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You can’t ask for much more from the first trial of the season after the Parramatta Eels piled on the points against the Newcastle Knights and escaped without any major injuries. Jason Ryles was left with plenty of food for thought following the 44-18 victory and The Tip Sheet looks to add extra servings to his plate as Sixties and Forty20 breakdown the game.
It was on for young and old as both established stars and fresh new faces impressed but the boys look at how the team played on a macro level in their initial dissection. What has changed under Ryles (and his new coaches) and how much powder was kept dry?
Finally, the show runs through a comprehensive list of who caught the eye and it features plenty of young talent. What changed in the battle at fullback? Did the Eels unearth a true deputy to Mitchell Moses? Who dacked Zac Lomax?
We have all the answer on The Tip Sheet!
Volkman is a damn good player. We had better move quickly if we want to retain him because other teams will be all over him in a month or two.
Lots of good players out there.
I thought Dylan Brown was poor after a good first 10 minutes but I’m no doubt in the minority.
Volkman if he remains uninjured is twice the player.
Really enjoyed the new shapes and defence.
Lots of cohesion out there.
Gee Dylan’s recent contract saga has really blurred how good a player he is. I’m not saying he is the best or deserves 1.2 a season, but to say a 5 game rookie is twice the player Brown is, come on.
Dylan has been player of the match in a pacific cup final.
Good trial overall. A lot to like about the young crop coming through. I don’t know if we will ever have a place for him but I like the work from Nanva.
It’s just my personal opinion. We all see different things.
I thought most of the youngsters outplayed Dylan tonight.
Considering the kids on both sides and given his standing and ability, he should have been far and away the best player on the field or at least dominated the conversation.
Maybe I’m being too hard on him but if he’s asking 1.2 a season he better get used to it.
And I’m reading various match reports saying that Dylan was MOM … Just shows how much I misread the game !!!
Spark; I don’t disagree in the sense that he wasn’t poor, but he was average in a game where again, he should have been the leader.
I thought his front on contact in defence was pretty ordinary.
I went from being Brown’s biggest fan to him being the biggest disappointment of 2024 for me. Hopefully tonight was just trial game rust and his attitude will magically reappear come round 1.
Yeah, for a trial you are a hard task master. I suggest the main reason he played was just to get some fitness after the injury. He had some good touches but he played well within himself for good reason. If you must judge him from round one when it matters.
Volkman is playing for a pie and coke. We need to lock him up.
Same with Ryley Smith who will be the back up hooker this year.
I think Dylan did what he had to do, and did it well. I think the plan was for Volkman to control the team, he hasn’t played much footy in the last 18mths, we know what Dylan is capable of, but we needed to see what Volkman could offer, and he offered plenty, just needs to sharpen up his defence, it will come. All the youngest showed glimpses of what they can offer, it was great to finally see all these young blokes perform.
Hey Spark. Yeah, pretty harsh assessment on Dylan for mine. I thought he combined well with Volkman and we saw evidence of an advancement in Dyl’s passing game. As for Volkman, I agree that he needs to be locked up asap. The Eels have three spaces in their top 30, one of which has to be filled before round one. If you aren’t finding someone outside the club, promote from within.
Trials mean nothing (other than rylesing up Knights fans in your tipping comp chat) but one word description for tonight is “depth.”
I know some of those who played are fringe NSW cup rather than fringe NRL but geez there is some talent.
Volkman was impressive. As was Lussick in the second half. Papalii also had moments. All in all a good hit out that showed the barest but still a promising glimpse on 2025.
Well summarised Shaun. And yes, when you do the numbers (as is the case with all teams) if 28 players are getting a run, and there are many still on the sideline, it means plenty on show will be either fringe Cup or if young enough, will be playing Flegg.
My observations:
Edge defence still a work in progress. In the first 20 mins they stripped our edge defence easily and just thru poor handling they could have scored 2-3 tries that went begging. Needs more work there before season starts.
Tautoga looks bigger than his 111kg and appears to have good ball skills but those hands. Dropped the ball 4 times and extremely lucky to get 2 penalties from those. All looked cold drops. Needs work there before NRL.
