Just when I thought that I was close to naming the Eels top 17 for round one, Jason Ryles and his staff threw a bit of a curve ball to myself and any observers at training today.
Whether it was in the NRL left side vs right side drills, or in the various scrimmages run this morning, a number of different forwards were given an opportunity to play in the NRL team.
That meant those players took their place alongside “NRL regulars” such as Iongi, Addo-Carr, Russell, Penisini, Lomax, Brown, Moses, Hands, Tuilagi, and Williams.
Today we witnessed Sam Tuivaiti, Charlie Guymer, Wiremu Greig, Matt Doorey, and Dan Keir all being rotated for NRL team time. To be fair, Charlie Guymer has been no stranger to these scrimmages.
I thought that each one of those forwards grabbed their chance with both hands, and Dan Keir was arguably the standout.
At different stages of the morning, the squad were involved in numerous games of two hand touch, red zone full contact scrimmages, and full field scrimmages.
As a quick side note, a mini Broncos run preceded the red zone scrimmage, and the Foxx and Zac Lomax tore it up!
Cup kicking on the last
My highlights from all of today’s session were as follows:
* Keir running a great line in the NRL left vs right to score near the posts
* Numerous effort plays in defence from Dan Keir
* Carty slicing through the line with his typical deception
* A long line break from Joash Papalii
* Isaiah Iongi running Joash down to prevent a try in that play
* A superb offload from Lomax to Addo-Carr for a try
* Stout defence from the NSW Cup team during the full contact red zone drill
* Plenty of talk on the field, including players reminding each other about their goals
Running through some shapes before scrimmages
As usual, the session wrapped up with defence – technique and combinations. At this point the rain started to fall sideways in the windy conditions so I made my exit before this defence work was complete.
There’ll be no training reports next week due to a variation to the training schedule. But fear not, the original content will continue to keep you talking about Parra on The Cumberland Throw.
Now for a quick correction.
In the “News Podcast” I responded to social pages making money out of providing “exclusive” information. People who pay their patreon or membership to those accounts get privileged access to said information.
This week, one such account was offering mail about an Eels player who broke the Broncos record at training. The public post had the name and time redacted, as well as other details which I won’t go into.
Those who read the training reports on TCT were already aware that the player was Ryley Smith. No big secret there. What I didn’t include were the specifics of his times as I prefer to leave such details in-house at the Eels.
However, if a particular social media page is going to reveal it and/or make coin out of it, then my take is that it’s no longer just in-house and readers should have it for free on TCT.
Unfortunately, this old brain of mine farted on the podcast as I gave a time of 2:16, which was impossible. Of course it was 4:16. My apologies for any confusion from that and for what was a terrific run from Ryley.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Nice Sixties, thanks.
Dan Keir is really making a claim for a starting spot by the sounds of it.
My eyesight is poor these days but is that Dylan Brown eating a soft serve ice cream while looking at his phone in one of the photos? 😀
Dan has always been a big effort player Joseph. Ice cream?
Great to hear Dan Keir doing well. The sound of Zac Lomax and the fox playing on one side together also sounds dangerous sixties. It would be hard to imagine any team containing those two players working together.
I don’t think that will be the plan. But it looks like Russell will play outside Penisini in round one.
They played plenty together so you would think that’s a good combo for rd 1 if it happens. 👌 maybe Lomax & Bailey on other side then
Muz, you’re right about Will and Sean being experienced together – it would be an easy choice for round one.
Thanks for these reports Sixties. Always good to read. Interested in how Hopgood is going with his recovery. He is a quality player so it would be good to have him back for round 1.
I can’t comment on that Pete. Hopefully he’s back in full training soon.
Thanks Sixties and it was great to see the squad and yourselves there yesterday- it was good to see a new coaching team take control and see them operate.
I must say that I’m impressed with the fitness football being drilled into the squad. It was great to see along with the range of drills and skills of the players particularly some of the forwards.
I’ll be back on a week or so!
Yes mate, great to catch up on Friday. Looking forward to your next visit.
Any idea how Brazel is going training with the cup side ? Any other new players featuring in the cup side to note?
Haven’t heard much about Latu recently. How has he been going
Will Latu is my tip for a player to watch this season. He’s been doing the NRL preseason.
How’s J.Tago going at training. He seemed to Juno Russel last year yet barely mentioned in training reports. Is he still eight he side?
He has been in rehab GG, that’s why no mention. I don’t provide rehab details as I leave all of that to the official media from the Eels.
THANKS