Moses red flags Billy can exploit; Roosters star to trigger $1m ...

Is Mitchell Moses a flat track bully, or just fed up and paying the price for bumbling Parramatta?

Whatever you think, you’d imagine the emotional baggage Moses has carried in recent weeks would have acted like a red flag to Queensland coach Billy Slater heading into this Origin decider.

We all know what a supremely talented footballer Moses is when Parramatta or NSW are charging on the front foot.

Which was exactly the case in Melbourne where Moses produced one of the greatest halfback knocks in Origin history after his team dominated from the opening whistle.

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But Moses’ struggles when the Eels aren’t going so flash has been one of the major criticisms of the star halfback throughout his career.

And he just can’t hide from another very public meltdown in Thursday’s loss to the Rabbitohs.

While Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was being lauded as the “golden point GOAT” after calmly slotting yet another match winning field goal in Manly’s stunning victory over North Queensland, Moses again lost control when he was sin binned for a brain explosion late in his game.

Joe Ofahengaue even had to calm Moses down before he eventually took the ref’s instructions to leave the field for a clear professional foul.

This came a week after Moses lost his temper when he ripped into Clint Gutherson after a wayward pass from the skipper led to a Bradman Best try in the defeat to the Knights.

It’s easy to understand why Moses is so frustrated right now.

Not only is he obviously fed up by how poorly the Eels are playing, but also what is going on off the field at the battling club.

But it’s still hardly an ideal preparation for an Origin halfback counting down to a decider.

No doubt Slater will be plotting some sort of battle plan to try and rattle Moses’ cage in front of what is sure to be a hostile crowd.

Of course, Moses has every right to be feeling confident after such an impressive Origin return.

But that was when his team dominated across the park.

This threatens to be a completely different assignment.

Queenslanders are a different beast playing in front of their home crowd, and they’ll be desperate to prove a point after the way the Blues bullied them in game two.

As a direct result, there’s every chance this match will turn into an emotional powder keg at Suncorp, which is why it will be so important for both halfbacks to keep their heads.

It sets up an intriguing battle.

We saw on the weekend how Cherry-Evans typically reacts when the heat is on.

If it’s close at the death, how Moses deals with the pressure will be equally crucial.

RABBITOHS SOLVE NO 1 HEADACHE

It’s an awful blow for NSW losing Latrell Mitchell for the Origin decider.

But any debate whether South Sydney should consider switching Mitchell from fullback to centre was put to bed with his effort against Parramatta.

It became a big talking point last week on the back of Latrell’s powerhouse performance in the centres for NSW.

But with and without the ball, Mitchell showed against the Eels exactly why it would be a waste of his incredible talent restricting him to the centres at club footy.

It’s rotten luck he’ll now be sidelined for at least a month with a Lisfranc footy injury.

But what was particularly impressive against the Eels was his willingness to take tough carries out of his own end, on top of the way he turned up for some crucial defensive plays.

It’s going to take an enormous effort for the Rabbitohs to stay on track to play finals without him, especially if it ends up being worst case scenario and Latrell is ruled out for the season to undergo surgery.

At least the Bunnies have a somewhat favourable draw with their next four games against the Dolphins, Tigers, Raiders and Sharks.

What the Rabbitohs also have is that their defence has improved out of sight on the back of five straight wins.

NRL’S NEXT $1M MAN

If Ben Hunt was worth $1m-plus-a-season back in 2018 to play halfback for the Dragons for the next seven years, what does that make Sam Walker worth going forward?

With talk the Broncos will go hard to try and get the young Queenslander as a long-term replacement for Adam Reynolds, the Roosters will want to lock up Walker sooner rather than later.

The 22-year-old played 34-year-old Hunt off the park in Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ milestone celebration, handing out tries like they were on paper plates at a backyard barbecue off his short kicks.

Given Walker will become a free agent come November 1, his price tag would be going up by the week on his form this year.

JWH AN ALL-TIME TOUGH GUY

Put Jared Waerea-Hargreaves up with the greatest props of the modern game. Make that all-time.

Steve Roach, Glenn Lazarus, Paul Harragon, Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva are as good as I’ve seen in 35 years covering the game.

Waerea-Hargreaves would hold his own against the best of them.

And it’s a testament to not only his toughness but durability how the 35-year-old enforcer has aimed up week in, week out for so long.