Volkman, good ball skills. V Impressive.
Papalii, how can he be left out of team? Extremely impressive scoring a try and setting up another.
Ryley Smith, a livewire around field and looked impressive. Another hard one to leave out of team.
Iongi, didn’t show much but appears to have good passing game which I believe is his strength. Might show more when full NRL team on park which we’ll see in next weeks trial.
Would you think Ryles will go with Smith and Papalii as reserves and say Matterson (who can play middle/edge) and another middle? Bit radical but hard to leave first 2 out of team.
“Edge defence still a work in progress”
This worried me as well.
It cost us at least 6 games last year and a GF against the Panthers.
The test will be when the full strength backline comes out.
If they start rushing up out of position, or the wingers come in leaving the fullback to tackle the winger, it’s spoon bowl at the end of the season again.
If they hold the structure and use the sideline as a defender, lookout top 4.
We have some impressive speed in that team.
Inevitably there will be injuries.
It should be clear as the year goes on who the stand outs are.
Pretty much all of our boys have shown great improvement in all areas.
Our attacking structures, passing skills, defence, stamina, it all looks polished and vastly improved.
Our jnrs played really good too, this is the best depth I’ve seen at our club in some time.
Muz, in an ideal world, you’d love some of the younger players to have another year behind them now. But they did really well regardless.
Yeah for sure, I think as you mentioned on the podcast, some will be really pushing for nrl by 2026, etc. still showed out really well though. Guys like Tuivati really impressed me. He played like a matured forward. Very impressive especially considering he is a parra jnr. I loved seeing guys like him really step up when given the opportunity on a bigger stage.
Overall a decent outing. Volkman had a good first half. I wondered with his bulky lower body if he is being prep’d to play 14. But his front on defence is a bit questionable.
Guymer looks a player, Big Joe O kicked off where he finished last year looking good. A few others had nice touches and in the first half they did a good job of isolating bad defenders (I.e Cogger and Marzhew). But in this expanded league there are plenty of teams with ordinary defenders of you can target them. So that was good.
Edges still look suspect in defence but there wasn’t any first graders out there defending.
Then there was watching Matt Arthur in blue and red. Arthur has played 5 minutes of first graders and he is better than Hands right now, never mind in a couple of years when he is pushing for rep honours. I’m afraid we will be suffering for the clubs handling of the Arthur’s for a long time to come.
Fixed for you BA – I feel that autocorrect pain quite often mate, usually in live blogs. (Sixties)
That eels team looked better trained than any side I have seen from any mixed depth side at parra in many years. Our Edges did not look remotely as suspect as they had in previous years when cup players made up the back 5 positions. We finally looked conditioned to play 80 mins. We didn’t have to rely on Dylan brown to look dangerous in attack. Our attacking systems looked night & day difference improved. No person watched that game thought we looked worse off. Our clubs moved forward and if anything Matt A will regret leaving our club as we progress and Newcastle is coached by a buffoon who changes his halves pairings every week and is apparently on the verge of being sacked at newy.. I hope Matt does good because he is a good kid. But Newcastle’s coach is clueless and his side was loaded with experienced NRL spine players, 3 NRL halves, and still looked poorly trained and disorganised compared to parra. Matt came in when defenders were tired. There’s no world in right now that Matt is better than hands at this point. Maybe in the future but not yet.
Muz, you are right about Matt Arthur being a good kid. He genuinely is the best. I jokingly asked Ryley Smith at training if he was going to get a couple of sneaky shots on Boodsy and he told me that they had a bit of a stoush in the past. There is plenty of respect between the two.
I thought that Newcastle was a rabble at times. Granted there were some stars missing, but I saw some things when a bit of pressure was applied that would be a concern. I thought that Boods was outstanding in his time out there for the Knights and he looks bigger. Brailey got the wraps but I reckon Arthur was at least his equal. Crossland will probably get the nod for starting dummy half, but who knows the way their selections are made up there.
Agree mate, he and and his brother and his father let’s be honest are all top blokes. All of us eels fans wish them the best I think.
