NRL Team List
Round 27, Friday 6:00PM, Campbelltown Stadium
Well, here we are…the long-awaited Spoon Bowl™ (sigh). Of all the Americanisms for the code’s media to adopt the ‘Bowl’ suffix makes even less sense than the universal application of the ‘Gate’ suffix for any sort of drama. There is no Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, Iron Bowl or Sugar Bowl in Australia and yet here we are with everyone and their dog barking Spoon Bowl™. I say all of this as a massive fan of the NFL (and College Football to a lesser degree) but the term is seemingly here to stay.
So how do the Eels shape up ahead of this marquee match? Sean Russell is back on the wing for one. Kelma Tuilagi slots back into the starting backrow for two. That looks to be the extent of the changes with Jake Tago and Dan Keir (concussion) the two individuals making way as a result.
Reagan Campbell-Gillard, although not part of the official departing players list, is expected to play his final game as an Eel in what will be his 107th cap as part of the Blue & Gold. While they fell agonisingly short of a watershed premiership, the combination of ‘RCG’ and Junior Paulo should go down as one of the club’s greatest ever front row pairings when all is said and done.
The winner won’t exactly be taking all between the Tigers and Eels but they will avoid the ignominy of coming last this year. Regardless, neither club should or will be content with where their seasons have ended but for the Eels it will close a chapter on a year full of pain, frustration and change. What lies ahead under the stewardship of Jason Ryles? No one ever really knows but I will tell you one thing from this particular sucker – hope springs eternal.
| Parramatta Eels | Wests Tigers | |
| Clinton Gutherson | 1 | Heath Mason |
| Maika Sivo | 2 | Junior Tupou |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Solomona Faataape |
| Blaize Talagi | 4 | Josh Feledy |
| Sean Russell | 5 | Charlie Staines |
| Dylan Brown | 6 | Lachlan Galvin |
| Daejan Asi | 7 | Aidan Sezer |
| Reagan Campbell-Gillard | 8 | Stefano Utoikamanu |
| Brendan Hands | 9 | Apisai Koraisau |
| Shaun Lane | 10 | David Klemmer |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 11 | Alex Seyfarth |
| Bryce Cartwright | 12 | Samuela Fainu |
| Joe Ofahengaue | 13 | Isaiah Papali’i |
| Interchange | ||
| Joey Lussick | 14 | Latu Fainu |
| Makahesi Makatoa | 15 | Sione Fainu |
| Luca Moretti | 16 | Fonua Pole |
| Ofahiki Ogden | 17 | Alex Twal |
| Reserves | ||
| Jake Tago | 18 | Tim Johanssen |
| Matt Doorey | 19 | Alex Lobb |
| Ethan Sanders | 20 | Reuben Porter |
| Haze Dunster | 21 | Kut Laulilii |
| Wiremu Greig | 22 | Tony Sukkar |
NRLW Team List
Round 7, Sunday 1:45PM, Eric Tweedale Stadium
A brutal injury to Kennedy Cherrington (Lateral Collateral Ligament) and an ugly loss to the Dragons has left the Parramatta Eels at a crossroads. They host the Gold Coast Titans at Eric Tweedale Stadium on Sunday. Steve Georgallis and his troops simply must have a win this week if they are to begin to break away from a congested midfield and make a legitimate tilt for the finals.
Breanna Eales steps into the starting forward pack at lock forward in place of the injured Kennedy. Georgallis has stuck to his guns otherwise with an unchanged backline, pack and interchange. Lindsay Tui flashed in her in restricted minutes against the Dragons and could loom as an option to shake up the back line.
