NRL Team List
Round 10, Friday 8:00PM, CommBank Stadium
There is nothing quite like coming out of the bye week with a nice, breezy game against the *checks the schedule*…Brisbane Broncos. Oh dear. Yep, it is already looking like one of those weeks and it is only Team List Tuesday. So, how are the Mitchell Moses-less, Clinton Gutherson-less Parramatta Eels shaping up this week?
Let’s start at fullback where Brad Arthur handed the venerable #1 to Blaize Talagi. After stints at centre and five-eighth (and even bench utility), we now get an extended look at Talagi in the NRL in the position the club have flagged as his long-term role. It is a bitter-sweet feeling to arrive at this moment given the loss of Gutherson but it is also an exciting moment. Blaize is still very much new to the position and will invariably make mistakes but this is a seriously important glimpse at the future for the Blue & Gold.
And since I originally penned that part about Blaize, news has broken that he will decline a player option for 2025 and test the open market. This run at fullback now becomes a defining moment for the club for both this year and beyond. There are shades of Stefano Utoikamanu here, I just hope it plays out to the betterment of the Eels this time around.
Sean Russell has been recalled to first grade but will turn out in the centres this week instead of on the wing. He replaces Morgan Harper on the left edge and will partner Maika Sivo – who has escaped the axe perhaps solely due to a lack of backline depth – on the same sideline. Ethan Sanders has officially signed with the Canberra Raiders, a blow we knew was coming, but he will hold the fort in the halves for the Eels as Moses continues to rehabilitate from a foot injury.
There is a change on the bench too with Brendan Hands making way for Bryce Cartwright. Ryan Matterson has been named to start on the right edge but could easily swap with Bryce ahead of kickoff. That is the sum of the changes for the Eels this week as they look to unseat one of the true competition heavyweights on what is being forecast as a torrid Friday night.
It is a monumental task. Even without Adam Reynolds and Jesse Arthars the Broncos are a monstrously formidable opponent. At full strength and in-form the Eels would be understanding outsiders and as it stands they are decidedly understrength and more than a wee bit out of form.
Obviously, there is plenty of noise in the media about the future of Brad Arthur at the club. For mine, while past and future results already have and will further shape that discussion this week is simply a contest where I will be happy to see the Eels dig their heels in and show some fight. The Broncos have an embarrassment of riches across their backline and forward pack and come into this week on the back of a humbling loss to the Roosters. They are going to be fired up. They are deserved favourites and will likely win but I want to see the undermanned Eels make them earn it.
Sixties and myself will be hosting the Pregame Show at Parramatta Leagues Club on Friday night. If you are willing to brave the elements and Parramatta’s outside look at victory, be sure to come say hello!
| Parramatta Eels | Brisbane Broncos | |
| Blaize Talagi | 1 | Reece Walsh |
| Maika Sivo | 2 | Corey Oates |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Kotoni Staggs |
| Sean Russell | 4 | Selwyn Cobbo |
| Bailey Simonsson | 5 | Deine Mariner |
| Ethan Sanders | 6 | Ezra Mam |
| Dylan Brown | 7 | Josh Rogers |
| Reagan Campbell-Gillard | 8 | Corey Jensen |
| Joey Lussick | 9 | Billy Walters |
| Junior Paulo | 10 | Payne Haas |
| Shaun Lane | 11 | Brendan Piakura |
| Ryan Matterson | 12 | Jordan Riki |
| J’maine Hopgood | 13 | Patrick Carrigan |
| Interchange | ||
| Bryce Cartwright | 14 | Tyson Smoothy |
| Makahesi Makatoa | 15 | Xavier Willison |
| Joe Ofahengaue | 16 | Kobe Hetherington |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 17 | Jack Gosiewski |
| Reserves | ||
| Luca Moretti | 18 | Tristan Sailor |
| Morgan Harper | 19 | Fletcher Baker |
| Daejarn Asi | 20 | Benjamin Te Kura |
| Wiremu Greig | 21 | Jordan Pereira |
| Brendan Hands | 22 | Blake Mozer |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 10, Sunday 3:00PM, North Sydney Oval
The NSW Cup also had the bye last week and now turn around to face the North Sydney Bears for the second time in a month. The Eels triumphed over the Bears 30-28 when the last met as the Blue & Gold finally broke a five-game losing streak.
