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Jason Ryles is ushering in a new era for the Eels – even if the result didn’t go the right way tonight – and so too is The Tip Sheet stepping into the bold world of tomorrow today as the podcast now brings you bona fide talking heads! Let us know what you think of the new format and help us catch all the gremlins that come with the new territory.
It wasn’t pretty and they certainly didn’t come away with the win but crucially for the Parramatta Eels – they avoided any sort of serious injury in their 30-18 loss to the Wests Tigers. The Tip Sheet unpacks a rather messy affair from the Blue & Gold in a game where they were drowned out by errors and set restarts. Sixties and Forty20 point to some individual defensive lapses and the general struggles to complete sets as key teaching tape before looking at the positives to come from the final trial game.
Isaiah Iongi was certainly on such positive with the 21-year-old custodian scoring a sizzling solo try before laying on a four-pointer for Sean Russell. The boys also laud the efforts of Will Penisini, Jack Williams, J’maine Hopgood, Luca Moretti and Ryley Smith in proof that it wasn’t all bad for the Eels at Leichardt.
So I only watched 60mins, then switched off.
The Eels were trying to stop fast play the balls on the try line and Klein was killing them. Then the thing they are trying to stop – fast ptb – happens, it isn’t close to square so there are no markers, and he allows play to go on and the Tigers dummy half scores. I didn’t care about the result tonight, but Klein makes games unwatchable.
As for the Eels (from what I saw)
It wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t great.
Great that Iongi has now thrown bullet try assists to the left and right. Thst was good to see.
Riley-Smith looked good. I get he may not start round 1 against the Storm, but Lussick and his passes aimed at receivers ears, can’t be a long term – or even short term, option.
Jack Williams looked ok and while I am not a Morretti fan, maybe Ryles can get something out of him.
Greig first 10 minutes was awful. He seemed to get better in the second 10 minutes of his first spell. His first “hitting of the wall” seems to happen quickly and he can’t seem to wrestle. I know he had a good month or so back in 2023, but have we really seen much since?
Kelma’s lateral defence is a worry. Matterson looked very… rusty.
I know Tago isn’t a first choice winger , but at this stage I don’t see any improvement having been able to have a full NRL pre season. He allowed a soft kick try, fell off tackles, made some poor reads and dropped a ball or two.
Similarly, if Dorey plays more than 3 games for the Eels this year, we won’t be in top 8 contention. I’m hoping Ryles was just giving him a long hit out to see for himself that he isn’t up to it.
Play makers were disappointing. It was great last week watching them isolate Cogger in particular, but they couldn’t isolate Doueihi tonight as the weak defender and that was a bummer.
It was a return to earth after playing a bad Knights last week. Plenty of work to do to be competitive.
Interesting BA, I watched almost the opposite – last 20-30 mins and from what I saw, everything you’ve said absolutely resonates.
I would have guessed the better option for round 1 is to play Lomax on the wing temporarily and bring someone like Samrani into centre.
I agree Riley Smith looked great, exciting as a prospect and someone who looked like they will grow into the side.
As for feedback on the pod – like the video, like the use of the Ch9 sounds of summer. All very well put together. If I had one thing I could change, I’d get rid of Matt Thompson from the intro. I find it staggering that ch9 use him over Peter Tsaltis.
Looking forward to 2025!
Hey Mick. Thanks for the feedback. Don’t think they’ll swap Lomax just for a couple of games. It’s a long season with new combinations to develop. The work of Moses, Iongi and Lomax on one side of the field is yet to be seen but it’s been there at training and they won’t want to undo it.
Totally agree including switching off after 60 mins. Attack poor and defence woeful at times. They appeared to be much more creative in attack and our defence awful as they punched holes in our D all night. And what has happened to our offloads? That is now 2 weeks of sub-standard D from us and we only have 2 weeks to fix this before season starts.
The previous match showed what a well drilled young Penrith side can do to a vastly experienced Manly side and that is the standard we need to get to to win anything meaningful.
I thought it was individual errors in defence rather than any system errors last night Glenn. If you have a look at how the breaks occurred, I think it becomes a selection decision for Ryles as much as some undoubted more work on defence at training.
I think there were a couple of players who might have played themselves out of a round one spot, but overall, I don’t think the staff will hate that.