| Parramatta Eels | Gold Coast Titans | |
| Abbi Church | 1 | Evania Pelite |
| Zali Fay | 2 | Georgie Grey |
| Rory Owen | 3 | Jaime Chapman |
| Rosie Kelly | 4 | Niall Williams-Guthrie |
| Monique Donovan | 5 | Emily Bass |
| Cassey Tohi-Hiku | 6 | Sienna Lofipo |
| Rachael Pearson | 7 | Lauren Brown |
| Elsie Albert | 8 | Shannon Mato |
| Taneka Todhunter | 9 | Brittany Breayley-Nati |
| Madeline Jones | 10 | Jessika Elliston |
| Chloe Jackson | 11 | Zara Canfield |
| Mahalia Murphy | 12 | Shaylee Bent |
| Breanna Eales | 13 | Georgia Hale |
| Interchange | ||
| Rosemarie Beckett | 14 | Lily-Rose Kolc |
| Tyla Amiatu | 15 | Laikha Clarke |
| Jade Fonua | 16 | Rilee Jorgensen |
| Lindsay Tui | 17 | Matekino Gray |
| Reserves | ||
| Mia Middleton | 18 | Lailani Montgomery |
| Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis | 19 | Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell |
| Pihuka Berryman-Buff | 20 | Sarina Masaga |
| Kate Fallon | 21 | Ngatokotoru Arakua |
| Tafao Asaua | 22 | Georgia Sim |
Harvey Normans Women’s Premiership
Round 10, Sunday 4:00PM, Eric Tweedale Stadium
As we all expected, the streakiness of the Parramatta Eels saw them strangle the undefeated Wentworthville Mapgies to a 12-10 victory last week. Wait, what? Yes indeed, in perhaps the most Parramatta result possible, the Eels knocked off the then flawless Magpies after weeks of throwing away games on the back of frustrating errors and mismanaged opportunities. Go figure!
Debbie Doueihi made the shift into the centres in that game and holds that spot this week with Aaliyah Haumono also reprising a new role at five-eighth. Ashlee Pottinger looks to have her hands on the starting dummy-half role in the last of the significant changes to the squad.
| 1 | Yasmine Baker |
| 2 | Alysha Bell |
| 3 | Debbie Doueihi |
| 4 | Caitlin Peadon |
| 5 | Shaye Shipton |
| 6 | Aaliyah Haumono |
| 7 | Sarah Dimech |
| 8 | Rysh’e Fa’amausili |
| 9 | Ashlee Pottinger |
| 10 | Losalio Sita Payne |
| 11 | Fontayne Tufuga |
| 12 | Tahleisha Maeva © |
| 13 | Ryvvr-Lee Alo |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Bella Sandford |
| 16 | Liana Dimech |
| 19 | Aliti Namoce |
| 20 | Rory Muller |
| 18 | Tehillah Vaeluaga |
| 21 | Chelsea Makira |
Great to see Luca Moretti getting a consistent run. Also Ogden will add more impact to the bench. Key to victory this time will be our best defender in Brown marking up Galvin if that’s the side he plays on again. Asi cannot defend Galvin. Russel will need to have his best game ever on the wing too! Can Sean Russels defence hold when they go there near our try line? 😅 hope he just has a blinder.
Brown is on Galvin. Asi is on Fainu.
There’s a few signs of life in this team. Probably because Ryles is watching closely. If we can get fit enough to play 80 minutes each week would be a good result.
The defensive system needs to be unlearned in the off season and a new adaptive set of systems need to be implemented.
Basic skills; catching, passing and tackling drilled, drilled and drilled again.
Gough gave out 3 sin bins at Leichhardt. How many will we get? It seems obvious theres been a mandate to prevent a third spoon.
It should be a high scoring game.
Yeah it makes you wonder if the refs will rob parra to try help tigers avoid the spoon. It’s not like refs are nice to us at best of times. It’s not a good look for nrl with tigers gagging last each season, you can bet the refs will be on their nuts imo..
Yeah Muz, game buried at 6pm on Friday at Campbelltown. Ensuring almost impossible for Eels fans to get there after work. 80-90% Tigers fans any dubious decision will be buried by the focus quickly turning to the following game. It’s “spoon-bowl” nobody will care except Eels fans.
This was always going to be the spoon-bowl.
If the ref isn’t sucking off the tigers we win it. They be able to hold back morretti and and Ogden, Jo o, RCG set after set their middle defence will give us meters & field position easily once they have to keep making tackles on them. We typically win games when the position & field position comes easily. My only two worries are if the ref sucks off the tigers & stop our momentum. Or if our forwards are undisciplined and are letting tigers get out of their own easily giving away stupid penalties. They will have to be super disciplined or the ref will hand the tigers the game. That’s my thoughts. If ref stats blowing whistle each time they come out of their own end we could lose.
Don’t think it will be as high as last weekends game.
I suspect the NRL is keen to wake the sleeping tiger, especially considering the sold out crowd. A few wins have brought fans back to the fold – imagine if they were knocking on the door on finals? No need to do the same for Parra as fans will turn up and tune in regardless of on-field success. In fact one of the key things we need to build as part of a new Parra culture is that nobody will give Parra a free ride. Every success needs to be hard fought and earned, and that effort and attitude needs to encompass everything we do. Just look at what happened in 2022 – nobody was riding us home, in fact we just earned even more hatred and criticism from other outside the club.
