Who gets your vote for the left centre spot at the Eels?
My December call had been for Morgan Harper, but Bailey Simonsson edged ahead throughout January. Then just when I thought that the incumbent Simonsson had penned his name onto the team list, Harper today was one of the standouts in a big opposed session.
It’s not that Bailey did anything wrong. Far from it. He’s become Mr Consistency since the New Year, and this morning was no different.
However, Harper featured on highlights for both the NSW Cup and NRL teams today (the players alternate between teams during some sessions) and threatened every time he carried the ball. Furthermore, he took on a leadership role during his minutes in the Cup side.
As for the rest of the squad, Moses’ composure and Gutho’s leadership caught the eye. The King has genuinely embraced the younger players in the squad and regularly has words of encouragement for them during the sessions.
In addition to Harper, Luca Moretti assumed leadership responsibilities in the Cup team. Moretti had a very involved session and was involved in some of the bigger clashes through the middle.
Session Structure
After warm ups, the squad split into four smaller teams for unstructured play drills. It was two hand touch with the attacking team having a numbers advantage.
There was a slight variation between the drills, with Murf running one and Baz the other. The differences were found in field dimensions, restarts, player numbers and defence line positioning.
It’s entertaining to watch, with players chancing their hand in attack, and defences scrambling. Murf’s loud commentary is also worth the price of admission. Check out Murf mic’d up on Eels media platforms!
After these drills, there was a “match”between the NRL and NSW Cup teams. It was full contact under match conditions for around half an hour with NRL refs in control and conversions taken after tries.

Moses takes a close range conversion
The battle through the middle was serious business, with collisions up to game day level. Big moments and tries were celebrated by team mates, reflective of the competitive nature of the contest.
Eventually, the NRL team flexed their muscle as they should, but it was a quality hit out.
The second half of the morning switched to coach determined opposed work. This meant the teams alternated between extended periods in attack and defence.
Highlights – Match
* Lumelume taking Shaun Russell over the sideline with a terrific tackle to prevent a try in the corner
* RCG and Ofahengaue bringing the heat with a big collision on Moretti
* Moses scything through the defence near halfway, finding Carty in support for the try.
* Harper executing a superb trap and scrap to shut down an attacking kick, before taking off downfield to set up a long range try for Lumelume. Ethan Sanders converted from out wide.
* J’Maine Hopgood eliciting praise from his team mates after a bullocking solo try through the ruck.
* Gutho firing a pinpoint pass for Sivo to cross in the corner.
* Mitch Moses placing a precise chip kick over the defence with Morgan Harper (now in the NRL team) winning the race to ground the ball.
* Moses nailing a 40/20 and Shaun Russell showing great pace to almost reel it in for a try.
* Junior powering through tackles to plunge over from close range
* Mitch Moses converting all but one try, with his only failed attempt being a sideline kick which struck the upright

Sivo crosses out wide
Coach Determined Opposed
* Harper getting his try double for the day after extended possession in the quarter
* Moretti making a long break after securing a loose ball
* Junior crossing from close range off a Lussick pass
* Gutho putting Sivo into space for a try in the corner
* Shaun Russell finishing with a try double.

The Cup team defend their line
Defence Comment
Despite the hot and humid conditions, the NRL demonstrated great energy in defence. They hustled to the point of putting pressure on the attack.
There are many young players in the full time squad and this pressure is a valuable learning experience for them.
Of course, we will learn more about both the NRL and NSW Cup teams when they play the first of their trials in two weeks time.
Eels forever!
Sixties
It must be tricky to have these contact sessions and mitigate the risk of injury. I guess a necessary requirement for excellence. Martin
All clubs go through it. But just like NRL, you might see players get non contact injuries like hamstring or knee injuries as much as you might see a contact one. The thing about a preseason is that the players don’t have a need to play with niggles. Players are “rested” as needed during this time. They might spend time doing alternative training instead of squad work.
Tks sixties. Do you think RCG and Joe O were telling Moretti that he was playing a bit rough and tone it down? Let us know if the young bull responds next time around.The human brain has billions of cells, I always reckon a good forward has at least one crazy one.
BDon, it’s simply the competitiveness of such sessions. The players in possession run hard, those in defence tackle hard. And yesterday, the tries were genuinely celebrated. It was like watching a real match.
When it gets to the season proper, the players might “surrender” in a tackle, especially when they’re getting to specific points on the field.There’s obviously no point in adding bruises between games. But going back a few years, Marata used to get thumped in tackles at training. I asked a player why he’d get tackled so hard. The response was straight forward – it was because he always ran hard at them so they had to hit him hard. It didn’t mean that training wasn’t tough. I watched some sandpit defence sessions at Saleyards that weren’t for the faint-hearted.
Gutho gave an interview during the week mentioning the increased focus on footy work this preseason. Have you seen enough to suggest the fitness levels of the group are still at a high level coming into the season? The conditioning work has been well reported in these updates but I’m interested to hear if the volume or type of conditioning has changed from previous seasons?
Fitness levels look very good. Besides all of the strictly conditioning work that’s done, many of the drills and games have a strong conditioning element – for example, they play a game that has them kicking on the third tackle so the players are consistently in a kick chase or rushing back to get on-side. And like all teams, the sports scientist is monitoring their output – kilometres run, what percentage of maximum they run at etc. And the players who were in rehab did quite a lot of conditioning work before they re-joined the group.
Interested in the yeam
Not long till the trial teams are named. I’m expecting the newer players or those who missed a lot of footy in 2023 to play in the first trial, with the side expected to be named in round one to play in the second trial.
How’s Mataele been progressing 60s?
Big unit. Unfortunately unless he takes a step forward this year I think he may be done with our club.
He’s fit and had a solid preseason. I’m expecting a shift from edge to middle this season. He seemed better suited there when shifted in the latter part of 2023. I’m hopeful of a big season from Toni.
Who is winning the Hooker race. Do we think BA will go with one over the other?