Parramatta halfback Mitch Moses remains grateful to the Wests Tigers for setting him on the path to NRL stardom, despite rejecting their lucrative contract offer and choosing to remain at the Eels.
Moses made his NRL debut with the Tigers in 2014 and played mostly as a five-eighth opposite Luke Brooks, before switching to the Eels midway through the 2017 season.
The Lebanon international has become a household name since joining Parramatta, making his State of Origin debut and playing in last year's grand final.
But - like former teammate James Tedesco, who went on to bigger and better things at the Sydney Roosters - it was with the Tigers that Moses began to unlock his potential as a game-breaker.
On the hunt to break their finals drought, the Tigers have identified a number of halves targets in the past six months and earlier this year made a multi-million dollar play to lure Moses back from 2024.
The 28-year-old turned down the offer and confirmed to reporters on Monday night he had agreed to a new Eels deal.
The halfback rubbed salt into the Tigers' wounds by guiding the Eels to a 28-22 win over his failed suitors on Easter Monday.
But even after six years away, taking on the Tigers gives Moses pause to reflect on where it all began.
"They gave me my debut. They kickstarted my career," Moses said.
"I owe a lot to the club, they were very good to me.
"It's a bit weird playing them but I'm just happy we got a win."
The Tigers enjoyed the weight of possession and territory on Monday night and threatened to snatch victory from the Eels with three second-half tries.
While a late Maika Sivo cross sealed the win for Parramatta, Moses admitted the Eels could consider themselves lucky to escape with the two points.
"It was a bit upsetting," he said.
"We were pretty much fully in control, 22-6, up and then had some silly errors and we just went away from playing footy.
"We need to fix that up."
Moses insisted there was no cause for concern for the Eels, who suffered tight losses to 2022 heavyweights Cronulla, Melbourne and the Sydney Roosters earlier this season.
"We've lost games before and played better (than against the Tigers)," he said.
"For the first five rounds, we've versed some really good footy sides and we've been in the games for the majority of the game. We've been working our backsides off for each other.
"It's good that we won (on Monday) and we can learn from the lessons like that, rather than losing and learning from those lessons."