Hey sixties, do you think Guymer still has a chance at the left edge spot or does it seem like Kautoga has it? I thought when Kautoga wasn’t playing he’d put in Guymer but ryles ended up going for carty. Guymers looks the goods and I feel like he can do a lot of the gritty 1% stuff on that edge similar to what you see Liam Martin doing consistently.
I have watched a couple of trial games and the absence of 6 agains was pleasing. At one stage last night it was 9-1 to Tigers. That is a referee who is having a deleterious impact on the game and refereeing one team ie Parra. Tigers were pretty much offside all game. We had to play under the pump for the whole first half.
Klein absolutely destroyed the watchability of that game. How can he be our number one ref?
We certainly got bullied by Mr Klein tonight but I thought overall we were off the pace. Our halves were completely outplayed by their opposites and our forwards were all over the place. Iongi looks the goods and I reckon Moretti got himself into the 17 with a robust game.
Prometheus, Moretti had himself locked into the 17 over the pre-season regardless. His performance simply proved to supporters that he gets the gig.
i thought i was the only one blown away by lucas effort so good to read your glowing remarks
Sec, he has often refereed in a manner which has been troubling for us Eels fans to accept. I agree that the Tigers got away with quite a bit in that, but there were plenty of things to take from that match for the coaches. Believe me, coaches don’t hate a result like that in a trial.
Klein is the number one referee in the NRL because he has the fastest play the ball of all the referees. Abdo picks the referees based on this and other stats.
Annesly and Maxwell do not get a say.
I’m starting to become concerned about the standard of play from W.Grieg. As one contributor noted last week, he runs out of gas fairly early in the piece. He may have lost a few kegs during the off season but so far I’ve seen nothing to suggest that there has been any improvement.
How brad arthur kept Werimu greg at this club for 4 or 5 years is just irresponsible.
How come you and a few others keep referring to Brad Arthur all the time? He’s gone, Ryles is here and Ryles got rid of plenty of others so why did he keep Wiremu? Try looking forward, not backward and trying to blame things on BA that simply don’t exist.
All the talk I saw elsewhere last year was that the poor results were solely on BA and the squad was there they just needed a new voice and things would change. After the 1st trial they’re all crowing about what a difference Ryles made, but after last night they’ve all reverted to “Ryles has inherited BA’s squad and after the terrible coaching they’ve received he’s going to take some time to coach the shit out of them”. Talk about someone living rent free in the head of some people, they just can’t let it go. BA did some great things for the Eels, anyone saying otherwise is clueless and ignorant of what he achieved.
Ryles has made a number of changes to the personnel on and off the field, it’s now his squad, he’s had several months to tune them up and get them playing systems he wants. Last night was OK at times, but diabolical for a lot of it. Yes it was only a trial but when you compare that to what the Panthers team of nobodies showed, then it’s a bit concerning and sorry, Chief, that’s all on Ryles at the moment, not BA.
Stubbyholder, I’ve just had my quick say to Chief. It’s a pointless exercise he’s embarking on and one which I have zero time to tolerate. I haven’t in the past and I won’t in the future.
For mine the two trials were the ideal prep. One provided some positives. The next was a reality check. And in neither did we have a couple of big name starters.
Coaches honestly aren’t interested in trial results. They want to get through them unscathed and get a quick run against different opposition to see where they are at.
Mission accomplished.
Well said Stubbyholder. I thought their linespeed was good early on last night. Tigers had a lot of ball early and they defended against the early onslaught of “Six Again”.
Yes JE..when my wife (who reads and watches) says ‘Wests need to score, they’ve had all the luck’ after around 15-20 minutes, that’s a lock-in, we were competing/defending well.
Don’t go backwards now Chief. I don’t want to waste my time with you getting back to old bad habits.
Ok , yes you’re right. I shouldn’t be looking back. Hopefully Ryles gets Greig to a good fitness standard. I still think he can fill a top 17 spot, but he needs to be the best he’s ever been fitness wise.
I can’t see Greig cracking the 17 anytime soon. Be very surprised if he did by the way.
On a positive Iongi was very good. And i really like Ryley Smith. We have to get Ryley into the 17 somehow. He’s definitely a winner, and a great prospect.
hes usually good for 20 mins, he has all the attributes except aggression and leg speed.
It’s a trial Marty. Ryles has given everyone the opportunity to succeed. If they haven’t grabbed it he’ll make a call.
Scrappy. Completion rate terrible. Our forwards falling off tackles. Forward passes. We need a couple of good halves to control the game. O, wait….
Exactly.
