Moses Mbye has finalised a mid-season switch to the Wests Tigers, but not before a final farewell for Canterbury against the Gold Coast Titans at Belmore Sportsground on Saturday.
Mbye, who is reluctantly departing the Bulldogs to help ease the club's salary cap predicament, has finally agreed to make an early switch to help the Tigers in their pursuit of finals football in 2018.
The Wests Tigers released a statement on Friday morning, confirming Moses Mbye would join the club "in the coming days". He will join the club following this weekend's NRL round once paperwork has been finalised.
The 24-year-old will play his 94th and final NRL game for Canterbury-Bankstown on Saturday.
Tigers coach Ivan Cleary was thrilled to have Mbye on board.
"Moses is an impressive young man and we're really happy that he's able to join us at this stage of the season," he said.
"We look forward to having him join the club in the coming days and get into training with his new teammates."
Mbye had signed a four-year deal with the Tigers from next year, however, it was in the Tigers' and Bulldogs' best interest for Mbye to switch clubs before the June 30 trade deadline.
Tigers players excited to welcome Mbye
"I'd like to commend Moses for the way that he's handled himself during this process," Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe said.
"It's great that he's able to come across to Wests Tigers now as he'll be a part of our club for many years to come."
While the Tigers boost their hopes of playing finals football, the Bulldogs get the chance to begin forward-paying 2019 contracts to help their dire salary cap situation.
Bulldogs chief executive Andrew Hill paid tribute to Mbye for his service in the blue and white jersey.
"I'd like to firstly congratulate Moses on his career with the Bulldogs and wish him all the best for the next stage of his career," he said.
Bulldogs say Mbye will be a loss
"Seeing players leave is always difficult, but both parties thought that the timing was right to make the decision now so that we are able to give Moses the chance to say goodbye to the fans at Belmore on Saturday."
Mbye was reluctant to leave the Bulldogs prior to the end of the season out of loyalty to his teammates.
His Bulldogs teammate, Aaron Woods, was expected to join the Cronulla Sharks this week, however, the two clubs haven't been able to reach an agreement over the portion of Woods' contract they will pay.