Newcastle looked poorly coached & poorly prepared, their 3 NRL (experienced) halves got shown up by a bunch of reserve grade halves who (some) had not even played 1 game before at parra.
Our coaching staff has very professionally prepared our boys and it showed.
Even players like Samrani & Papalii looked improved compared to cup games I’ve seen them play for the dogs. Volkman also looks to have improved at parra. Good signs.
I hate trials for the very fact that if we go well, my excitement gets triggered only to be smashed later on !
I recall a certain trial in Newcastle about 10 years ago where we smashed Newcastle by about 50 points and their coach declared we were favourites for the competition.
We ended up with the spoon.
I think the very best we can take from any trials, at any time is that no one gets injured !
But it was great to see footy again !!
I think you’re a bit generous with all Eels fans wish the Arthur’s the best, Muz!! If you read elsewhere you’ll see there’s some complete tools that refuse to recognise that BA did anything good for the club – apparently he was a cancer, a leach, a useless coach with no idea, couldn’t develop a player etc. I also read some comments when MA was on the field last night and the blokes making them just keep proving they know nothing about rugby league. It’s pretty embarrassing for actual Eels fans that there’s those sort of idiots out there on social media.
Stubby there’s always those blokes I guess, but most people I speak to do wish them all the best. I guess online haters will exist for every individual who’s successful, or not successful enough. Haters will hate, as they say.
Stubby they often have no idea about rugby league. It was clear yesterday Matt is growing as a player.
Young Matt Arthur. He could have stayed at the club he loves and fought for the Eels hooking spot which is a lot more open than the Knights spot with Brailey and Crossland there.
He may develop into a top class rake but more than likely spend yet another year in Cup.
When all is said and done, I’m more than happy with our hooking stocks at the moment.
Hi BA, I’ve said this before, losing MA is not entirely the clubs fault. As a father myself, I would have encouraged my son to stay in the environment he’s already in. An environment that’s nurtured him and the only club he’s ever known.
He only needed his family’s blessing and he would have been fine to stay.
This clearly didn’t happen, instead, he now finds himself at a struggling club competing with Crossland and Braily for a starting position in team that will most likely lose more games than win.
Sure BA’s exit should have been handled better, but the family never considered the many years of being financially rewarded by the club and the loyalty shown to BA for nearly a decade, even in the dark years.
As a father, I put my kids first and personal grievances a distant second. On what planet is MA better off now? It broke my heart seeing him wearing that dreadful jersey.
Shout out to Kevin Waters son who DIDNT leave in similar circumstances.
BUT to be fair, we don’t know what was said behind closed doors.
It may have been a simple act of Arthur throwing his toys from the cot over his Dad or Ryles may have indicated that he was in fact behind others in the pecking order or other unknowns.
I just don’t know so holding off on my opinion but on the surface it seems a silly move.
Joseph, the family wouldn’t have stopped Matt from staying and any feelings they had wouldn’t have been a factor in their advice. Moving was his call and given the circumstances it’s difficult to argue with his decision to move on. I think the Knights will struggle but Matt will still have a long career.
Fair call Sixties, you are closer to the truth than most.
I wish Matty took more time to make his decision. If the decision was his alone then I still think he made a poor decision for himself.
Perhaps I enforce my influence on my children more than most. I’m confident if I was BA, MA would still be an Eel.
Arthur ? Ryley Smith is much better than him. Defensively Arthur is a weakling.
I must of been watching a different games to those who are saying we will miss Matt Arthur. Did anyone watch Ryley Smith?
His passing off the deck from dummy half is the best we have had since Reed. He can run and tackle, I am very excited for this kid long term and hope the club lock him up.
Tony, I will always be a fan of Boodsy. He will be an elite dummy half. As for Ryley, I reckon every reader of my training reports knows that I rated his preseason alongside the preseason from Reed Mahoney that saw him elevated to a dev deal way back in 2018. His work ethic is outstanding. But fair play to Hands. He is also one of the leading trainers. I think at some point this year they’ll share the dummy half role.
And to be fair, Lussick was good when he came on too.
I agree Spark he did look good when he came on. However he finds it impossible to resist the attempted dive over try from close to the line.