Tks men,love your work! it’s the great commentary that counts. Last week our opponents matched our sloppy moments, this week we weren’t so fortunate, whilst I reckon Junior and Joe will add quality im sure that over 80 minutes of blow torch football we can’t nperform at top 4 level without strong discipline and composure.Come on down Mitchell Moses!
Some random observations..
Tuivati and Latu may need to be injected sooner than later.
Sean Russell didn’t knock on in that contested high ball, I couldn’t believe the bunker and callers said he did.
You mentioned walking off the mark to impede Matterson. In a first half try the Tigers walked forward twice after called held and the tackler relaxed, advanced the ruck by 6-8 metres then Bird scored from 5 metres out.
If a 6 Again is obvious, you see the indiscretion, it doesn’t matter which team, I didn’t see much at all last night that differentiated the teams and I started watching closely after the calls started to mount.
Last night Moses,Junior, Joe O, DBrown were rested, Lomax,Iongi and Hopgood were half rested, JAC and Simmonsen both to return soon.
Exactly BDon. I said to Forty after the team was announced that there was every chance that Parra would lose to the Tigers but it didn’t worry me in the slightest.
As for the officiating – no surprise at all.
No ned to panic as it’s a trial and when we played a few experienced players it was 18 all, so many changes and positional switches and Kleins refereeing took its toll.
Ryley Smith was a revelation compared to a very underwhelming Lussick. How may restarts were his responsibility for laying in the ruck, heard Klein call more than once “Joey roll away”.
Why were Tualagi and Cartwright playing on opposite sides to what was successful for them last year, Carty outside Moses on the right opened up the defence more than a few times on the right. Wing depth is an issue, couldn’t see Tago paying NRL at almost any other club, in other trials you consistently see better back ups.
Who were disappointing Greig , Lussick and Tualagi performed poorly, Volkman came back to the field but tried all game.
Twidle showed a fair bit of promise and will get better.
Having an NRL level player in the spine showed how 8mportnat it is, with most Tigpies bright plays due to Galvin, Dylbro showed last week how much an influence that is.
Williams ,Iongo and the centre were good, Russell too. Anyway ,on to the Storm and an influx of experience to come in, hopefully a decent game in Bleak City, If Tago plays that’s when you need fingers crossed ( likewise for Lussick)
B & G, if you consider JAC and Simonsson to be the first choice wingers, and Russell to be challenging for that role too, that leaves Tago at your number four choice. Given the unavailability of the first two, it’s likely that Jake plays against the Storm. If not, as some suggest, you are changing up all of the preseason for others by selecting them in positions which they’ve spent the entire summer working on.
As for Tuilagi, he’s also trained the entire preseason on the right, and being outside Moses he was close to my pick as star of the preseason. His defence concerned me in this trial. He has had some inconsistencies in that regard in past seasons. He needs to work harder. Perhaps having his captain beside him will assist in that regard, but his defence needs to improve.
Ball handling was atrocious ( mainly reserve graders )and 3 bad, one on one misses by Kelma and Doorey led directly to points. That will be Ryles main concern.
Outside of that I thought there was some decent line speed and contact. If you drop as much ball as we did and get smashed 9-3 in the 6 agains, there is going to be some tired boys out there.
To look at some of the more positive takes/ individuals.
– it was a trial in the wet with our starting wingers, halves, props and hooker not playing together
– Tigers played 2 genuine nrl halves for most of the game
– Moretti looked strong. Great offloading
– Riley Smith. He has to find a way into the top 30 or dev list. He has more than overtaken Lussick. Has it all. Running, kicking and line speed.
-Latu and Tuivati hopefully get chances throughout the year
– lomax looked strong, without getting any ball
– Penisini looked lean and hard to handle.
One year we beat Penrith 36 nil in a trial and they went on to win the comp with ease. Lets hope we got the cobwebs out over the past 2 weeks and have an injury free run season. Keen for the season to start
Having seen Parra look the goods and blitz the opposition in trails only to have a poor season I’m not going to worry too much about last night.
Given the Tigers had 57% of possession and all the six again calls, Parra did well to hold on especially the first half. Also the Tigers played with more intent than Parra. Especially Douehi. He was making his own statement about his value to the Tigers.
In attack, the Eels ran dead. There was a little bit of structure but I would expect what we see in round one will be different. And a few tries went begging due to poor handling late in the second half.
Bring on round one and Parra upsetting the Storm ending their remarkable round one record.