This week’s team sheet sees the return of Ethyn Martin as he young back takes his place on the wing. Morgan Harper unsurprisingly turns out in the centres while Brendan Hands is named at five-eighth. Charlie Guymer is back on the edge after some time at lock with Brock Parker named at #13. Saxon Pryke rounds out the young talent in the Cup this week as he gets a chance to make an impact from the bench.
| 1 | Zac Cini |
| 2 | Ethyn Martin |
| 3 | Jake Tago |
| 4 | Morgan Harper |
| 5 | Isaac Lumelume |
| 6 | Brendan Hands |
| 7 | Daejarn Asi |
| 8 | Luca Moretti |
| 9 | Matt Arthur |
| 10 | Wiremu Greig |
| 11 | Matt Doorey |
| 12 | Charlie Guymer |
| 13 | Brock Parker |
| Interchange | |
| 15 | Meni Luke |
| 16 | Saxon Pryke |
| 17 | Kyle Cassell |
| 17 | Reece Alderton |
Jersey Flegg Team List
Round 10, 4:45PM Saturday, AAMI Park
Don’t look now but the Flegg are on a 2-game winning streak. After securing the drought buster against Manly in Round 8, the Eels got the job done in Fiji with a 42-22 win against the Silktails. Now they travel to Melbourne to try and make it three on the trot.
We have an incomplete team sheet currently but per NSWRL there is at least one surprising change with Apa Twidle named in the centres as it stands. Five-eighth is current TBA while the other significant inclusion this week centres on Raffaele De Stradis as he makes his Flegg debut for the Eels on the bench.
| 1 | Zachary Hunter |
| 2 | Mohamed Alameddine |
| 3 | Apa Twidle |
| 4 | Dom De Stradis |
| 5 | Beau Newlands |
| 6 | TBA |
| 7 | Joshua Lynn |
| 8 | Sam Tuivati |
| 9 | Ryley Smith |
| 10 | Lance Fualema |
| 11 | Jock Brazel |
| 12 | Will Latu |
| 13 | Max Tupou |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Damascus Neemia |
| 15 | Teancum Brown |
| 16 | LeBron Tuala |
| 17 | Raff De Stradis |
| 18 | Will Lewis |
My comment? Go Eels. Fight, boys, fight! Make the Broncs earn every metre. Show pride in the home game. Make us proud of you.
Couldn’t add any more to that.
Any idea whats happened to the young Flegg Fullback recently bought down from Queensland? He played one game and not seen since.
Thank you.
Not sure Spike. He was solid in that game. I’ll see what I can find out.
Thanks for the write up Forties.
Who would have predicted the dropping of Morgan Harper would be a surprise to most before the season kicked off.
I don’t mind Russell in the centres, I’m guessing BA has opted for the “fastest” possible outside backs to nullify the ultra fast Broncos.
I’m not surprised Blaize will test the market, managers are paid to suck the last drop out of a grape skin. We need him to step up and if does, we’ll be in a battle to keep him, it’s a risk for Blaize too if he tanks. At the moment I’m just hoping to save this season.
Lane is using his last credits from 2022, I’m hoping the big man comes good, I’m optimist he will, the bye break could be what he needed to reset.
Sivo, few predicted his selection, I’m not surprised when our options are narrowed down to Sivo. How long have we been screaming for Sivo to remove the tennis ball from under his pedal? The 2019 Sivo is dead, he did make a Lazarus like cameo appearance in our last round win against Penrith in 2023 but like Lazarus, it was short lived. The best we can hope for is his try scoring strike rate inside our 20.
I like the look of our team, I don’t know why exactly, my gut tells me we can pull an upset.
I have a feeling we’ll go out with a” I don’t care” attitude, passes will stick and the Bronco will be mistake riddled once they realise they’re in for a game.
