We’re getting to the pointy of the pre-season where differences from last year are becoming more noticeable.
I’m not talking about the training or the processes. Nor am I referring to the new personnel.
Firstly, there’s the transformation of the returning players.
Parra’s media team has already captured the changes to the body shapes of many of the players. Those who have seen the players in person, at fan days or at Eels training, will attest that it’s even more evident close up.
Many of the players are undeniably leaner, but they don’t appear to have lost power/strength. For reference, the likes of Junior, Ofa, Woody or Will are prime examples.
This is manifesting in the next difference – a greater mobility of the players which has delivered what appears to be a better functioning defence line. Please note that this is only a training observation, the real proof will be in the premiership game pudding.
However, there are more and more instances at Eels training where the defence is winning the contest. Today was a prime example.
And that defensive battle featured a couple of entertaining individual match ups. More on that in the highlights list.
Take it as a given that the session began with various warm up drills and skills stations.
The squad then transitioned from left side vs right side scrimmages to full field NRL vs NSW Cup. In the early left vs right work, I thought that there was a bit too much dropped ball. However, the errors seemed to reduce as the intensity increased, which was a positive sign to me.
Rare straight line running today
Please note that in the warm conditions the coaches ensured that hydration breaks were taken.
Beginning with relentless attack vs relentless defence, the extended periods in possession asked a multitude of questions of the defence. Eventually the scrimmage changed to full field under game flow conditions.
I’ll go to bullet points for the noteworthy moments in both attack, and especially defence.
* Strong defence from Haze Dunster and Jake Tago to shut down what loomed as a certain NRL try
* Sam Tuivaiti crunching Junior in a tackle close to the line.
* Junior repaying Sam in kind shortly afterwards.
Defence in action
* Carty looking at his best this preseason
* Will Penisini delivering some hurt in defence on multiple occasions. His brother might have been on the end of a hit or two…
* Terrific trap and scrap by Gideon where he not only got his foot to the ball, but then won the race to the deflected ball.
* A composed leap and take by Apa Twidle to defuse an NRL bomb
* Brendan Hands scoring one of the few tries by winning a kick chase
* Jordan Samrani taking an intercept to score a try
* Hands shutting down a field goal with a brave charge down – the ball absolutely smashed into him.
* The fluid and composed defence line movement of both teams
* Great talk – it was quite noisy with the players talking to each other
The session concluded with defence technique. Different types of tackles were practised, with the first part of this work seeing the squad split into forwards and backs.
We couldn’t have been closer to the action involving the forwards, and the thud of the contact despite the use of tackle pads and gym mats, and the sound of air being expelled from lungs, was memorable.
Tackling practice
But the best feature was how much the players enjoyed each other’s work. The cheers and woohoos that greeted the big hits were almost non stop. Carty featured in multiple tackle exchanges. Big Sam was involved a few times too!
Junior and Ofa not only delivered their share of heavy shots, they were also on the receiving end. And they gave praise to those bringing the hurt. To be fair, there were moments when those of us watching uttered some expletives.
Will defence prove to be the biggest difference throughout 2025? We won’t begin to get the answer to that until the real stuff starts from round one. And it’s a long season. Patience might yet be the best option for fans.
For now, I’m encouraged, but trying to keep my expectations as tempered as I can.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Hey again Sixties.
Can we get a predicted 17 but perhaps with a twist; name a memorable moment of their pre-season or a strength in their training which made you think they’ve got a gig.
A few notable omissions would be nice too.
I’d be waiting in anticipation.
Jye.
This is a very good idea
See what I can do Jye. I was looking at my preseason Wrap so that might be a point of difference.
I suppose The Storm first up is going to tell us a lot about the changes Ryles has made. Im not expecting that much from the trials other than to get a look at some of the new additions. But, like every other supporter, it does bring hope the defensive deficiencies of the past have been banished. Bring it!
It’s a long season Shaun. I’m confident about improvement. How much, I don’t know.
