NRL Team List
Preseason Challenge Week 3, Friday 8:00PM, Leichardt Oval
*Updated with the Official Injury Report*
It isn’t quite the spectacular list we had all envisioned because Jason Ryles has clearly kept some serious powder dry for the Parramatta Eels in naming his final team list for the preseason. Absent are Mitchell Moses, Dylan Brown, Junior Paulo, Bailey Simonsson, Joe Ofahengaue and Dean Hawkins as Ryles opens the door for alternates to impress against the Wests Tigers.
Isaiah Iongi is all but assured to be Parramatta’s fullback in Round 1 despite fierce competition from Joash Papalii. Iongi heads a feasible interpretation of what the Eels’ backline could look like against Melbourne in 2 weeks pending the health of Simonsson. This in turn points to Jake Tago being the key man to be called up if Bailey can’t go.
Sean Russell, Will Penisini and Zac Lomax get their first minutes of the preseason. Russell is a certainty to play Round 1 in place of Josh Addo-Carr and will presumably partner Penisini down the left edge. Will is primed for a legitimate bounceback year but if he is switching edges then there could be some kinks to iron out starting on Friday night. Lomax’s much anticipated debut comes without Moses but it will be exciting just to see him stretch out and get through some fundamentals this week.
Ronald Volkman will call the shots with Moses sidelined with Apa Twidle as his running mate. Volkman was excellent against the Knights and now gets the chance to consolidate his place behind Moses. Likewise for Twidle who impressed in the second half against the Novocastrians. With Hawkins missing this game, Apa has been handed a bonus opportunity to showcase his wares to the coaching staff. Joey Lussick gets an important nod to start as he looks to ward off a serious challenge from Ryley Smith.
Plenty of talk has surrounded the transformation of Parramatta’s middle forwards (see the new look Wiremu Greig) and Ryles has tipped his hand further here by naming Jack Williams in the front row. The Eels clearly aim to be mobile, agile and aggressive with ruck speed through the middle and this is another significant indicator of how big the change of philosophy is. Gideon Kautoga and Kelma Tuilagi continue to firm as the expected starters on the edges while J’maine Hopgood is back in the saddle at lock forward after missing the second half of the 2024 season with a back injury.
Ryan Matterson, Luca Moretti and Matt Doorey front a new-look bench but Sam Tuivaiti holds down the final place inside the conventional playing list after an excellent stint against the Knights. It is a deserved reward for the hulking talent and hopefully he can apply even more pressure with by following up that effort.
Ryles has gone for a deep extended bench with some curious inclusions. The likes of Toni Mataele, Charlie Guymer, Bryce Cartwright, Dan Keir, Jordan Samrani, Arthur Miller-Stephen, Joshua Lynn and Smith are all common sense inclusions in various degrees. I am surprised that Addo-Carr won’t get the opening 20-30min but you can certainly make a compelling arguement towards prioritising the Round 1 result.
The inclusion of Brendan Hands on the extended bench is puzzling and I honestly don’t think he gets many – if any – minutes on Friday night. On the flipside, Papalii should theoretically feature prominently again in relief for Iongi which will be exciting to see given how impressive both players were last week.
For their part, the Tigers are also missing some serious strike power. Jarome Luai, Sunia Turuva and Jahream Bula significantly weakens the Tigers’ backline in their absence while Apisai Koroisau’s importance goes without saying. As with last week against the Knights it leaves both teams with an oddly even playing field and helps shape a competitive trial.
