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Moses Mbye has revealed he is leaving Wests Tigers for St George Illawarra to clear salary cap space, claiming he didn't want to be a burden on the NRL club.

Moses Mbye has revealed he is leaving Wests Tigers to give the club more salary cap space after admitting he hadn't lived up his hefty price tag.

Mbye was released from the final year of his Tigers contract on Tuesday, signing a new two-season deal at St George Illawarra starting in 2022.

That deal is worth significantly less than the $800,000 he was signed for by the Tigers in 2019, and while the Tigers will pay part of his salary next year a cut will come in 2023.

It came as a frank Mbye on Tuesday made a stand for embattled coach Michael Maguire and confirmed he wanted to help him free up cap space by moving on.

"I've been around the game long enough to understand that how it works," Mbye said.

"You don't want to be a burden on the club.

"I came up to this club with huge expectations under different management and I had huge expectations of myself.

"Unfortunately on-field performances have been underwhelming at some stages.

"I honestly think that it's fair for Madge (Maguire) ... to be able to put together his team, put together the roster he requires to win games.

"I always said if I had the opportunity to go to a club where I'm seen as one of those guys that they need to win games then I'd take it."

The move comes after the 28-year-old and Wests Tigers agreed in March he could look elsewhere, with the Dragons always the likely destination.

Mbye said he'd been motivated to make the switch after watching high-price Ivan Cleary signings Josh Reynolds and Ben Matulino wiped from the salary cap, with Russell Packer also gone this year.

"I've got a lot of respect for Madge as a guy and a coach. He wears his heart on the sleeve and he often gets a bad rap," Mbye said.

"But I have been living with the guy for the last month up here (in the Queensland Hub) and his heart is in the right place. He wants his club to go in the right direction.

"I think by gaining a little bit of salary cap space for him and also without hindering my career it's a no-brainer."

After Mbye floated between fullback, centre, five-eighth and utility, he expects to have a similar role filling gaps as youngsters develop at the Dragons.

But he does have aspire to return to his best, with less scrutiny on him than during his time at the Tigers.

"When you get paid close to a million dollars a year there's going to be a big expectations," Mbye said.

"I'm not that marquee guy anymore so I can go down there and give myself the best opportunity to put my best foot forward.

"And you never know I might be that marquee guy again one day."