I reckon it will be a fun season and an improvement of the last two.
Attack had never been parras problem in all honesty they scored alot more points then most teams would have last year without a half back for most of the season. Defence is the weak link and has been for years, if ryles can fix the Defence they are certainties for a top 8 spot
They only scored 19 points less then the panthers as of Rd 27 not a bad effort when moses played I think 6 games and a plethora of injuries throughout the year. Although they leaked 716 to 394. I’m nit expecting parra to be a blue n gold wall of defence in one preseason but its sounds like defence is a top priority for ryles and that has me very excited for the season
When the season starts, it will be interesting if other people note how the defence has changed. I won’t go into it here, but once it’s on show in games we’ll see if the notes are the same.
Thanks again mate I love reading these. I hope when you do a team
List you do the nsw cup too.
Jack, the Cup list will be the hardest of all!
I commented last year that boys composition was a major issue we had. I could tell that part of the boys collapsing in the middle with hands on hips and unable to get back on side (at times) past the 50 min mark was a sign we had a disadvantage due to the avg body composition of too many of our players especially forwards. You look at the Storm and panthers the relentless assault goes for a full 80 minutes, the body types of our boys previously would not physically allow you to do that. I’m confident that this new body composition will see us no longer fall apart and gas as easily. I don’t care if we don’t “win the collision” in the first 10 mins every game. What we (us parra fans) want to see, is a team who fight a team off our try line every week and show defence. The slow to get back on side, their defensive line hands on hips, the collapse of the middle defensive line at 50 mins. This is what parra fans all long to see. I think added cardio fitness due to leaner body’s on big men alone will ya make up for whatever potential deficiency’s we may have by having a rookie coach. Hate off to Jason’s to flipping us on our heads. That front loaders / power game no longer was as effective with how fast & fitness game is now being played compared to 3-4 years ago, you see the storm & panthers they look like they just out-fitness every team, every week. If the two best teams are not prioritising power players, but only ever having maybe 2-3 max on the starting 17, then there must be wisdom in that. Besides Maybe Leota at panthers, or big NAS at Storm. You could argue the rest of them are not considered power players. The best players now have extremely high output. Defence wins you premierships. You can’t win games consistently if your team collapses if you don’t hold a possession advantage. Power game only works if you hold a possession advantage and don’t have your big forwards tackling and running back on side all night. I’m personally most impressed by the fact Jason has gotten these boys into shape like this. It’s a hugely different approach. It may not “work” for some of them. Some players will lose a big part of their hit up impact. They’ll have to adjust their game slightly. We may not see the fruits of their labour so to speak until minute 50, when they can still get back on side and defend. I’m expecting the approach will be “win the tackle” “win the ruck speed / play the ball” instead of mostly “win the collision”, not suggesting big hit ups don’t work. But we regularly got flopped on to our backs and got slow play the balls. If our boys are lighter but land on elbows more, and get a faster play the ball, this should in theory completely off set and loss we sustain in the hit up impact department if the props are say 10kgs lighter. Winning that wrestle and NOT being flipped on your back is sooo important. I hope our boys can improve in this area. You see when can Murray lands hands down and gets that quick play the ball, it just generates truck loads of momentum up the middle. IMO, this faster play the ball emphasises would create more opportunities than just trying to make a bigger impact on the hit up. You don’t need to be 120kgs to land efficiently and get a fast play the ball. It’s technique over body weight.
Muz, have you been sneaking in to watch training? Your observations seem to align with plenty of what’s been happening.
