NRL Team List
So the Parramatta Eels are taking on the Manly Sea Eagles this Sunday, huh?
All the hype around the recent resurgence of Manly has rightfully centred on Tom Trbojevic. The tall and extremely dangerous fullback has hit a patch of form that shades on royal purple and his ability to ignite their attack is no joke. The Eels will 100% be looking to neutralise his impact in Round 11 and to do that the Blue & Gold have deployed exceptionally special countermeasures.
You know who else is tall, extremely dangerous and has little time for the comedy industry? That’s right ladies and gentlemen – Sideshow Bob. Brad Arthur clearly knows his pop culture references and has identified that startling similarity between the two. From that deduction he tweaked in his team in a brilliant manner that will render the man they call ‘Turbo’ nigh on useless. Those that watch The Simpsons would know that rakes are Bob’s mortal enemies (after Bart Simpson naturally) and as such ‘BA’ has made the solitary change this week with Ray Stone dropping out of the team for Joey Lussick. Lussick, like Reed Mahoney, plays dummy-half…the position also known as a rake. Thus with the selection of multiple rakes the Parramatta Eels have found the ultimate means to neuter Manly’s superstar. Lo and behold the two rake strategy:
On a serious note, the Eels blood player #816 with the selection of Lussick and while he likely plays a minor role on the weekend he does give the team the ability to cover dummy-half, the halves and even the small ball player lock role. Almost fittingly, Joey’s club debut comes against the team he made his NRL debut for all the way back in 2017 and the very same franchise that has strong familial ties to the Lussick surname. It adds a nice little extra layer of spice to a game that is always lively given the long history between these two franchises dating back to their twin inception.
While Trbojevic of the T. variety is stealing all the headlines, Manly still possess a number of proven NRL stars like Daly Cherry-Evans and Martin Taupau while they have a young, emerging core in players such as Jason Saab, Josh Schuster and Sean Keppie that improved significantly as the season has wore on in 2021. As a point of contrast though, while the Sea Eagles did win the last start the Eels have dominated the rivalry under BA with a 9-4 record.
It lays out the scene for a stellar Sunday of footy and TCT will be at the club before the game to host a live pregame edition of The Tip Sheet at Pablos. We played our last show at the same venue in front of a shockingly packed house so if you want to come by and join the fun please do so!
1. Clinton Gutherson ©
2. Maika Sivo
3. Tom Opacic
4. Waqa Blake
5. Blake Ferguson
6. Jake Arthur
7. Mitchell Moses
8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
9. Reed Mahoney
10. Junior Paulo
11. Ryan Matterson
12. Isaiah Papali’i
13. Nathan Brown
14. Oregon Kaufusi
15. Shaun Lane
16. Joey Lussick
17. Bryce Cartwright
18. Ray Stone
19. Keegan Hipgrave
20. Haze Dunster
21. Jordan Rankin
NSW Cup Team List
The Eels pinched a last gasp victory over the Canberra Raiders in the catch up round of the NSW Cup at Ringrose Park on the weekend. Michael Oldfield dived over in the corner with under a minute on the clock to snare the 26-24 win and bump Parramatta up into 3rd place on the ladder in the process.
Ryan Carr has simply worked around the first-grade call ups and with Jakob Arthur and Joey Lussick unavailable he has responded by shifting Lalatoa Mata’afa from wing to five-eighth, Jordan Rankin from five-eighth to halfback (a mostly cosmetic move to be fair) and promoting Nathaniel Roache from the bench to dummy-half. All these moves are honestly straightforward and essentially facilitate themselves.
The most notable addition to the team this week is that of Samuel Loizou. The young outside back made his return from injury a fortnight ago in the Jersey Flegg and like Arthur, Will Penisini and Sean Russell he has been fast-tracked into the NSW Cup to accelerate his development in 2021. It continues this extremely exciting period for both fans and the club as the Eels look to establish a long term pathway for success.
Parramatta host the 11th placed Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles as the curtain raiser to the NRL on Sunday. The game kicks off at 1:35PM but sadly due to our prior commitment for The Tip Sheet, we are unable to bring fans either live-updates or a livecast of this clash.
1. Hayze Perham
2. Haze Dunster
3. Will Penisini
4. Michael Oldfield
5. Sean Russell
6. Lalatoa Mata’afa
7. Jordan Rankin
8. Makahesi Makatoa
9. Nathaniel Roache
10. Wiremu Greig
11. Elie El-Zakhem
12. Ray Stone
13. Keegan Hipgrave
14. Charbel Tasipale
15. Kurt Dillon
16. Ky Rodwell
17. Samuel Loizou
Jersey Flegg Team List
BYE
Great write up as usual.
Random question, do we know if Hazye Perham is on a top 30 contract for this year and next?
Yes, the Eels announced it as a two year signing.
I think Joey is selected as a bit of a experience in case Reed gets the Qld call up. Stone played like 5 mins on Sunday and I reckon baring injury joey will get the same amount of time
I agree with this guy he seems so wise probably handsome too.
Ps.. that was me
Well done mate. Lussick covers halves, dummy half and lock, and BA liked that with Will Smith. It’s good positions to cover.
Selections make sense and smart move to give lussick some game time with SoO on the horizon even if it’s at the expense of my fav, Stone. Really starting to test our depth!
Looks like forward planning in the Reggies too – quite a young squad
Sign of the future DDay.
Good read as usual quick question has young loizou have similar speed to duster and Russell, cheers
With loizou being selected in NSW cup is it because he is a development player.?
From the games I have watched although loizou has been injured majority of the season he has not been a standout at all.
It’s ashame players are not being selected due to performances.
There are a few in Flegg that deserve opportunities due to consistency..
Clubs can now select players outside the top 30, including development players.
Which few , Name them .
Definitely not Samual Loizou..!
He was atrocious last game..
In fact he hasn’t been good in any games he has played this year although they have been limited..
So the only logical answer is, he is getting selected due to being a development player
Try sweeter grapes .
Eels for Life, there were only a couple of players in the last Flegg game who had strong performances. It was not their best game as a team. And whilst Sam might not have been amongst those couple, he definitely wasn’t “atrocious” as you called him.
So here’s the logic. I reckon you are correct in a way about his promotion resulting from his status as a dev contract player.
Samuel should be playing Cup if possible as he trains with the Cup and NRL players as a full time squad member. That means that the coach, Ryan Carr, is very familiar with him. Sam wouldn’t get as many sessions with the Flegg team.
My question to you is this, who would you elevate and what case would you make for elevating them ahead of Sam.
Yep , developing a development player , thats logical to me
Can Forty or Sixties answer why there is no photo’s showing the NSW cup players. Would be nice to see what they look like rather than shadows.
Have a look at Jake Arthur meeting his mates after his debut game. I think they were NSW State Cup players
It probably relates to their contract level/status, but i might take this up with the club mate.
PS, There are 12 players in the Knock on Affect team that are also listed in the NRL squad. A couple have some details and a photo on the Eels 30 man list but not shown in the KAO listings
Would be good to see the faces and details especially as they are now part of the eels teams overall, helps I would think in relating to players when you know what they look like as well as on field performances.
Great read.
I really enjoyed J. Arthur’s debut he was fantastic.
I was uninspired by the return of Waqa, he had 6 missed tackles and 2 ineffective tackles out of his 16 tackles….running 69 meters only 1 error luckily. I can’t wait for Marata to come back..
Looking forward to Joey Lussick’s debut for us.
Good opportunity for Joey and continues the Eels increased options from the bench.