It makes him predictable and he rarely scores.
Ryley smith is an elite athlete. The potential Reed Mahoney 2.0.
He looks the goods Muz, he’s a dynamo, his feet never stop moving.
He seems a willing defender too.
Time will tell when he’s really tested but the signs are good.
I agree, he was good. To be honest I do not rate MA over Hands and I believe Hands is underrated. He came across from the Panthers and was thrown into first grade with the departure of Mahoney and until Lussick and Hodge came was paying 80 minutes straight out of reggies. Give him a break. Ryley is a good one and we should lock him up.
Where did all this talent come from – most of them looked good. That forward we signed from the Bulldogs – has potato hands. I see the bunker is still getting things wrong. When a hand forces the ball out it’s a strip.
Brown was good as was young Lynn. Volkman – okay good. Sam T great and Brock Parker tried hard as did Charlie G. When Joffa came back on that was the end for Newcastle. They were starting to get back – Why? We couldn’t hold the ball. The second half was nil completion rate 0-4 but it all changed in an instant. That was a great effort from the boys with enthusiasm and a positive attitude and worked for each other.
Yes – just a trial game but with promise of better things to come. Watch out for the Tigers – they will be using that last game 2024 as a burning motivator.
I’m not going to be critical of Hands. He is one of the leading trainers and brings energy to the team. I reckon that he’s also still learning his craft. Should we still chase Brailey from the Knights? The answer to that is the same as the following question. Is he better than what we have?
No he’s not and it would be a criminal waste if we do execute this play.
What are we not seeing with Brailey ? Sure he’s been injured but he’s certainly out of favour at Newcastle.
I still think we need another mobile enforcer in our pack. Someone like a Liam Martin. I have this suspicion that we are a little light in aggression up front.
Yes, at the moment he is but Mr Sixties he has drawn a number of injuries. Could be one of those blokes there at the wrong time.
I would stick with what we have. Coach Brown will impart his skills to upgrade the craft of our young ones.
It scares me to say but my goodness when Ryley first ran out I thought I was seeing Reed Mahoney. An amazing similarity
There is a definite physical similarity. But Smith is faster and fitter than Reed was.
A promising start. Still plenty of errors. Parramatta were not punished for mistakes but still some good improvement. Liked the speed and timing of backing passing which lead to a few try’s. Lets hope next week we build on this result.
Very early days Hollywood. And whilst it was a great outcome it still left the coaches with plenty to work on.
As a general take, things looked better to me, defence, pace, fitness, but there were some factors that I’m sure Ryles and team noted and I suppose that’s what trials are all about. The Knights obliged by a low completion rate where ours wasn’t looking great either so pressure periods didn’t really emerge to put us squarely on the rack, Quick ball movement by the Knights in our half at times looked very threatening but our scramble mostly held up but you always think if that was Cody Walker and Mitchell what would have happened. You can only play what’s in front of you but we finished both halves strong and keen. Tuilagi looks set to realise his junior days potential.
Tuilagi is primed fr a big season.
I think we are set for forwards. The players coming through will eventually replace Lane, Cartwright, Paulo and Matterson. I’m not the biggest Matt Arthur fan but I thought he played well. Newcastle however were terrible. Volkman has always had the talent and I’m happy he is back home. Need to lock extend him as soon as possible as I see him playing plenty of first grade this season. We looked so fit out there. The change seems to have worked.
Avenger, in a podcast a few weeks back I declared the Knights as a strong chance for the spoon. This was only a trial and there were players absent, but the signs were worrying for them
A coach with big concerns right now would be Todd Payton. He has injuries and a lot of work ahead of him.
Seems like a decent hit out and a good indicator for the young ones coming through- as Forty and Sixties said on the podcast, it throws some questions on who is left out of the next trial.
Good to see we didn’t have any major injuries- good tune in fellas.
Cheers Milo. There might still be a few that don’t play a trial who are racing to be named in round one. Team list Tuesday could be fun
Do we know the current status of Ron Volkmann?
Train and Trial. We just showed the rest of the NRL that we have a capable half playing for a pie and a coke. Lock him up this week!
Exactly.