Remember he debuted for Manly way back in 2009.

That’s 16 years playing the toughest position on the field, where this bloke carries the ball into every collision like his life depends on it.

Yet he has now played more game for the foundation club than anyone in Rooster in history.

It’s astonishing for a front-rower.

In decades from now we could go back to Waerea-Hargreaves’ explosive first half in his milestone match to remember why this rampaging Kiwi ranks up with the greatest.

It was outstanding theatre watching the old warrior take it to the Dragons like a one-man wrecking machine.

Lindsay Collins also showed why he’s ready for some Origin retribution after a disappointing game by his lofty standards in Melbourne.

The Dragons had a crack but just didn’t have the strike power to keep pace with the Roosters who look primed for a huge finish to the season.

BAD DOG LEARNS NEW TRICKS

We gave Reed Mahoney a bake in this column last week for his continued bully boy tactics this season.

Credit where credit’s due.

The Bulldogs dummy half now deserves a pat on the back for his performance in the golden point win over the Warriors.

What’s better, Mahoney didn’t feel the need to revert to the mug tactics once in the entire game.

Yet Mahoney still found a way to inspire his team as he finished with 60 tackles, along with some really big effort plays during that desperate field goal shoot out.

It all points to the remarkable spirit the Bulldogs are playing with this season.

This match really had a finals intensity about it, and the way the Bulldogs’ dug in for each other to allow Matt Burton to ice the game was just so impressive for a team few tipped as top eight contenders.

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BUNKER HOWLER ROBS WARRIORS

That said, it was embarrassing that the Bunker totally ignored Jaeman Salmon’s late shot on Te Maire Martin that should have secured the Warriors’ the win in regulation time.

How does the Bunker miss that?

Answer: they didn’t miss it, they chose to ignore it.

And there is a huge difference.

Yet you can only put it down to the fact the under fire officials didn’t want to make the big call to decide the match.

How else can you explain what happened after both players stayed down and Salmon had to leave the field with a suspected broken jaw.

Yet Bunker sensationally decided not to award a penalty that would have gifted the Warriors a 14-12 lead heading into the final minutes.

The Warriors ended up going down 13-12 in extra time.

It’s embarrassing.

What made it worse was that Salmon was subsequently hit with a grade two dangerous contact charge which carries a two-game ban with the early guilty plea.

This is exactly the type of howler Wayne Bennett was blowing up about in his recent interview with foxsports.com.au, when the super coach was calling for every high tackle that is not clearly accidental to be penalised.

You wonder why so many coaches, players and fans are so frustrated.

In the context of the Warriors’ season that one decision could be the difference between playing finals footy this year and missing the top eight.

A Monday apology doesn’t cut it.

BRONCOS’ SEASON ON LIFE SUPPORT

The Broncos certainly won back some respect with their gutsy effort in a tough loss to the Panthers.

But the hamstring injury to Jock Madden couldn’t have come at a worse time with Adam Reynolds still sidelined for several more weeks.

The finals’ hopes of last year’s grand finalists are now literally on life support with the Broncs in serious dangerous of completely missing the eight.

The next month of football will make or break their season when they take on the Dragons, Knights, Bulldogs and Titans without Madden and Reynolds.

Meanwhile, you can only tip your cap to the Panthers who are just an unbelievably resilient footy team.

The way they work so hard for each other defensively almost defies belief after all the success this club has had.

You certainly wouldn’t be backing against them to make it four straight titles with Nathan Cleary’s return from injury so close.

STORM’S UNLIKELY STAR ON RISE

How good a player is the Storm’s Tyran Wishart developing into?

It doesn’t matter where Craig Bellamy puts him, the son of legendary Illawarra Steeler Rod just turns up and has a 100 per cent crack doing his best.

In the win over the Tigers, Wishart started at five-eighth before switching to dummy half to cover Bronson Garlick’s injury, and Wishart came up with some huge plays in both positions.

It sums up what the Storm are about as a club.

One man goes down, next man stands up.

It again highlights how Craig Bellamy has this incredible of knack of taking off cuts from rival clubs and turning them into genuine stars.

Once again, Jahrome Hughes was the best player on the field by a mile.

But for the Tigers, what a captain’s knock from Api Koroisau yet again.

Koroisau has been the best hooker in the comp this season, and how he didn’t get a NSW call up at any stage in the series is through no fault of his own form.