NRL Team List
Round 24, Friday 8:00PM, Allianz Stadium
Another prime-time Friday match-up awaits the Parramatta Eels in Round 24. After falling painfully short to the Penrith Panthers, a result that was not short on controversial no-calls, Trent Barrett and the boys now suit up for a trip to Allianz Stadium to take on the Roosters.
The only major change to the team list this week is the inclusion of Kelma Tuilagi on the interchange. He comes into the side at the expense of Matt Doorey. Curiously, Ryan Matterson has been named to start at lock following reports on Monday that he broke three (!!!), yes three, ribs early in the contest against Penrith and played on in spite of it. We await an official injury report from the club but if there is credence to this rumour then obviously the Eels will need to call upon another forward. Doorey or Makahesi Makatoa are the only candidates in the extended roster and between the two Makatoa makes the most sense to fill a hole in the middle rotation.
Maika Sivo is part of the extended bench but wasn’t listed as expected to be able to play until Round 25. So, is he an outside chance of playing this week or is it more a case of the Eels needed to fill out the team sheet? Based on what we last week with Tuilagi I would be it is closer to the latter.
| Parramatta Eels | Sydney Roosters | |
| Clinton Gutherson | 1 | James Tedesco |
| Jake Tago | 2 | Daniel Tupou |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Joseph Sua’ali’i |
| Blaize Talagi | 4 | Joseph Manu |
| Sean Russell | 5 | Dominic Young |
| Dylan Brown | 6 | Luke Keary |
| Daejan Asi | 7 | Sam Walker |
| Reagan Campbell-Gillard | 8 | Spnecer Leniu |
| Brendan Hands | 9 | Brandon Smith |
| Wiremu Greig | 10 | Lindsay Collins |
| Shaun Lane | 11 | Angus Crichton |
| Bryce Cartwright | 12 | Victor Radley |
| Ryan Matterson | 13 | Connor Watson |
| Interchange | ||
| Joey Lussick | 14 | Sitili Tupouniua |
| Joe Ofahengaue | 15 | Naufahu Whyte |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 16 | Nat Butcher |
| Dan Keir | 17 | Terrell May |
| Reserves | ||
| Ethan Sanders | 18 | Sandon Smith |
| Maika Sivo | 19 | Siua Wong |
| Matt Doorey | 20 | Ethan King |
| Morgan Harper | 21 | Salesi Foketi |
| Makahesi Makatoa | 22 | Robert Toia |
NRLW Team List
Round 4, Sunday 6:10PM, Campbelltown Sports Stadium
The Eels roared to their second win of the season with a comprehensive 20-6 victory over North Queensland in Round 3. They return to Sydney in Round 4 where they head to Campbelltown to take on the winless Wests Tigers. Steve Georgallis has shocked the rugby league world by named an unchanged side from last week. Seriously though, no one was expecting changes to a winning formula and here we are at that very result.
With Cronulla playing Newcastle this week a win for the Eels could feasibly leave them with a share of the competition lead. Naturally they need to take care of their own business first but it is nice to be in a position to have those lofty aspirations after the tough season in 2023!
| Parramatta Eels | Wests Tigers | |
| Abbi Church | 1 | Botille Vette-Welsh |
| Zali Fay | 2 | Rebecca Pollard |
| Rory Owen | 3 | Leianne Tufuga |
| Rosie Kelly | 4 | Rikeya Horne |
| Monique Donovan | 5 | Tess Staines |
| Cassey Tohi-Hiku | 6 | Pauline Piliae-Rasabale |
| Rachael Pearson | 7 | Losana Lutu |
| Elsie Albert | 8 | Sarah Togatuki |
| Taneka Todhunter | 9 | Salma Nour |
| Madeline Jones | 10 | Christian Pio |
| Chloe Jackson | 11 | Brooke Talataina |
| Mahalia Murphy | 12 | Shaianne McGlone |
| Kennedy Cherrington | 13 | Najvada George |
| Interchange | ||
| Rosemarie Beckett | 14 | Sophie Curtain |
| Tyla Amiatu | 15 | Natasha Penitani |
| Jade Fonua | 16 | Tara Reinke |
| Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis | 17 | Jessica Kennedy |
| Reserves | ||
| Tafao Asaua | 18 | Tiana-Lee Thorne |
| Breanna Eales | 19 | Imogen Gobran |
| Chelsea Makira | 20 | Claudia Nielsen |
| Kate Fallon | 21 | Ebony Prior |
| Pihuka Berryman-Buff | 22 |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 24, Saturday 5:00PM, Eric Tweedale Stadium
A 22-all draw is far from an embarrassing result for the Eels but they will be frustrated they let the Penrith Panthers run them down last week. They now host the Knights on Saturday as they continue to push for a positive finish to the season.