| Parramatta Eels | Wests Tigers | |
| Isaiah Iongi | 1 | Heath Mason |
| Sean Russell | 2 | Jeral Skelton |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Starford To’a |
| Zac Lomax | 4 | Brent Naden |
| Jake Tago | 5 | Charlie Staines |
| Te Hurinui (Apa) Twidle | 6 | Lachlan Galvin |
| Ronald Volkman | 7 | Adam Doueihi |
| Jack Williams | 8 | Terrell May |
| Joey Lussick | 9 | Tallyn Da Silva |
| Wiremu Greig | 10 | Fonua Pole |
| Gideon Kautoga | 11 | Samuela Fainu |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 12 | Alex Seyfarth |
| J’maine Hopgood | 13 | Alex Twal |
| Interchange | ||
| Ryan Matterson | 14 | Latu Fainu |
| Luca Moretti | 15 | Royce Hunt |
| Matt Doorey | 16 | Jack Bird |
| Sam Tuivaiti | 17 | Sione Fainu |
| Reserves | ||
| Toni Mataele | 18 | Tristan Hope |
| Charlie Guymer | 19 | Tony Sukkar |
| Bryce Cartwright | 20 | Kit Laulilii |
| Dan Keir | 21 | Solomona Faataape |
| Ryley Smith | 22 | |
| Brendan Hands | 23 | |
| Joash Papalii | 24 | |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 25 | |
| Jordan Samrani | 26 | |
| Arthur Miller-Stephen | 27 | |
| Joshua Lynn | 28 |
Injury Report
Naturally I missed the club dropping the official Injury Report and it has information that could shape our Round 1 line-up considerably. While Moses and Paulo should be good to go, Simonsson looks to be at longer odds which puts the ball in Tago’s court to hold down the right sideline.
| Haze Dunster | Hamstring Strain | Round 2 |
| Dean Hawkins | Soleus Strain | Round 1/2 |
| Shaun Lane | Knee Arthroscopy | Round 4 |
| Mitch Moses | Left Foot soreness | Round 1 |
| Junior Paulo | Plantar Fasciitis | Round 1 |
| Bailey Simonsson | ACL Reconstruction | Round 4 |
Interesting team list.
Excited for Twidle to get another opportunity, he’s a real player of promise and I thought he was very good against the knights. Likewise Tuivaiti.
Kautoga will want to get the handling errors out of his game to lock down an edge, I think that position in the pack is still open to partner Kelma.
Yep I want Guymer to get the spot over Kelma until Kautoga fixes his discipline. Can’t afford to backrowers who are prone to errors.
Agree, I would like to see Guymer get the start.
If Kautoga can hold the ball he looks dangerous. Ryles may need to choose a more safe option for round 1 if he coughs the ball up again this game more than once you would suspect.
If we drop the ball 3 times on Giddys side against the Storm, they will more or less win the game. In BA’s teams who did well against Storm, it was usually when our completion rate was pretty high. Who else could partner Kelma maybe, Carty? Charlie?
BP – he has had a very good preseason. Just overplayed his hand a bit vs Knights but yes, he needs to get the errors down to a minimum to secure a round one spot
The club provided injury updates on everyone that has not featured in either trial game.
However, no information on Ethyn Martin. Any idea how he is?
EA I assume that they aren’t providing details as he sits outside the full time squad. Is that something that you’d like from the club – extended squad and lower grade injury updates?
Yes I would love that. As someone that watches NRL, Cup, Flegg, SG ball and HM you sometimes get confused when players go missing.
E.g. Lorenzo only came back to SG ball last game and Shane-Tapau is listed for his first game this season.
Love the fact twiddle & Tuivaiti are getting opportunities. I’m not a coach or expert but my gut feeling is that our club is going to go leaps and bounds further in the future if we keep showing these highly talented young eels priority on opportunities.
Whilst it’s water under the bridge so to speak now. Part of me wonders if Sanders & co would have stayed given the fact our club is clearly heading in the direction of being a stronger NRL pathway provider and will no longer back log important positions with older players. It truly looks like the staff are giving these young blokes every opportunity to succeed. As 60’s said during pre season. I know it’s a trial but this has been different, and these young men are honestly looking unbelievable how well they played against first graders (some of them) for their first time ever.
Regardless of how many end up locking down a NRL position to start the season, our NSW cup team is looking like it could be very strong this year.
Willy mason (eels hater) attempted to compliment us. He then said “good DEPTH” I think as in, trying to not to compliment our starting roster, but rather our depth. He’s a dog so he can’t admit too much. But I thought it’s a good sign if eels semi-haters are even complementing on how good the eels depth players look for 2025. 🙏🔥 good times ahead.
Muz, I reckon it would have been tough to hold on to Sanders given thaThe is on more coin than Parra could have offered. Whether he should have been contracted to a top 30 earlier is probably a reasonable question.
Geez will Haze Dunster ever play again ?? The bloke is permanently injured.
Love the halves combo.
I’m not sold on Jake Tago. Surely we have a better winger around but I suppose AMS didn’t cover himself with glory last trial.
