Why the NRL career of Super-League-bound Matt Moylan is a cautionary tale

There are two issues they used to name Matt Moylan.

The primary one was “younger Matt Moylan”. Why that occurred so typically and why it caught stays a thriller – Moylan wasn’t a teenage prodigy given he debuted simply shy of his twenty second birthday.

However it did have a endurance to it, whilst Moylan aged by way of his mid-20s, sufficient in order that even now with Moylan’s time within the NRL coming to an finish after he signed with Tremendous League membership Leigh Leopards, the outdated joke is being wheeled out once more.

The opposite title did not final as lengthy however it was way more harmful. There was some time there when Matt Moylan wasn’t simply referred to as younger; he was referred to as “the following Darren Lockyer”. You heard it in commentary, learn it in newspapers, noticed it stated on tv panel exhibits. It was inescapable and whereas it was meant as a praise, it ended up being a jail. 

Rugby league is rarely shy of creating a comparability between a rookie and a legend – simply ask the litany of subsequent Billy Slaters, Cameron Smiths, Sonny Invoice Williams or Andrew Johns which have come by way of the ranks – and at all times, with out fail, they don’t stay as much as it.

Moylan will not be with out his abilities. At his peak, he was a gifted attacking participant, and proper to the top of his NRL profession he had an excellent understanding of area and methods to exploit it for each him and others. He was a pointy executor of attacking form, and earlier than accidents slowed him down, his contact soccer background made him a harmful man off a fast play the ball.

However he was not Darren Lockyer. He by no means could possibly be as a result of no one can. There can solely be one Darren Lockyer and rugby league has already had him. Moylan, by way of no fault of his personal, was hamstrung by one among rugby league’s best sins – the game’s use of its previous to think about the longer term, as if it can not conceive of one thing that does not exist already.

The early days of Moylan’s profession at Penrith have been exhilarating sufficient to know why individuals have been able to get carried away. His debut towards Parramatta in 2013 was a 44-12 romp the place his composure and attacking class shone by way of like a beacon within the evening.

Within the subsequent season, he performed an enormous position within the Panthers’ unbelievable run to the preliminary closing, whereas discovering a present for match-winning performs. He made the Australian squad for the 4 Nations and issues have been transferring alongside precisely as they have been imagined to.

However if you end up the following Lockyer, there is no such thing as a time to attend. When you find yourself the following Lockyer, you must be that proper now and at all times. When you find yourself the following Lockyer, yours is the world and every part in it. It does not matter in case you can put on the crown that rests so heavy, you are going to need to bear it anyway.

That is how Moylan was appointed captain of the Panthers in 2016 after simply 50 NRL matches and when he was nonetheless discovering himself as a footballer. He was requested to be a frontrunner earlier than he’d been led himself, and the outcomes did not agree with him.

That is how, when his transfer from fullback to five-eighth occurred, it didn’t happen within the fullness of time however on the most important stage of all. The primary time Moylan performed a first-grade recreation at five-eighth was not for Penrith, however for New South Wales in Origin III that very same season.

That is how Moylan left the Panthers only one season right into a five-year deal  —as a result of the Darren Lockyer comparisons weren’t simply the standard media and fan hype. This time the calls have been coming from inside the home, with then-Panthers coach Anthony Griffin himself making the Lockyer comparability.

Finally, all of it grew to become an excessive amount of. Moylan, who was made the face of a false-dawn Panthers revolution that solely actually arrived years later, ultimately left Penrith in bitter circumstances for the Sharks. By this time, the Lockyer comparisons had died down. When you can not fulfill unimaginable expectations, the rugby league discourse won’t hesitate to go away you behind.

Moylan’s years with Cronulla have been a combined bag. His first marketing campaign with the membership in 2018 was one among his finest seasons within the high grade, culminating in a sudden-death finals showdown along with his former membership the place Moylan produced one of many hardest performances of his profession in a 21-20 victory.

The following three seasons have been blighted by damage and so they turned him into a special kind of participant. He nonetheless understood area and methods to use it, however he did not have the pace to enhance the talent. Moylan might nonetheless be sharp and harmful, however he was not lethal.

He thought of retirement earlier than, to his nice credit score, he produced a powerful comeback yr in 2022 when he performed 24 video games and helped steer the Sharks to second on the ladder.

This yr was not as form. Moylan — by no means the strongest of defenders or most bodily sturdy of gamers — grew to become a goal for opponents and obtained dropped with a couple of weeks to go within the common season.

His transfer to Tremendous League seems to be coming on the proper time. He leaves the NRL with a high quality, achieved profession however not an incredible one.

There may be a lot wreckage within the quick lane lately and Moylan might by no means actually keep away from it. A few of what occurred was inside his management however a number of it wasn’t. He was not allowed to be Matt Moylan, and even work out what that actually was as a result of he needed to be so many different issues suddenly – a saviour, a frontrunner, a prodigy, a Darren Lockyer-type.

No marvel it by no means occurred the best way so many individuals stated it might. No person is absolutely ever prepared for the load of the world to be on their shoulders, however that will not cease rugby league from placing it there.