Thanks RCG. You gave it everything.
Eels 40-0 at half time.
Tigers to win 41-40 in extra time.
Haha, I have genuine concern for this being a possible outcome.
It’s very rare that you look at an Eels line up and man-man the backline stacks up! I guess that is what happens when mediocrity plays mediocrity
Gutherson > Mason
Sivo = Tupou
Penisini = Faataape
Talagi > Feledy
Russell = Staines
Brown = Galvin (in theory better, but not on form)
Asi = Sezer (Though Sezer is arguably more of a hindrance to the Tigers than a help).
While the performances have improved of late, this game has loss written all over it with a raucous crowd at Campbelltown, the Tigers an extra week to get ready, and Gough v Gutho. I hope I am wrong, but i don’t see a scenario where we win… Unless Api just does not care and comes off with one of those “injuries” he sometimes gets when they are getting flogged.
I think I saw somewhere Brett that Sezer might be out with shoulder issue. Fanui might be taking his spot
We all keep talking about how the eels need more footy smarts at the club and people who can get more out of our players and coaching systems.
James Maloney has just need let go of from NQLD due to a DUI.
This is the perfect opportunity for our club to get in a legitimate person in who’s a former high level half, a rep level game changer and winner who’s got some serious footy smarts.
Somebody who could possibly help turn Dylan brown, even help moses I’m sure. Possibly he’ll Brown go from being player full of potential into a player fulfilling his potential. Ryles’s assistants are not elite halves coaches or former elite halves themselves.
Just a thought 💭 but you can bet the eels are too slow, while the eels from office are asleep at the wheel, the roosters or panthers will probably snap him up before we even realise the opportunity. It couldn’t possibly hurt adding a champion player into our club who probably has more footy smarts than anyone else at the club. Eels would probably have to debate and fight over it for 6 months before they came up with a conclusion. Ryles already has his assistants.. so you would expect the actual club would need to make a move. If people like MON and bozo Mcelduff can get jobs permanently at the eels. Surely they can throw money at someone who actually has an idea and get some more footy smarts into the club wherever necessary.
There’s a school of thought (at least in golf instruction) that great players don’t necessarily (perhaps if ever) make great teachers. Not saying any one single coach adheres to this theory, but I’m not sold on players always being good as coaches. In fact im surprised there are so many ex-players operating as coaches.
Yeah it’s definitely true in all sports often best player isn’t the best coach or teacher, I still think having their minds around in some capacity could assist some players. But definitely some lime Maloney or Joey johns don’t seem like first grade head coach material. Haha
Does anyone have the list of players leaving plz.
I keep hearing n reading that ppl want Parramatta to hire Jimmy Maloney from the cowboy’s.
personally i wouldn’t have him anywhere nere the joint. as it is JR will be having his hands full with this crop of player’s. n some new arrivals.
anyone read somewhere about eels chasing Boyd from the Gold coast titans. his been given permission to talk to other before hia contract expires.
do we chase or say thanks but no thanks.
The ladles have really hit the wall. I had high expectations for them but b2b heavy defeats is not a good sign for future games.
I think we need to chase that back up 7 from Newcastle to play 5/8 n move our 6 into the centres.
My score for the spoon bowl is eels 34-tigers 22
half time will bee eels 16 tiger’s 10
Just saw the rubbish about former players trying to get on board. That’s the last thing we need. Just because some of them played footy well doesn’t mean any of them have any skills to manage a team or football club. We need real professional people, not this group
Yeah Ron, I did see that.
I do think we need some football brains with Eels DNA. We have good business heads on there already but no balance at present.
Brian Smith or Daniel Anderson on the board would be good IMHO. Failing that a CEO that is more dynamic. Offer Matt Cameron enough to make him jump ship.
I don’t want factions! We need everyone wanting to improve and rowing in the same direction.
The club doesn’t really communicate effectively. That’s why we are seeing the current move for an EGM.
What do those people offer? Not much. There’s a reason Brian smith isn’t involved with any club. We seem to fetishise the Brian smith era when it’s long gone. It would be like how tigers brought back tim sheens and how did that go …. Horribly as expected. We do need someone like Matt Cameron instead of Sean mcelduff but the answer is not old players getting a say. They are not what we need at all in my opinion and we would be taken ever more steps back if we went down that path. Let ryles and co do their thing. Mcelduff is retiring from position anyway. Just nail next appointment of ceo
Isn’t Anderson still over at roosters? Did you see the podcast where Mannah was talking about him and how good of a coach and eye for talent he is? With James Graham. Apparently Daniel Anderson can spot talent and identify things very easily Aka has good instincts and good footy brains. This is what shits me about this club. Matt Cameron was with us too as you know and he is apparently an absolute gun over at penrith. All the people who could make our club “great again” with a sarcastic trump reference, are making OTHER clubs great instead of ours.