I thought Wiremu looked absolutely gassed in the last trial and was leaving big gaps.
I was hoping that he would have picked up a heap of fitness but it didn’t seem like it by to my eye.
(Mind you I thought Dylan struggled so my eyes might be on the blink)
Haze is getting very close. Just no need to rush him back before he’s ready.
Mate he hasn’t played in two years .. but I DO get your point.
The most obvious comment is that we go into the final trial with a pair of halves, neither of whom is currently eligible to play for us in Round One.
Does anyone understand the strategy,?
Hardly a strategy. 2 above them are injured and Brown is on leave. They have you name 2 players there.
Look, I may be well off the mark! As far as I can see we still have a spot to fill before round 1.
Volkman and Apa are on train n Trial contracts. Maybe one of them will be elevated to top 30 or a player already on a development / supplementary contract is elevated and one of these takes that spot.
Maybe one of them will be elevated to top 30 or a player already on a development / supplementary contract is elevated and one of these two takes that supplementary spot.
Leigh, it looks like an internal upgrade is on the cards, and this was likely given that it doesn’t appear as if there is anyone better available on 5he market.
It is a trial and the result is of no importance. I reckon Moses and Brown don’t really need to play to be ready for round one and Ryles seems to be keeping some powder. As someone else has said, with modern conditioning these days trials have decrease in neccessity. Happy to see the younger/fringe players have another chance go show what they can do.
Agreed Shaun. If it was an NRL game, probably Mitch and Junior play. But it’s a trial.
Moses and Hawkins are injured. Brown had his trial warm up game the week before. Paulo and a few others will be ready between rd 1-4.
Yes Noel, Brown played longer minutes last week as he is in NZ this weekend on personal leave whilst Moses is being rested due to soreness. They are all physically ready to go.
Like the team list and particularly look forward to seeing the spine play. Our forwards look good for me and the bench is will also be interesting to see.
Interesting injury list…
It’s a trial that will appeal to the curious Milo. I count myself in that group
“Oddly even” perfect. Forty, you do have a gift.
I do mostly take that injury report with a grain of salt. Both clubs are hedging their bets while keeping their cards between their legs for the season proper. Well played from both clubs.
Both team lists give their clubs something to gain and nothing to lose while diffusing media and supporter pressure win lose or draw.
Spot on Joseph
I genuinely feel sick in the stomach when foot soreness is mentioned for Moses and Junior!
Especially at the start of the season.
I am sure it was the left foot that Mitch had the issue with last time?
There’s nothing to be concerned about Tony. The attitude is that their loading is spot on so they are keeping them in cotton wool
Good to see Hopgood on the park. From afar, I couldn’t quite fathom his recovery process. Will again be watching our defensive approach for improvement, some noted defenders are being injected (although D Brown being rested).
Under the ‘Get a Life’ heading and totally random, I was watching the Tigers v Bulldogs trial last week and couldn’t help but notice how the Bulldogs were taking longer to get off the tackled player, so I spent 10 minutes counting the seconds and sure enough the Dogs were sunbaking for half to one second longer. So what? No idea, maybe you count faster for the team you dislike the most.
BDon, let’s keep our eyes and counting fingers firmly focussed on the Dogs, those cheats! 😁 we’ll be right into calling them out before round 3.
Hopefully Lomax gets only 10 mins game time. I want that boy in bubble wrap. We need him rd 1 unscathed. Give those Melbourne Storm hell, with big Lomax flying over the storm players to score the opening try of our 2025 season.
Maybe 20 minutes Muz.
i think howarth will be a handful this year
Amazing how many of these young blokes have obviously taken a step up this preseason, I do not envy Jason Ryles in selecting the round 1 team, so many questions still remain unanswered, will he go a 4 forward bench? How many bigger name players miss a spot in the 17? Who’s the best 9? Exciting times
I’m tipping four forwards but I am honestly guessing
A lot of lower leg injuries before a ball has been kicked. Let’s hope the new training regime hasn’t over loaded the players before the season starts. Stripping weight and getting ultra fit isn’t without its potential costs in terms of increasing risk of over use injuries. Calves and foot soreness are classic examples.