This time last year we spent most of the offseason lamenting about the depth and lack of speed at our club. That conversation extended well into late season.
I’m not just surprised, I’m also a little stunned at how fast our roster morphed into what we witnessed last night. And most of our big name players are still parked.
Last night highlighted the incredible depth the club has. And our depth is young mobile and fast.
Some of the highlights for me were:
Dylan Brown powering though the defence, he looks as strong and fast as ever. My concern was his knee, is he hampered or restricted? Well that run alleviated my concerns.
Iongi’s first run, it was so refreshing to see our fullback swallowing metres with ease before hitting the defence. I’m not Gutho bashing, I love the guy but at times he looked like he had to wind a key on his back and be his own jockey to get started, it was frustrating to watch, every metre gained in the NRL is so important, we were denied field position at times with Gutho. And Iongi’s passing is sublime. This kid is a football.
Joash, I don’t remember the last time we had a player like him. This kid is a genuine game breaker, there must be a spot on the bench for him. His ability to accelerate while changing direction off the mark will cause nightmares for tiring forwards.
Volkman. What were Dragons thinking? If he’s not better than either of their halves then I’m not watching the same game. What a luxury it is to have a player of his calibre ready to fill in the halves.
We have Penrith like depth in key positions, who would have predicted that mid last season.
I’m not Big Kev excited just yet but I have switched to cold showers to keep myself in check.
And, I love our all gold strip, it screams Parra.
Joseph, when we spoke to Buckets in the pre-Christmas podcast, he pointed out the work that was put into filling the lower end of the roster, including dev deals. Then there is the train and trial players, like Volkman, Samrani and Smith. Samrani will be on a top 30 deal in 26, but Smith and Volkman must be priority extensions/upgrades
A more than handy showing where the back up did nothing wrong. Smith was outstanding, but also the lesser lights when given the opportunity did very well, Josh Lynn showed why he was the regarded as the premier young half in QLD and Latu, Api Twidle even Teancum Brown showed what is a promising beneath the so called stars.
R Penisini and even AMS did well despite AMS dropping a couple. The Knights tries came after mistakes in our 20, but plenty of scramble and good cover in defence for a first game.
No points recorded but a very sound a promising first up trial, yes and Matt Arthur did more than enough and good on him as he’s a genuine nice guy , as is Jake.
Plenty to discuss and look forward to in coming weeks.
Well noted B & G. I think the spine players, including those younger ones, are showing the benefit of the input from Nathan Brown. You could literally watch different aspects of the play unfold and point to preseason work. The aforementioned with Brown, the skills development and that blindside play with Wisemantel, the defensive resolve and technique from Moa and Ryles, the unity and uptempo philosophy from Ryles, and the speed and agility through Mills.
Gold away strip is excellent.
Iongi’s pass alone was worth the price of admission.
Ryley Smith showed lots of potential.
Cartwright put on at least one bone crusher.
Josh Lynne looks excellent.
Volkman and Papalii had excellent games.
Scramble defence was pretty good.
Next week with the guns included will be very interesting.
Now that all these young blokes are being given a go in top company to show their talents the problem arises, how do you keep them ? Is Josh Lynn who I thought really looked the goods going to hang around behind Moses, Brown, Volkman ,Hawkins etc to get a start. I know it’s hard to keep them all but you’ve got to secure the good ones. The two young forwards Latu and Brown also shone. Some or Arthurs favourites who were never held accountable might now be facing a very short tenure.
Prometheus, some of the players, like Lynn and Twidle, might have to start the season in Flegg.
Love Twiddle as a player. We had better be careful because others are watching …
Playing the Tigers with their upgraded roster will be an interesting test. They usually have early season energy, before falling off the cliff. Nothing to lose, and yet plenty for them to play for in a trial at their “spiritual home”.
The excitement of the first trial each year is getting a look at the newbie’s. Be they from within or external recruitment. But the main thing to remember when watching a trial is it gives you little insight as to what the new season brings.
Unless of course you follow the Cowboys. They were awful last night.
With that in mind I have to say that Ron Volkman was a standout in his time on the field. What it signifies is that we will have a quality half to replace MM or Dylan should they miss a game for any reason.