The other issue I’ve got is that we have legitimate former state of origin and Kangeroos levels stars who were the best players in the world in their positions. They basically have nothing to do with our club or our juniors.
I want to shout out Nathan Hindmarsh. I also want to shout out Jarryd Hayne, I know he is controversial but it’s since been dropped. Tim Mannah is a class bloke too, and was one of the hardest working eels for many years, both off field and on. He would sacrifice ANYTHING for our club once. Luke Bert was also a class footballer and origin player.
Success follows these gentlemen and it would also mean a lot for us fans to see them back around.
Luke Burt is apparently doing well and succeeding coaching. Hindy is a main stay media personality with a lot of success at fox. Hayne is probably the most globally known rugby league name due to his NFL stint in the U.S. Tim Mannah is a businessman and educated bloke, who’s well spoken and loves our club, he is also doing well off field. Fox and others pay him to work for them.
While we don’t have to agree with me I strongly believe it would help our club by having these individuals back around our club to bring the love of the team back into the culture and to help spread it across all grades.
Because at the moment the only player (in my view) who comes to these men who comes close to loving our team and having the parra spirit as much as them is Clint gutherson.
And Clint gutherson is possibly going to be shafted after next year and that would be another parra spirit, a bloke who puts his heart & soul into this team above his own self, that leaves us and exits our culture. Leaving a massive void left that you cannot fill.
I would like to ask our club to reassess their position on how they treat former star eels club LOVING players and ultimately somehow bring them into our systems.
They need to look at Melbourne and the chooks. They only surround these young players with former players who LOVED their club with passion and were star players who have lots to offer.
That passion for the club & Jersey, the loyalty & culture that develops (you can see it at melb & chooks), creates an enormous amount of passion and pride into the players and makes them feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.
What we have at parra is a lost identity, a bunch of new heads who have no connection to the past, and if Clint gutherson goes without being possibly retained somehow in our club, in afraid it will be another generation of Eels players who are simply there to collect a pay cheque and leave as soon as a good opportunity arises.
Tim Mannah was saying 7 of the Jnrs in his team became NRL players which is virtually unheard of. He said that was because they learned from them & played with the NRL players and their coaches learning systems from a young age.
He said all you wanted to do was be an eel and you loved the club so much none of you were even interested in taking offers from other clubs for more money.
I wish there was a way us fans could help influence this club to make a difference because I’m afraid new coaches alone without the culture shift on more levels mixing with old eels DNA culture won’t be enough to make our club a champion club again that leads the way. We will improve but the recent mass exodus shows you that our culture & leaders are weak.
I have no problem with having someone like annderson, hayne, Burt etc around the club. I just don’t want former players or brown smith etc involved in senior exec positions as they don’t have any qualifications for it. Having footy knowledge can be helpful on day to day level and someone like Matt Cameron would be gold in exec level but not former footy players on exec board l. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. Agree that We definitely need to prioritise our juniors and the connection with fan base. I have no doubt ryles and brown will big a big improvement in that regard
Muz I love Luke Burt my memory isn’t what it used to be but pretty sure he’s not a state of origin player.and with gutho I love him too and I’m hopeful he will extend after next year abeiit at a reduced fee.ryles has already been in touch with his manager so that sounds promising
Sorry tanky gets mixed up which one played for nsw it was Hodgson. But I think Luke Burt holds some records for us still and was a brilliant player for us too. I agree mate it’s good news they spoke to his manager I really hope gutho is shown respect after next season because he has more to offer and still has more effort and spirit even with his broken down body than any other player for our eels
All good mate just looked up his record. He played in the prime minister’s 13 so that’s good to have on your record
I prefer “Reverse Grand Final” than spoon bowl. I also believe there should be a bottom eight playoff to make the Reverse Grand Final. The NRL has really dropped the ball in not making this happen.
The Bludgers Dish.
Tanky I made a mistake my memory always gets mixed up which one played for nsw it was Hodgson. But I think Luke Burt holds some records for us still and was a brilliant player for us too. I agree mate it’s good news they spoke to his manager I really hope gutho is shown respect after next season because he has more to offer and still has more effort and spirit even with his broken down body than any other player for our eels