I haven’t unfortunately mate but I wish! Just been lucky enough to catch your reports + analyse how I think Ryles may coach our players after watching his former mentees play the game in terms of details in defence, ruck & wrestle control of opponents body in tackles, and assuming that this will be what’s implemented, plus the fact how taxing defending and wrapping up the ball up is, then assuming our body composition & conditioning would have to be adjusted to better suit this more or less defensively aggressive playing style which Jason taught at other clubs. I believe he was largely a forwards & defensive coach at other clubs. In particular Melbourne where former players of recent times all note the gruelling wresting and tackling when preparing. They always mention the wrestling and winning the tackle preparation and how taxing it is. Jason was part of this. Munster also warned the parra players before he joined how hard it would be. Every pre season is hard, but if players themselves are warning about Ryles & storm how hardcore it is, I hold great faith in Ryles preparations for our eels.
I wonder if RCG left because he didn’t want to mould into a new body type.
@Sixties, how is Lane, does he get gassed alot in training?
Lane is in the rehab squad
Yy I think RCG was on big coin and he was the only big money forward other clubs would pay for at that coin. Jason needed coin to build out + lock in the players he wanted. Williams and Guymer I think fit his mould. Williams was signed, Guymer I think extended and looks to be in the 17. He also signed Giddy who’s a mobile young back rower. I think RCG was a gun, but Jason and the staff have done a very good job at adding in good players for replacements. 1 example is RCG might only have 1-2 years of NRL left in him at 31. Williams is 28 and looks very fast & mobile. At 28 he might even have 3-5 years left of NRL in him. Thats a pretty good deal for us, especially considering Williams was a lot cheaper than RCG who at his age (turns 32 this year). RCG at 32 – you would expect to see a big decline from him this year or next year, Williams might hit him prime over the next 2 years at parra.
I think that Ryles & co have done our roster balancing a significant positive by using RCG coin to sign & extend a few solid players. Realistically, i think it was less that RCG (or gutho) would fit our game, but more that we would not have been able to bolster & balance our roster if they stayed. We’ve finally managed to shake up the roster. I doubt it could have happened if RCG or gutho stayed. Let’s face it – gutho & RCG might only have 1-2 years of NRL left, I think the clubs made some tough but positive decisions here for the long term good for our club.
Pleased to hear the focus and improved cohesion of our defensive line – we will see how it holds up in match conditions shortly.
The comments on change in body shape and focus of recruitment to our squad are a real positive. The game has evolved and I feel optimistic we are now evolving as a side and will be better equipped to compete.
Despite our focus on power and winning the collision the last few seasons, our set meterage and ability to control the middle was poor. Moses regularly kicked on or behind our own 40m to get us downfield, a sign our pack was slow and inneffective at generating momentum through the ruck. Compounding this, defensively our line was forced to compress as fatigue set into our middle, often resulting in the edges being exposed for tries.
BP, the downtown rule probably impacted Parra more than any other team. We had a player with a great boot and big forwards looking to keep their opponents pinned in their half. All of a sudden we couldn’t do what we used to.
Im hoping there is a place for Carty in the 17. Such a weapon when he is on.
That he is. It’s a skill set that few possess.
Yes, I’m keen to see him in a fitter, more stable (injuries/suspensions) roster where his skill set is maximised, he tended to get blunted in that fade out habit we developed.
I don’t think Bryce is an 80 minute worker, to me his extraordinary ball skills make him an impact player. He can change games with his unique talent. Let him excell of the bench similar to how David Solomona was used. You don’t negate a players natural ability.
Fantastic read as usual
.
I’m so looking forward to seeing a fresh new Parra this season.
We all know the definition of doing the same thing but expecting a different result. A lot had to change, it’s clear Ryles and the coaching staff have a vision and plan.
The added speed and experience to our backs will further improve our defence.
Watching teams create simple overlaps at will was hard to watch.
The added mobility means we don’t need to defend as tight.
How I long for a defensive system we can trust.
It is very different Joseph. I expect we will see that in the trials.
Congrats on the SGA.
I hope it is a success. Some egos will need to be reined in.
If it is successful, it will be a great step forward for all parties.
Cheers Leigh. It’s a privilege to be involved.
Thanks for the great updates. It sounds like Ryles has stripped the skills back to basics and built up from there again. Is there a considerable emphases on skills this year than previous years? Or just practicing different skills?