Haze Dunster is finally back and reclaims his place on the wing. Young half Zac Hunter will play his second game in Cup while Will Lewis also holds his spot in the squad after both made their debuts last week. Speaking of debuts, Patrick Spence has been named on the bench and looks to be set to share the utility responsibilities with Meni Luke.
| 1 | Lorenzo Mulitalo |
| 2 | Haze Dunster |
| 3 | Ethyn Martin |
| 4 | Morgan Harper |
| 5 | Isaac Lumelume |
| 6 | Zac Hunter |
| 7 | Ethan Sanders |
| 8 | Ofahiki Ogden |
| 9 | Matt Arthur |
| 10 | Makahesi Makatoa |
| 11 | Matt Doorey |
| 12 | Toni Mataele |
| 13 | Brock Parker |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Meni Luke |
| 15 | Will Lewis |
| 16 | Reece Alderton |
| 17 | Patrick Spence |
Harvey Normans Women’s Premiership Team List
Round 7, Monday 7:00PM, NSWRL Centre of Excellence
The Eels find themselves in the odd time slot and location game once again with another Monday night clash at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence on the schedule, this time taking on the winless Tigers. Pihuka Berryman-Duff was a late inclusion last week and her return is now made official for this week’s Team List Tuesday. Sarah Dimech is pushed back to the bench in turn with Raphaella Perigo dropping out of the team entirely to help facilitate the change. Tafao Asaua is also back this week after traveling with the NRLW squad to Brisbane last week and missing the corresponding HNWP as a result.
| 1 | Yasmine Baker |
| 2 | Debbie Doueihi |
| 3 | Kate Fallon |
| 4 | Aaliyah Haumono |
| 5 | Shaye Shipton |
| 6 | Pihuka Berryman-Duff |
| 7 | Tallarra Bamblett |
| 8 | Aliti Namoce |
| 9 | Chelsea Makira |
| 10 | Tafao Asaua |
| 11 | Bella Sandford |
| 12 | Tahleisha Maeva © |
| 13 | Ryvvr-Lee Alo |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Ashlee Pottinger |
| 15 | Losalio Sita Payne |
| 16 | Sarah Dimech |
| 17 | Liana Dimech |
| 18 | Caitlin Peadon |
| 19 | Tehillah Vaeluaga |
| 20 | Raphaella Perigo |
| 21 | Alysha Bell |
| 22 | Rysh’e Fa’amausili |
Jersey Flegg Team List
Round 24, Saturday 3:00PM, Eric Tweedale Stadium
The Flegg just keep rolling after a strong 30-14 victory over the Panthers this week. Round 24 presents a big-time challenge though with the 3rd placed Newcastle Knights coming to Eric Tweedale Stadium. Parramatta’s victory over the Panthers came at a cost with centre Devonte Vaivela picking up an injury. Michael Abdow will replace him this week in an otherwise unchanged squad.
| 1 | Apa Twidle |
| 2 | Mohamed Alameddine |
| 3 | Michael Adbow |
| 4 | Araz Nanva |
| 5 | Ollie McCarthy |
| 6 | Matthew Hunter |
| 7 | Josh Lynn |
| 8 | Sam Tuivati |
| 9 | Ryley Smith |
| 10 | Teancum Brown |
| 11 | Jock Brazel |
| 12 | Dom De Stradis |
| 13 | Saxon Pryke |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Max Tupou |
| 15 | Tyrese Lokeni |
| 16 | Damascus Neemia |
| 17 | Raff De Stradis |
Are the two young fellas faitala- mariner,,and funa-luta, injured, big shame if so
Funa Luta was ruled out of cup last week, safe to say he is still out. Not sure about Faitala-Mariner.