Hey Shaun. The nature of the game with all of the errors and stop starts with calls made it an ugly spectacle in many ways. With so little possession and all those incomplete sets we saw minimal cohesion in attack, minimal periods of grind to win the middle, and no momentum. The Tigers were allowed to get away with stuff around the rucks whilst the Eels heard call after call for six again where it was difficult to see why the call was made.
We put that down as a trial and a typical Klein controlled game
Eels 95, great reply. All excellent points.
spot on
I reckon the eels kept plenty in hand. We hardly passed the ball in offensive positions or had any off loads.
I would think the coaches got a fair bit out of the game.
As for the six again interpretations by the referees, it’s completely arbitrary on any given day. I can’t think of a professional sport that allows it’s product to be delivered like that knowing that the end result is determined by one person.
Unfortunately here’s nothing we can do about it.
Spark, in another post last week I commented on how well I thought the refs were going – well that changed last night. Klein is still the worst ref going around and Badger is just mind bogglingly bad. She made a shocker of a call last week on an obstruction and last night she must have been watching a different game to everyone else. She got a couple of things wrong that cost both teams, so I think she’s just incompetent all around.
Don’t start me Stubbyholder. Don’t start me.
When you have your arms out in front of you, the ball hits your chest and goes backwards I do not understand where the knock on is. Not to mention the escort completely disregarded
Spark, I replied earlier that I saw the defensive issues as down to individual errors rather than team or system based. It now becomes a selection call, and of course more work at training for all and maybe some more than others.
I don’t believe I said anything about defensive issues. But agree with what you said.
I actually liked our defensive resolve during the early 6 again calls, the line looked improved on previous years.
I think we still lose the ruck too often on both sides of the ball – not rolling players onto their back in defence and not finding our front often enough in attack to generate some ruck speed. We’ve said we want to play fast and mobile it has to start in these areas.
BP, they’ve done a lot of work on the ruck during the preseason. It wasn’t executed as well as the coaches would have wanted last night. That said, the errors are also a huge starting point. Not even the best defensive team will win too many games with a 60% completion rate. It puts far too much pressure on the defence.
kelma was piss weak in defence and ryles should bring the hammer down on him for rd 1. he had a clear shot on skinny lachlan galvin but fell of him like a cream puff, i think it lead to a try. he might be one player who got leaner but it hasnt helped
It’s obvious after the trials why lussick and greig are not contracted beyond this year , throw in Cartwright and clearly all 3 will be rightfully gone , tago and tualagi are nothing more than backups and really there is an opportunity to replace both those players for round 1,for a player like tualagi to miss 7 tackles with zero lateral movement is embarrassing, tago not his fault as he is a Ron Massey cup player
Ivan, Kelma is not there as a back up player. His defensive issues were a concern last night and that’s why I said that there were problems around individuals rather than systems. Will Kelma improve with his captain beside him? I think he could. He was genuinely up near the top of the best performers during the preseason. He gave the coach something to address after that trial.
Thanks gents, seeing your faces was awesome, it made me listen more intently. I usually listen to each episode twice. Watching and listening is a new experience, it’s almost like I feel I’m being rude if I don’t give it my full attention.
Well we certainly gave Melbourne nothing to work with.
No team can function without halves. It’s like a car without its ECU, it can’t function without control.
Galvin is their starting 6 while Doueihi is no mug. They controlled field position and general play.
Our halves have 5 first grade games between them. It highlights the difference just one quality halve can make. Volkman was a shadow of the player we saw when partnered with Brown. There’s a reason NRL clubs invest 2.2 million in halves on average. Anyone who thinks Brown is easily replaced should take note.
Like Sixty said, it didn’t feel like a game, it felt more like patches of rugby league being played like training drill.
The game did show that longi is the real deal, wow, what a signing. I can’t wait to see this kid playing with Brown and Moses.
And what a revelation Riley Smith has been, you’re old enough if you’re good enough, this kid is exciting, like Longi, I can’t wait to see him playing with Moses and Brown and with our full complement of forwards.
Some underwhelming performers including Guymer and Grieg. Guymer seems panicked is doing a lot without thought. He needs to take a breath, quantity is great if it’s quality, he ran into the loving arms of a defender and got hammered. He left himself open to be smashed.
It’s hard to read Grieg, it seems he also suffers from nervous energy, his hit ups seemed panicked and without thought. He seems to be using more energy than he needs too and looks gassed before his time. He should settle as the season goes on.
