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Now is the calm before the storm. The Tip Sheet settles in for a cozy episode before the chaos of trial seasion unfolds in the coming weeks. Sixties and Forty20 bring the latest from Parradise where the Eels continue to push ahead of their first trial against the Knights. NRLW Assistant Coach, Kate Mullaly joined the NRL preseason as Jason Ryles looks to strengthen the bonds through the club.
Sixties reviews a successful fanday at CommBank Stadium while the club has several initiatives in the works with the Supporter Group Alliance and the return of The Swarm. The Eels Board Chairman Sean McElduff has stood down after 8 years in the role. The boys look at the achievements the club has made under his tenure and how the board shapes up moving forwards.
A hugely successful opening round in the Junior Representatives has seen the Eels sweep the Raiders and Knights on the road. The show recaps all 4 wins before looking at the coming round where Parramatta are once more away from home as the ladies face the Bears and the lads tussle with the Roosters.
A bite sized NRL portion of the podcast quickly shapes up the Vegas component of the Preseason Challenge before looking at a proposed rule change and the officiating points of emphasis for 2025.
Hi guys,
Great pod as usual, however Forty I’m hoping you can whip up a new intro. All of the players mentioned in the current one are no longer with us. I’ve heard you are thinking of something, so hoping it is coming soon.
Cheers
Tim
We shouldn’t be surprised that Greg Alexander has returned to the media and first statement is an attempt to destabilise the Eels with his “Knight should pay $1.2 million etc for Dylbro” , that aligns smoothly with his commentary when the Eels are playing.
Pretty good test for the Ball team this week, another BarTv afternoon. Did anyone see the break up of the Dogs female teams, the Gus strategy, imported 14 NZ players for Lisa Fiols and 11 NZ imports for Tarsha Gale.How they got accepted for those comps with only 1 female team in their juniors is questionable in many ways.
Greg Alexander would like nothing more than to run parramatta through the dirt.
Here’s where the nrl media falls short, too many idiots are seen as experts. The average reader and commentator on this blog would have more common sense takes than brandy and many other fools from Fox etc.
If the eels wanted to sign Dylan brown from say the Knights, Tigers, or St George.
Brandy would say something like…
“I think it’s not a good move for parramatta, i think they need another game organising half who can steer the team when Mitch Moses is unavailable.”
Actually, parra would get flogged by these media clowns if we were to try sign Dylan brown from another club for $1.2 million per year.
The media was actually VERY critical over Mitch Moses’s contract only a short time ago, fools like Paul Gallen and many others regularly stated “Mitch is not worth $1 million, he only is for parramatta.. but I would not pay $1 million or more for him”.
It took Moses to literally break an origin drought that’s been set in since Joey John’s retired before the NRL media and “experts” finally have Mitchel the respect he deserves.
Whilst I’m ranting here, what I’m saying is still factually true. There’s a bias against parra and it’s obvious.
Whilst Dylan is a good player. He is not with $1.2 million until he can manage a team as a leading organiser. Mitch Moses is worth that money – due to that rare skill he possesses.
As for Brandy, can you imagine if we went to sign Dylan for $1.2 million? They would be saying how desperate parramatta is and how he isn’t worth that money as a ball running 5/8 who isn’t a specialist halfback.
Dyl is a top player, but we absolutely should not pay him $1.2 million. Brandy hates parra.. or at the bare least, has very little good to say about us and our players.
Muz, Brandy is a man that needs to feel relevant even if takes a rubbish article to see his name in print. Remember, this is the guy who would ask reception at Penrith leagues to call out his name so guests would know he was there.
It’s what we don’t read that makes me a little nervous. The Roosters have been eerily quiet. They have the need, the cap space and Politis. If they want Brown and Dylan is only interested in money, then they’ll get Brown.
Saying that, Brown would be foolish to put himself in that position, he’s settled in our team, all the pressure is on Moses and the leadership team, if Moses has a big year, then so will Brown. It’s not like the club is paying him peanuts.
Big money deals come with pressure and expectation. Brown is not the guy who will walk into a team and change their fortunes, he’s just not that guy.
good points mate. 60’s thinks brown will stay, I think it would be better for his career too staying playing with Moses. Less pressure from media + fan base, plus the $1.2 M contracts honestly make you a magnet for criticism & bad pressure. He doesn’t look like the type of player who would deal well with that pressure. I think as 60’s suggests, Dyl stays.
Brandy is a clown mate, I am not suprised (lol) the story you just mentioned of him at panthers leagues.
I think he’ll stay too Muz, Dly has it good at Parra.
We have cap money left for this season and his manager knows it. The club is in a position to pounce on a player should the opportunity arise. The club obviously wants to keep this advantage. The club is not blameless, they agreed to a contract that was always going to lead to this scenario. From what I understand, Brown is set to earn 750k this season. I don’t have inside knowledge but I’m guessing his manager wants $1M to remove the clause and the club is stood its ground or possibly offered a little more than the 750K. So Orr decides to use the media to pressure the club to come to the party.
There will be no winners should Orr convince Brown to leave. It will be interesting to see who buckles first.
Jo even though it’s frustrating for eels fans the Dyl fiasco. It is at least refreshing to see us not desperately paying overs. We are standing our ground. Players agents will be less inclined to treat our club like crap for money if they don’t see there’s a reward for it.
There’s a reason they have all done it to us. We were weak and caved. A gravy train which set sail signing long contracts for old players, endless clauses, paying overs, and leaving our club short for cash to sign depth players. Leaving us weak and unable to compete if a star player was unavailable.
I’m not suggesting a rookie coach is a magic bullet. But if we get the roster & contracts improved as we’ve seen already start to happen, I think this alone will see our club turn a corner.
My own prediction is we see improvement this year, but 2026 is when there’s a giant leap forward so to speak. There’s still large cap space locked up in players who are no longer NRL starters. We will be have an amazing roster by 2026 I think.
Great show gents, thank
I could easily fail a HIA test without a concussion. I mean seriously, team doctors will holding classes on how to fail a HIA.
All coaches would tempted to exploit the rule given the chance.
There’s no simple solution however relying on HIA results to determine the penalty is not the answer.
Fantastic reviews and previews on our juniors. Greatly appreciated.
It will be interesting mate. The nrl trials games saw ppl doing roller play the ball get a penalty I think when I was watching.
I think this rule crack down will slow the panthers a bit if it stays focused on. The panthers gained most running meters in 2024. There’s definitely something there with the quicker play the ball (even roller play the ball) in assisting that.
Now we’ve got Ryles our team may start to push the limits on rules ourselves. Jason is apparently extremely competitive, was during his playing years too. He might try to push the limits within reason.