Any updates on Devonte? Didn’t look great with his reaction. Hoping it was just painful, but not that serious.
Let’s just hope we keep the score close.
1 more week closer to the end.
Then we can refocus and get primed for a big year next year we are good chance of locking in another spoon next year.
It won’t be easy but we have the talent depth and culture to achieve it.
I thought we could have a good go at the Roosters even though they have a lot more pace than the Eels – then I saw who the referee was – Oh No !!!
I have been informed that the referees are no longer assigned to games by the referees boss.
What I have been told is that Abdo and other executives are making the appointments. When I asked how someone with no NRL experience can assign referees to games.
He said they go by statistics. What statistics I asked. We’ll play the ball speed in games under their control for one.
He didn’t mention any other statistics.
Interesting John, given the tunnel ball Panthers implemented against us for the last 3 tries. Watch our play the balls be around 3.8 seconds. Roosters 3.2…
I have lost all faith in NRL it’s all about the nedia narrative and the officials are just there to back it in. Annersley is just to white wash the bad decisions
Pete it’s a disgrace and people are blind by how blatantly unfair and seemingly corrupt it is at times. The tunnel ball saga was only one part of that win last week for Riff. The off side and obstructions was also there for all of us to see.
By definition corruption is having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain. I do not have evidence to support the taking money part, but the “personal gain” might be that the ref’s internally are treated better by their masters, and the media, if they give the top teams more of a free reign.
Pete parra was paying like $6 to win. The betting agencies are major sponsors. Imagine how much they would lose if parra won? We can speculate. But there’s soo much rubbish going on. Fools will see this happen time and time again and claim it’s only a coincidence, it’s not a coincidence if something keeps happening repeatedly and only for the top teams.
I don’t want to send negative vibes out their for the team, but I get a bad feeling about this week.. the eels may be down / mentally a bit beaten after you could argue being robbed last week, regardless of how poor they are towards end of each game, tunnel ball, obstruction, off side off every kick off, eels players will be feeling like the worlds against them. I just hope we see the same efforts and they turn up, but for many of the players they may be feeling severely down on confidence or simply fed up. I don’t care if we lose, just will be happy to see if we fight & give 100% effort. When we do that. We are still a good team. We saw that last week. We still have some amazing attack. Fingers crossed they turn up mentally undamaged from last week… 🤞💙💛
Agree Muz,
Most sports can be rigged by only 1 or 2 people.
The NBA was easily compromised by 1 person. The now former referee Tim Donaghy. He altered the outcome of games between 2003 and 2007 to profit from gambling on them. For years, the NBA maintained that no games were ever altered. However, those involved maintain that the NBA directly worked to stop the investigation from progressing which put the league’s integrity into question. No investigation means no findings.
The NBA has been said to be rigged quater by quater and it’s done for the TV audience. To keep people watching.
I don’t have any proof that NRL is rigged. But as you say these decisions happen time and time again. Just to be whitewashed by the NRL. They tell you it’s black when it is white.
Panthers tunnel ball. Will they allow it against Storm? You can bet Bellamy will be livid and the NRL will react.
I didn’t know that about the NBA but it’s not surprising. If we are being historically honest here it’s not a wild idea. Even governments and media constantly get caught out lying and covering up their own crimes and lies used to push certain narratives or straight out propaganda. There’s obviously unconscious biases, but there’s definitely something more going on where top teams simply get a green light to cheat in crucial games and there’s no consequence. 60’s said on the podcast about it, all they do is justify it. Saying stuff like “accidental obstruction.” Like… aren’t they all mate? Every week that it happens, it’s an accidental obstruction 99/100. But now that one was ok because it was an accident. So now you can take people out and just say you didn’t mean it? Can you take a player out with a coat hanger too and claim it waa just an accident too now? The game is literally a farce. Other seas fans would not cop this but Australians are very laid back and naive. There’s clearly Australians who will say it’s only the bias, but the way it constantly happens.. there’s seemingly more than that. It’s like blind favouritism or straight out corruption. In Europe thousands would riot on the streets if their teams lost to rigged refereeing like that causing their teams to lose. Only here in this sport would you get away with that and the public barely bats an eye.