Cheers Joseph. Thanks for the positive feedback.
I reckon Ryley Smith leaves the Eels with a big call to make around his contract. They cannot sit still on this.
The choice is fairly straightforward – we have the worst hooker duo in the comp. Riley has to be promoted to top 30. Also a shame w have players like tago while manly just signed navren willett from sg ball and he looks 5x the player of tago already – 6’7, fast, agile, acrobatic finisher
The point has to be made, looking at the back up wingers playing in these trials, seems strange we contracted Tago as soon as last season finished. He tries hard etc but quality wise he seems to be in the bottom 4 or so of all back uo wingers, not fast, not tall, not particularly agile and doesn’t make metres in returns.
Hope to be proven wrong, but big call to play him agst the Storm wingers and how many times did even the incompetent Klein call, “Joey clear the ruck “ and seconds later signal 6 again, signing a hooker who was playing as a benchie in the SuperLeague was puzzling , still is. Rykes Smith made 30 tackles , no misses and was sharp around the ruck, enough already he’s our no 2 hooker , get him on contract.
Sixties, I think Ryley has left the Eels with no choice. He made Lussick look like the rookie last night. If the average idiot like myself can see it then surely Ryles can.
Hands has proven that he can play 80 minutes when asked. It was never ideal because it blunted his game both in attack and defence. Smith doesn’t need to play big minutes initially but the time he spends on the field will be invaluable to Hands and the team. He’ll bring energy Lussick just can’t, if anything, Lussick stifles our attack which is counterintuitive to the role of a bench player.
He wasn’t a bench option last season, even when Hands was struggling to play 80 minutes.
Hands can do a job, Lussick is a handy backup but out of the three, Ryley looks the most likely to become a top shelf, 80 minute dummy half.
I’d be surprised if didn’t overtake Hands at some stage this season and become our starting hooker with Joash taking his spot on the bench as a utility.
I totally agree i would also love to see ryley at no 9 and joash playng 14 out the back like an exstra fullback of the scrum would be deadly moses brown joash iongi lomax
Scrappy game but it’s just a trial its more about getting some match fitness under the players belts
I like what I seen again from latu ,Mataele and Sam T with the limited time none of them have looked out of place
ZZ – that’s a reason that I focussed on discussing who to watch in NSW Cup this year. They will give the coach food for thought.
I can’t see Greig cracking the 17 anytime soon. Be very surprised if he did by the way.
On a positive Iongi was very good. And i really like Ryley Smith. We have to get Ryley into the 17 somehow. He’s definitely a winner, and a great prospect.
Craig, has anyone ever said you remind them of Simon Townsend in that cover pic ?
Final comment, how bad was the Fox commentary, Alexander makes no attempt to disguise his dislike of the Eels, and Voss gets caught up in his own self importance . In reality they shouldn’t be working in tandem on Parra games, and Alexander would preferably not do any.
Whistle happy Klein in our games is also puzzling, just doesn’t seem that even handed but maybe he’s not as good as the NRL push him.
Alexander named Lussick as the NRL starting 9, then later muzzled Voss who mentioned a forward pass in a Tigers try. Voss at least calls the dodgy stuff, Alexander often takes the ‘nothing to see here’ tack.
Many moons back Klein whistled the Storm’s rule bending tricks in a finals series, he got sacked for doing the right thing and banished for a time in the naughty corner. I think it had profound affect on him.
I did say in previous posts the Tigers would be up for this game even though it is a trial. They were not going to get done after the last game in 2024. They had a point to prove and they played it out. True they had an extra man on the field that gave them impetus. Really it is hard to get a really decent referee these days and why do they make so many mistakes against the Eels. I thought their defence as a team was good – 88 percent completion and 117 more tackles than the Tigers. Guymer was denied a certain try while big Sam dropped a sitter. Chasing possession and in doing so they started to chase the scoreboard which had them dropping balls at crucial moments. Last week they didn’t worry about the shot clock and our errors always seemed to be in or near the red zone. That is giving a team a head start. I remarked before Wiremu reminds me of Herman Hamilton safe but a plodder and could we really afford a player who is only good for ten minutes at a time? Lussick – why? Why are we persevering with him? And yes Kelma had a shocker. I think last night was more of an experiment by the coach and it certainly gave him food for thought. It think it chased out a few cobwebs and with two more weeks of training to iron out the kinks. What did concern me was JAC and his bandaged hands – what’s with that? Tago should be substituted with Richard Penisini or Joash unless, of course, Bailey is available. I think Richard P is a good show. I don’t believe the Tigers will make the top eight, probably finish ninth – that’s their second favourite season finish.