No, exactly what you deduced – a strip back and build up
Pleasing to see and read this Sixties. I have been saying this since last season, if we can fix some areas of defence starting with the play the ball areas as well as have less injuries we are already 3-4 win better team. There were too many games that through either fitness / mental or effort that we faded at times during the games.
We will see it in the enthusiasm and confidence that comes from defence.
The improvement has been there throughout the preseason but it really stood out yesterday Milo
We so desperately needed new ideas and change in our approach to footy. Through your reports it seems the new coaching staff are hell bent on giving us that. A new exciting vibe is definitely in the air.
The thing is, everything is different. I haven’t been saying better, but there are noticeable changes to body shapes and the team will play a different brand of football. Will they deliver improved results on 2024? I strongly believe so. Better than 2022? Only time will tell that. But there hasn’t been one minute played as yet.
Yes Sixties,
We were as stale as old bread and lacked the knowledge to get out of it. Thankfully we had enough time to turn that ship around before the off season commenced.
I did hear it said our sessions are longer this year. The player didn’t go into specifics but
reading between the lines there is more attention to
detail! I guess there is a lot of
indoor stuff under wraps too.
Looking forward to a much improved commitment across the club in 2025.
The 2022 model was unsustainable. We were good at making metres but conceded a lot per set aswell. We were average in defence and edges were still getting stripped. But we came up with moments and when he had possession we were hard stop.
I’m looking forward to a game model that is more sustainable and modern. We need to defend better, wrestle better in ruck, get our line speed up, and find our front more quickly. Looking forward to trials
I’m of the belief that ba & co made us into an extremely dangerous team.
No other team besides us can turn up and beat the panthers and storm every year.
I will stand on my belief here:
If Ryles & co do not improve our attack by even 1%.
But can bolster our edge defence by a 10-20% improvement during this season.
Parramatta is almost a guaranteed finals team.
It’s defence and lack of depth that’s haunted us for years.
We (it sounds like), are doing a good job by fixing those areas.
If we fix our defence & gas tank to compete for the full 80.
And we don’t even improve our attack (absolute worst case)
This team easily makes finals or only misses it from an injury crisis to guys like Moses.
Our defence has been so bad for so long out wide.
If we FINALLY fix this somehow. Parra is a top 8 team the whole season.
I think that Jason & Sam moa are defensive specialists. Both former high level players. Both big raps from former clubs by working successfully on those areas.
I would flush my own head down the toilet if these blokes cannot help us.
I’m confident we will have a greatly improved year 🙏🚀
If we see our defence improve, our attack can beat any side.
It will be interesting to see our attacking shapes and whether we will keep our offloading prowess.
I got a feeling we will be more structured with alot more kicks early with our speedster wings and lomax and more attacking kicks (although I recalled in yesteryears, we attacked alot with our kicks).
Can’t say too much there, but I don’t think we’ll be completely tossing offloads out of our game
Thanks for the updates, always appreciated. Quick question, do you know what the different coloured training tops represent? Particularly the red spotted one.
Recognition of training efforts. People have rightly guessed a Tour de France type model. I believe the club will do some media on that so for now I’ll leave the actual specifics of the different colours to them.
Great to meet you yesterday, Sixties. And I’m glad you mentioned the too much dropped ball that happened while I was there.
In a game, possession is king. We could not have that much give away down at Melbourne rd 1 and hope to not come home pretty embarrassed.
That said, it was good to see (in the flesh) the things you have been reporting and to hear that the intensity, and particularly that ball handling intensity, improved as the session went on.
Hey mate, likewise great to meet you. Yes it became a heavier load session and then the defence drills were conducted right in front of us. Couldn’t help but utter a few expletives watching it. And the players were loving it too – though they probably felt the aches today. Very light session today and absolutely nothing to write up. Actually almost spent more time speaking with a few of the players who came over for a chat, such was the brevity. Really appreciated them spending the time today.