Go you slippery things!
I think you summed up the thoughts for many here Joseph. We have a bit more to say in the podcast.
I’m looking forward to the podcast Sixties, hopefully Clint is back on board.
I think you are right about Russell in the centres. Not that he is lighting, but Harper is just too slow.
Agree on Lane. He continues to be very very lucky.
I’m not holding my breath for Sivo of 2019 to come back. Even back then, he tended to be a little… quiet on cold, wet nights which is what we will face on Friday.
But our forwards tend to show up in the wet nights for whatever reason. I’m hopeful they will Friday, but it still won’t be enough against the impressive Broncos pack
The only thing I am excited to see is Martyn and Pryke in cup.
Talagi is not ready for FG and I am a massive fan of him. He lacks the defence even at NSW Cup level. He should not be playing FG this year as he needs another off-season in the gym to get more built and gain more speed. I believe Asi would have been a better option.
Also surely Twiddle at centre is a typo when he has been killing it at 5/8.
We discuss this in the podcast EA. We suspect an elevation from Ball but that’s just that, a suspicion.
Lussick at hooker for 80 mins is a sight for sore eyes. I don’t understand why Brad is doing this. his service will fall off a cliff and the broncos forwards will run over him all game.
Talagi needs to do the basics right – catch kicks , run the ball back hard, communicate to the defensive line and support Dylan /forwards re: offloads.
Can’t ask for more from Blaize. He’s still learning the position as well as being new to the top grade.
Fair enough ron but who do you put there , hands is useless , cant pass any better and suspect in defence , recruitment is shambles in this club , get out now BA its not going to get any better ,they sold of your gf side and bought you a ko cup dads army to replace it , shambolic dosent cover it , run for the hills BA .
I’m in the keep brad camp. I agree that there is some Balme to be apportioned to brad for some of his contributions to the poor state of affairs at the moment but I believe the Hof and others on r and r committee are the ones who are really to blame for creating these state of affairs. I have spoke about that on other posts so all I can say is I hope there is a clean out of mark oneil and a few others who have been grossly negligent in constructing the present and future rosters.
For present purposes (ie the Bronx game) I think brad should put hands on bench for kelma and drop makatoa for moretti (we need some leg speed and agility amongst the boys who are stuck in the mud in the middle most games)
I Respect your opinions ron but had you been at t ko cup game against manly i think you would have made same decisions as BA , 3 outstanding players was kelma easily then sean and maka , luca was full of mistakes as usual ,he came onto field against manly coughed up 1st run as usual , leg speed i like as you do but ball security’s is his monkey , just my opinion ron and i watch all ko our cup games.
I only got to watch first 20 mins of cup so I will defer to you on that for this week (it is shocking the lack of agility we have in the middle for this team)
I think with kelma his defence is something that I’ve never been a fan of. Whether it’s technique and lack of fitness or whether it is that he needs to harden up mentally to put in effort on effort – I don’t really know but it is very plain to see the shortcuts he takes in games. It’ll take a lot for me to ever trust that sort of player to help us get out of this mess at the moment.
Hopefully the changes this week work but with the hooker situation, I want Matt Arthur in there soon (preferably once Moses is back so he has a senior half to help in grade). I agree hands is below average but so Lussick in my opinion and the damage they do to our team is reduced when they don’t have to play 80mins against a big and mobile pack such as the Bronx.
Agree totally on lussic , hands situation and boods arthur is demanding attention , youve covered it all
Oh well. Stubbornness and doubling down edition of the team list. Whilst I unrealistcally hoped for a slew of changes. BA is true to form and rarely makes changes. Yes we lack the depth and all grades in bottom of the table. Players out of form etc.
Reynolds out – rather than asking Mam (a running 6) to play 7. Walters has selected the Cup halfback Rogers to play his natural game. BA – persists and with playing a natural 6 and 7 out of position.
Blaize – hopefully haa a blinder I don’t blame him for testing the market. Our recruitment team is the worst in the NRL and probably not trusted by any of the young players. Our development of Blaize this year has been poor. 5 different jobs in as many games.