The younger forwards couldn’t get the defensive structure.
I’d argue that Lomax is still playing like a winger. He ran out of the line far too often and left Tago with few options.
2 weeks in a row the backs haven’t looked any better defensively than under BA & TB.
I’m line ball between Russell and Simmonsen. Simmonsen is faster but Russell is a better defender at wing and worked very well with Penisini.
The halves are not up to first grade yet. I think that was the difference.
Positive signs from Smith and Williams. Penisini and Hopgood were good too with signs that battle hardening will improve them further.
There’s still a lot of work to get the team playing as a team.
I’m expecting some early disappointment but with Moses and Brown on the field, they might get organised.
With Storm, Bulldogs, Tigers, Manly then Dragons, there will be no time to ease into the year.
I thought last night was fairly on point for a trial game.
Not having a half with a dominant kicking game to get us out of trouble meant the boys had to roll their sleeves up.
They’ll be better for it.
In saying that a few of our experienced forwards looked a bit spooked out there for whatever reason.
The eels best 17 that has been regurgitated across Fox sports and social media might have a few surprises in it next week.
Thanks fellas,
Enjoyed the new format and intro. Is it possible to squeeze in Frank Hyde calling a goal (he was the one I listened to as a kid) and a Rex Mossopism somewhere?
The trial: A lot of valid points made by many. I did like how we reacted to all the Klein calls early on, but in the end we had 30 odd points put on us. I said last week the defence was a work in progress and it remains so. Sixties point about individuals rather than systems seems valid at this stage. Doorey worries me, I like the enthusiastic but I think the talent is a bit short.
Of course the chopping and changing of players during the game doesn’t help. But as others have said I think the coaching group will tak a lot from it.
Riley Smith has to be upgraded in some shape or form and Sam T looks like he is going to be useful, pity he dropped that ball near the line
Now to wait for the first proper team list Tuesday of the year to see what Ryles has decided. Looking forward to it.
If we played the lights out in all trials matches and flogged teams I would be more worried
The simple fact is we’ve played our hearts out and flogged teams in the pre season then flopped in the NRL season and even copped wooden spoons after hugely impressive pre Season games
If we had Dylan Brown, Paulo, Mitch Moses, the Fox and Bailey Simmonson on the park and we lost to the tigers – yes, then it would be concerning
The tigers had two pretty experienced STARTING halves in the 17, and if we didn’t drop the ball every set it seemed at times, I think we would of beaten them
Our team was obviously told not to play at full capacity, the Storm also never gives their best in these trials, roosters too, panthers have also won the Comp after average pre season games
With Mitch Moses and Dylan brown back out there to steer this team it will look completely different
We will be doing a lot of completing our sets and aiming on getting to the kick then using our faster defensive line to get upfield and apply pressure and control better field position
Whilst I think a lot of players performed individually poor, this will light a fire under all of their tails – a few of them may have even gotten a false sense of security after the week before
It’s funny people blaming ba for some of the players games (lol) it never ends
What people must also consider is that during our BEST years with Brad, we had literally some of the best middles and second rowers in the entire comp
It’s extremely hard to make these guys look like what prime Ice papalii, prime Lane, even prime Matt & Marata N looked like a few years ago
There was a time that not only our back rowers were elite, we had two of the games elite props in Prime Paulo & prime RCG
We will have a lot better year this year, but we must have patience if Jason doesn’t have the exact players he needs to work with straight away
If some of the guys are unable to fulfil the standard of play which Jason is after, it may take another off season until we see him get the exact second rowers for example
We’ve got some imbalances still which Jason inherited and will take time to fully balance in the way he sees will work best
A few examples is like how our long term pretty highly paid second rowers in Matto & Lane are no longer really able to play at 11 or 12 to the standard they once could
You could argue our two best back row options become more so middles now, Lane is best suited at middle now and Matto is probably best used in the middle also from what we’ve seen
Then we’ve got two depth signings as our main back rowers now with Kelma & Giddy – who will be work in progress type projects
We will have a lot better year but we must remember up until players like Lane, Carty, Paulo, lussick, maybe Greig and co are possibly moved on at some point in the next season or two we are in a semi rebuild even if some people don’t want to admit it
I strongly believe we are going to have a few good years and a big turn around like we did when Brad first came, but we must give the coach time to get his roster exactly how he sees will fit his game plan, much like what we witnessed at the bulldogs who completely turned ship 180 degrees once he was able to get the players he wanted
We have a way, way better starting point than ciro did, I think we are a good roster that is very close to great but just needs a bolster in a few areas, and we should be very solid across the board
When Dylan brown was out there last week we looked absolutely good, I have no doubt last nights craziness had a lot to do with no proper NRL starting experienced halves on the field to calm them down and steer the ship
Muz,
Hard to argue with anything you have said there. I have mentioned previously that I hope we don’t have a Doggies 2023 type of year when Ciraldo first took over.