I was also impressed with both Iongi and Papali’i. How do you pronounce his first name. I noticed Warren Smith was calling him Josh!
Without going through all of the team I was also impressed with Sam Tuivati and Latu. Good young forwards coming through.
All that aside I can’t wait for Rd 1 when it all begins again. Rd 3 has a lot of appeal also. JAC’s first game for the Eels and against his old club.
Some encouraging signs and some signs that the edge defence still has some issues to be rectified. Only a trial so very hard to take anything more out of it than that so no point trying to.
On another note, I have been pretty impressed by the officiating in all the trials so far. The crackdown on the play the ball is way overdue – it’s the first thing that differentiated our game from rugby yawnion back in the day, stand up and play the ball with your foot. The refs don’t need to keep doing it for long, the coaching staff of all clubs will ensure it’s done if they know it’s going to be an automatic turnover.
Can’t wait for the season proper to start, whilst it’s great to have footy back on, playing for points on the ladder is the real time to be gauging where all clubs are at.
We held up decent I thought for a first hit out defensively. No NRL players in the centres of wings. And they had 3 NRL experienced halves in the Newcastle 17. You would expect them to tear reserve grade outside backs to shreds. I felt like our boys did themselves proud in areas like improved attacking structures, and decent defensively. We flogged the knights who some suggested had a far stronger team due to having 3 NRL starting halves in the 17 and plenty of gun young players in that newy side. But always lots to work on still!
Joash papalii showed in this trials match the difference speed & acceleration can make in your attack
His quick acceleration is going to create a huge number of try assists should we end up using him in the nrl team
Clint gutherson will be turning over in his dragons grave (or dragon cave) to see those young blokes looking brilliant in his old position 😅
Also congrats to young Papalii for getting man of the match in the 1st trials game
I still think it’s stupid we had no depth in the halves or fullback positions for years but im happy to see this backs & halved depth issue seems to have been addressed correctly. 🤞
One comment on a post game incident that blemished a great Eels performance. I believe Joe O “dacksed” Lomax while Lomax was being interviewed. What idiotic and juvenile behaviour. If the NRL don’t sanction him then the club should add a hefty fine. The Eels are a great club. Who wants that kind of idiocy. Brings the club into disrepute. They are all on display and representing the club. Funny? Nah. Stupid? Very.
I agree mate, that’s 10 year old stuff. I thought it showed a level of disrespect to both the commentator and Lomax.
We all laugh when it happens accidentally on the field, what Joe did is embarrassing
I’m showing my age, to be honest, I’ve never found a “joke” that leaves a victim embarrassed in public or in front of people funny.
Joseph, says a lot about J O’s emotional immaturity.
It happened in front of where I was sitting. I immediately said to the person next to me, “he’s in trouble with the NRL”. I was all the more disappointed as I voted for Joe last season as Blue & Gold player of the year. I’m sure Joe is repentant and that all players are now even more aware that that sort of thing is just not acceptable these days. We all learn from mistakes.
Thanks fellas,
An interesting game. Given how many previous “regular “ first graders were resting I’m getting really interested in what our Rd1 team will be and how much the Tigers game will be a pointer to that.
Volkman, Iongi, Papalii and Smith showed some talent the coaches can continue to develop.
The defence still needs work, but given where it was the last few seasons requires more than one off season to fix. Knights try were Tago (?) rushed in was sent me to the pill box for a heart regulator. However, that didn’t seem to happen as often which I think is a positive reflection on the hard work at training.
Only a trial but it was good to get a glimpse of so many of the young chaps coming through.
Finally, unlike many, I detest the all gold (or is that canary yellow) outfit. If that’s my biggest whinge from the game then we must have done all right.
Thought Mataele and Sam T looked solid when they came on pack didn’t loose any momentum also Greig looks to have shed a few kilo’s
We look to have plenty of good juniors coming through
Lol it’s a trial. Nothing more than giving some kids a run. Dylan Brown is not a champion. His attempt at inflating his wallet three weeks out from the season is most regrettable. On first grade rosters – eels 8th to 12th.