It’s also symptomatic of the grounds being a bit harder in summer. It’s not unusual to see players sit out a week or two or modify their training over preseason due to soreness. Lost count of how often over the years. It’s part of monitoring the loading of all players and adjusting where needed.
Anyone see brown is allegedly being offered $1.2 per season for ten years?
If this is the case, and his manger + Fox sports are not lying. This would see him leave for certain. To get $1.2 as a non-organising / running half would be crazy, it would potentially ruin a clubs cap.
It’s hard to imagine a club signing a non organising half to a $1.2 deal for a decade? The only club stupid enough to do that 10 year thing would be Newcastle probably. Interesting to see if this is actually true or not. Orr must be leaking this info to Fox sports, if Dylan doesn’t leave (we will know it was fake news from Orr). 🤣 nobody knocks back 10 years & $1.2m p/a 💰
I haven’t been concerned for one minute Muz. It’s the player agent dance
I see Hands inclusion is to maybe go in the halves if required. Otherwise, probably get as many minutes as Lussick last week.
That’s possible Eddy.
With all the reports of the players fitness, the new defensive systems and the ability of the younger players it’s great to hear. But there is only one way to see how they handle pressure and that is to throw them into a pressure situation. The fact that a number of seasoned players have been left out is so Ryles can see how these young men handle pressure when it is applied. What do they do and do they stick to the game plan if we are for example 10 points down and on the back foot for most of the game.
In my opinion he will already know the starting side for round 1 bar a couple of players so if they show resolve when under the pump it will go a long way for them to makie the side.
Loving the new era under Ryles( 1 trial long) and hopefully the team give us fans lots to cheer for in the coming season.
AB, it would be mix of that and injury/loading issues. No need to push players now. It’s a long season. I reckon I could name the starting 13 AB but the bench will be interesting. Ryles is giving players the chance to impress
The Storm will be unbackable favourites come Round 1. There’s a heap of new combinations for the Eels this year and with Moses unavailable through injury for this trial they are now going into Round 1 with only a bit of ball work at training under their belt against a team that hasn’t lost Round 1 for about 20 years. All well and good to get some game time for some of the younger players, but the last trial before Rd 1 should be about getting at least 40 minutes of time with close to your best squad and certainly your nominated spine together. There’s training and there’s matches, they are not even remotely close. Unfortunately, it’s not a great lead into the competition for the Eels.
It is not ideal but ensuring players are healthy has to be number 1 priority. South’s have just suffered huge injury blows on the eve of season. We need dyl, Moses and junior all healthy if any top 8 push is to materialise.
Absolutely, Ron, and as well as on deck, they need to have time together to get combinations to gel. We saw last year (and the year before) what several long term injuries and suspensions can do when even blokes who have been in the squad for years had to fill in at different positions – games the Eels should have won were lost.
I’m wondering how long the BA hating idiots who over and over said he was 100% responsible for all results and are now raving about how great Ryles is, are going to handle it if there’s a poor start to the season? It wasn’t the squad they said, it was the coach. Now there’s a new coach, several new players and a lot of experience and leadership gone with the likes of RCG and Gutho. The NRL records of rookie coaches speaks for itself, I think Stuart at the Roosters is the only one to win a GF in their first year? It’s going to take time for these new combinations to gel and Ryles new coaching style to flow through into week in week out NRL consistency – something that is not very easy at all. I have no doubt the contributors to TCT will be fair in their assessments of this years results, others? well I’m just waiting for them to dig out the pitchforks again!!
Agreed – lots of revisionism has occurred re: BAs tenure. He did a fantastic job in tough circumstances. He took us to the a gf and lost to an elite team. Sure it got stale at end but he is the one that put some respect back in our jersey after some embarrassing years. He also got some things wrong and that’s why we have a new coach. People who bag brad or his kids are pathetic; theyve done more for this club than most.
As to Ryles, he has a tough job as the players are good but there are still some big holes in squad + a confusing media circus around his star halves. It is woeful administration to have signed these option contracts and then lost sanders and talagi along the way. If we had at least one of sanders or talagi we wouldn’t be as desperate in negotiations with brown. But instead some fool decided to line up contracts in a way where the club has 0 leverage. Some fool agreed to an option in talagi contract which he declined. We can all say this is a fresh start and ryles will change things (I hope he does as I like his approach thus far) but there are systematic issues that are culminating in another feeding frenzy on our good players. It feels we are one of few clubs that get squeezed like this by player managers and media because we are so ameteur at the negotiation table. I watch sharks players resign in quiet or leave in quiet. I watch storm players like papi be careful about their media statements during off-season. Ours parade themselves for all in sundry. And any rhetoric out of the club re: not budging on Dylan is rubbish; the club doesn’t have any leg to stand on unless they want to lose their second best player for nothing after years of development and support.