They would have come out apologising or taking responsibility if the roosters, panthers or storm lost by the eels cheating doing tunnel ball and taking people out. If it lead to any of those top teams losing a close game.
The nrl is sad to watch. No faith in the legitimacy & accuracy of the bunker and what not either…
If eels started doing tunnel ball or taking our panthers players obstructing like that we would have gotten penalised immediately that night. You could almost bet on that!
Muz, totally agree with you on this issue as well as others. The game last week and the incorrect play the ball as the end, and being so visible for all to see certainly showed more loose play the ball and several numbers of off side plays by the rif.
I live too far from the matches but see enough on the box that highlights the cheats and other matches that are ripped away from the opposition.
My view is that the tombstones are being cleared up for the graves ready for the NRL.
Come on Muz, settle down, it was an accident. Poor old Liam was tackled by Talagi, a tackle where Talagi never laid a hand on him, so Liam stumbles on Talagis foot because Talagi propped for a second to ensure Liam didn’t get the ball, but Liam runs too close to him and trips on the foot. Talagi never throws a leg out to trip him, Liam finds Talagis foot then cannons into Asi. He’s like a drunk at the Cross in the 60’s but prevents Asi from defending a break which ends up in a try. But it was all accidental.
To me it seems to be a lack of consistency with different referees having biases that may reflect their skill level, or generally how they interpret rules (rigidly or flexibly).
I think all the teams play tunnel ball, maybe the Panthers are better at it? Getting back to two referees would help in my view. The game suffers with one REF required to do everything!
So, I’d like to think it’s resolvable issues rather than anything else mentioned in this thread.
Yes, Ben. It makes it hard to swallow
when the entire narrative has been set up the last two weeks with how good Penrith are (no issue it’s a fact) and they did a show on Cleary called “Ice Man” and how he’s the best closer in the games history. Any chance of bias? I would think so. Conscious, unconscious and confirmation bias are all in play. Throw in mistakes and inconsistent interpretation.
But, they’d all look pretty silly if he failed to close the game out like the experts said he would. So the ‘competence’ of the referee sees the offside, the obstruction and the obvious tunnel ball are all waved through and whitewashed by head office.
It’s the optics of it all.
Yeah Pete The ice man garbage hype narrative they keep pushing is ridiculous, panthers can win easily without him. Nathan is good but his team can literally win almost every game in his absence mate. Where’s look at parra, we can barely win 1 game if gutho is in the team. But gutho in the media is only spoken about as should be shopped or moved off because he is too slow, or flanno wants him. 😂 The hype the media places on Nathan is outrageous. he is good but not the kind of player a team relies on to win. Look at NSW, he also hasn’t yet made his mark at SOO level, we can win without him. In fact nsw looked worst with him steering the ship than Mitchel moses. Hynes was similarly effective to Nathan at origin level and got absolutely blasted by media and fans. The only one time we saw Cleary be effective at SOO was the year QLD was useless and got smashed by 50 points or something before slater came in. I’m not suggesting Clearly isn’t a good player, but they are already saying he is one of the best ever. The fact his Dads team (and NSW), can win the same virtually the same amount of games in his absence shows you that he is obviously not as impactful as the media & commentators lead us to believe.
The media hypes up these players into super mega stars then use their faces accross all their Kayo, fox & 9 NRL advertising efforts as the face of rugby league. You can’t escape Nicho hynes or Clearys face in Sydney billboards or busses. They build them up into these god figures to then use as the face of the game for media & marketing hype obviously. Nicho was the big media hype whilst Nathan was injured, but now Nathan is back (was) I see him on the busses and bus stops, billboards, in ad placements. 🤣