Hoffman and Semi Radradra also scored in the frenetic flurry which settled a scrappy contest between the two western Sydney neighbours.
It will leave Tigers coach Ivan Cleary with plenty of thinking - not least of all about the immediate future of Moses - after an against-all-odds win over the Cowboys in Townsville last week.
The result came with a huge dose of relief for Eels coach Brad Arthur, whose side was staring down the barrel of a fifth straight loss at one stage. They will play another local derby of sorts on Saturday night against the struggling Panthers.
Arthur said it would be "nice" if they can get Moses across town as early as this week, but will need to work on his side's limp defence which conceded a couple of soft tries on their own line.
"It was a lot of relief," Arthur said. "We've been working hard and playing some good football, but we need to be able to sustain that for 80 minutes. There's some soft tries we're letting on which is not good.
"Our energy was good. Their attitude and fight and desperation to get a result [was great]."
But the usually edgy Arthur might have been sporting a smile too with the display of his soon-to-be No.6, who might have put the match beyond the Eels' grasp if the Tigers had opted to take the two points to send the margin beyond two converted tries.
It gave the Eels, who repelled the ensuing set, a sniff and after Auva'a and Hoffman scored a David Nofoaluma mistake from a rifled Moses pass allowed Michael Jennings to race downfield and Radradra put the Eels ahead for good four tackles later.
If Moses is required in Tigertown for the rest of 2017, Tedesco is surely required well beyond then. His value continues to soar with another all-action display, but it counted for nothing in the end.
Moses was the first and last Tiger to touch the ball in the match and judging by his disgust at the full-time whistle his heart is still very much with helping Cleary's men.
But no doubt his finals football ambitions might be better fulfilled in blue and gold in 2017.
"Parramatta are notorious fast starters and we were on the back foot there, but I thought we fought back pretty well," Cleary said.
"There's a lot going right today, bit there's some things that haunted us under pressure that has probably been happening for a while. We were well on top and in control at that stage. Momentum swung and still under pressure we have been coming up with some mistakes."
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