Fingers crossed for the win. But if Broncos get on a roll they’ll be hard to stop.
Pete, I wonder whether any of the Broncos players like Mam who were in doubt are rested at the last minute. Would they be confident enough of a win to not risk them on a wet track?
I’m expecting a few names with niggles rested from the Broncos roster. They have to pace their season and make sure the right players are there for the heavyweight games…and as sad as it makes me to admit this, we are definitely NOT a heavyweight game.
Even with a few other rested from their squad the Broncos should do away with this Eels squad fairly easily. They’re one of those teams who are so stacked in the backs that we could get burnt on the edges all night long.
All I’m hoping for is that we turn up and play with pride for 80 minutes.
They really aren’t in a position to be resting players at this stage of the season. They’re only in 7th and are 5/4. That would be arrogant in the extreme.
Agree Sixties,
They can certainly rest some talent.
With good squad depth.
Even Billy Walters can play in halves and Smoothly play at 9. Kev Walters has chosen not to weaken two positions…
Whats YOUR solution pete ????
What’s YOUR name ???? anon lol
So no idea then ??? its ray by the way and it changes nothing . Still no solution offered pete
I don’t think that the numbers on their back are indicative of them playing to them.
Sanders played as a 7 and Dyllan as a 6……the fact that Dyllan runs the game is no different when Nathan Cleary was wearing the 7 and Mahoney the 6 and running the game.
The problem with Talagi is that he is not a full back, he is being thrown into a situation he may never recover from. Quiet simply his defence is not up to FG level and if he is embarrassed like he could be, we have wasted a promising player, who I might add is a long way from being superstar in anyone’s book.
Why BA is not using Simonsson as a fullback is beyond me. He has had first grade experience playing fullback when at Canberra and he does not have the same risks attached to Tulagi.
I hope I am wrong about Tulagi but he is not ready yet as EA implied in his post and I am extremely disappointed in BA selecting him where there can be enormous damage to the young man’s confidence.
I believe we are heading into major problems with our lack of depth (way past them actually) and if I was BA I would be swinging from trees trying to get my hands on some players that are excelling in NSW or QLD equivalent Cups, God only knows we are sadly lacking in our own Reserve Grade side and if it means raiding by making over top offers to the best performers in second grade elsewhere, we should be doing it!
At the moment the old saying of shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic would have no greater meaning than it currently does with the remnants of our top 30, I understand we have 3 places still to fill!!
I have been gratious with BA and am not hunting for him, but we are in a dire situation of finishing bottom 4 or even wooden spooners, this competition has more depth in it than I can ever remember. The risk we have is that new players will not want to come here under the circumstances of failure. Lomac must be regretting already his signing.
We need to recruit Bennett as he is the only coach outside of the Storm connection that will attract new players with his appointment.
It maybe a bitter pill for BA, but for the good of the team he should be making arrangements with the club to finish this year and contract Bennett if we can, to take over in smooth arrangement heading into 2025.
Sixties young Brock Parker looks interesting on what limited time I have seen of him. Do you have any more intel on him? What we lack is a back rower that can make line breaks on there running ability alone, he looked like he had good footwork at the line? I honestly think Harper is an easy scapegoat besides some drop balls that stand out, I can’t fault his effort weekly, centers defending off the back of the middle losing the battle it can be all or nothing with there decisions and actions. The manly game was a step in right direction fingers crossed we can build some more from that
The question is “what happened to the team that beat the Bulldogs in round 1?”.
An error-free, strangling performance of that kind will encourage the Broncos to make mistakes and save us from making the number of tackles we had to against Manly.
I don’t think we will win too many games if we get behind on the tackle count.
To beat the Broncos we have to score points.
They will score them against us with freak tries.
Fortunately, their backs are as disorganised at the fringes as ours and there is no reason Sivo can’t get another hat-trick.
Walsh is in a bit of a slump at the moment and early pressure could see him go missing.
The team we have is what we have.
I’ll be screaming for them.