Agreed Ron, it shouldn’t have played out in the media for sure, but seems the Eels are good clickbait and stories about them generate interest more than most other clubs for whatever reason. I don’t know what the discussions between Orr and Eels management has been, so I simply won’t comment on it, especially in the disrespectful manner I’ve seen some commentary on Dylan written. But at the end of the day, the club initiated the discussions with Orr re the removal of the clauses in his contract so of course that comes with some caveats from his camp – in this case they’ve asked for additional coin and shopped him around, albeit very clumsily. Like I said, I don’t know the details so there’s no point making commentary, it will sort itself out one way or the other and you deal with any repercussions then.
Also agree with your 1st paragraph 100%. Some of the continued commentary elsewhere on BA is just ridiculous, some absolute nufties with zero idea and very, very short memories. There’s a heap on 1EE that provide some serious comical value, sadly though, as much as you laugh at them and their opinions it’s scary that there’s people who actually think they’re right. I mean I read a discussion the other day between a couple of idiots that Lomax signed because he knew Ryles was the new coach and it had nothing to do with BA, nor could he ever be capable of signing a quality player like Lomax. Let’s disregard he signed several weeks before BA was sacked and the club said they’d chased Bennett for 2 weeks prior to that and then the signing of Ryles was weeks later again after a heap of other candidates were interviewed – nope, Lomax knew Ryles was the new coach and Arthur had nothing to do with it. Dead set, they cannot give BA credit for a single positive thing, of which there were many. Consistent finals appearances after years of being spoon contenders was a far better ride for starters.
Exactly – there is a negotiation going on. Fans bagging Dylan are doing a disservice to the club as it’s unhelpful for all involved.
My gripe above is more directed at the higher ups who are responsible for the option contracts and circus. A rookie coaching having to deal with that is in a tough spot. But hopefully ryles takes it in stride.
Stubbyholder, the fact that there are those continuing to attack BA says plenty. Anyone who heard Buckets on our podcast with him would be aware of the gratitude that the current coaches have for the work ethic BA instilled in the group. It has been backed up by conversations I’ve had with the staff. By the way, none of that was in response to me asking about Brad. It was volunteered in conversation. I don’t get the obsession. Everyone knows how highly I respect Brad. His coaching career will see him back in the NRL. But I’m now focussing on the present. I don’t get why the haters want to keep hating. It’s time to move on.
Living rent free in their head 60’s. There were some that obsessed with getting rid of him and now that’s happened instead of looking forward they’re still in the rearview mirror. There’s a bit of a metaphor there actually – I’ve always though it’s like life, the windscreen in front of you is much, much bigger than the rearview mirror. By all means you need the occasional glance in the rearview just to remember where you’ve been and make sure you keep any mistakes behind you, but what’s in front of you is the most important and that’s where your attention should be fixed.
I’m with you, he’ll be back in the NRL, despite what the naysayers think, he’s still a very good coach and deserves another chance.
I’m actually picking the Eels for an upset.
The Eels are the dark dark horses of the competition.
There is no other team that could either win the competition or come dead last.
First or last – that’s some spread. Good odds on both I reckon Spark
Stubbyholder, having watched the entire preseason, and knowing the reasons for the omissions, it’s hard to argue with the calls. There back 5 will be round one certainties. The back row is a lock in as far as I’m concerned. Maybe just the interchange to finalise.
No, you can’t argue with the calls at all, just not ideal with the personnel changes on and off the field. Going to be interesting to see where Ryles goes with a few selections and whether he’s going to pick and stick or chop and change depending on results.
I think this year is looking very even across the park. The Storm should be hot favourites. The Panthers should finally come back to the pack with their big player losses but geez we’ve been saying that for a few years now. Gunna be an interesting watch, can’t wait for the season proper to kick off.