You seem to think talent wise we are in a better position than Canterbury were. I think you’re right but will be interested to see how it plays out.
Muz,
I also meant to ask if you would have done the podcast if you had the face on like the boys in this one?
Personally for me I wouldn’t – I have a great face for radio and a voice suited to mime! 🙂
“You could argue our two best back row options become more so middles now, Lane is best suited at middle now and Matto is probably best used in the middle also from what we’ve seen ”
Matto has to lift. He has the talent but needs the sweat.
Lane hasn’t been an 80 minute player since he was injured but TB played him for 80.
Against Melbourne and Penrith at the end he kept tackling but ran out of what pace he has to plug the gaps.
If he could find the combination with Brown that they had in 23 and put in a genuine 50 minutes he will be fine.
Good post mate, we are no where close to the rabble Ciraldo inherited. Even now the Dogs are light years from winning a comp. They don’t have halves or a reliable fullback. The only decent half they have thinks the world is flat 😀 They’re lacking in positions that are challenging, if not impossible to fill. They have cheque booked themselves into becoming competitive with outside backs and depth signings but won’t afford to keep them if they sign an elite half and fullback, if they ever become available.
The rumoured rift between Kikau and Taft won’t help their morale, allegedly, Taft stole a bottle of Kikau’s peroxide, Gould has denied the allegation.
Ryles inherited the nucleus of a good roster and recruited well and beyond most expectations. Any roster can be improved including Penrith but I feel Ryles has enough ingredients to give it a fair shake this season.
We know Ryles can’t take the Storm to the Eels and he’s not Bellamy but if can bring even half the culture he witnessed with the Storm then our roster is good enough to cause some serious damage this season.
I liked your point of Ryles holding back during the trials, on reflection, I think you’re right, that’s so Melbourne and Penrith like.
Well said Muz. It’s true BA stayed one year too long but we cannot deny he revived the club. He gave the fans something to cheer for and we were excited about our prospects. Before BA arrived the Eels coaching situation was a bit like West Tigers. We couldn’t get the right fit and they way Tricky Ricky treated the team and the club was a disgrace.
Stubbs said he is the only one who won a premiership in his first year.as a coach and that’s correct. What he didn’t mention how Graham Murray got there in before being replaced by Stuart. Ryles seems like a good coach with good assistants. We are in a good place.
Yes we are a work in progress and every team is a work in progress which starts with the juniors. Having said that we are in a far better position than 2024. What we need to do is clearly identify the young colts with promise and keep them. Whatever happens this year will be far better than last year. The trick with being the smokey – no one sees you coming.
Sorry if I can’t reply to each msg on the run but agree with each point made, and I agree on Matto and lane. They both have immense talent and it’s honestly strange how they went from playing for nsw, or like lane ppl said he should play for aus that year.
They went from that (elite in the comp in their positions) to not looking like starting players in what, less than two seasons?
They are both 30 which is obviously tail end age of NRL career, but you don’t expect players to go from elite in the comp to non starters so quickly.
There’s obviously a lot of players who are on starting player salary’s and no longer starting, or no longer playing in the positions where we signed them up to play.
It’s not at all a knock on them but rather just an example of the roster balance issues which will take time until majority of the salary cap is invested in players who’s stocks is rising instead of declining.
Matto and lane still look good in the middle as most of us agree, but our club over the years looked the most dangerous and consistently made the finals when we have several almost elite category edge forwards in the starting 17.
I know some fans think Reed leaving was a major cause of our decline, I would personally argue that Sean Lane, Matto, Ice Papalii, Marata all made an absolutely massive impact on parramattas game. Even with shotty edge defence we made the finals generally.
We should obviously do a lot better this year. But from a salary cap perspective we still have huge dollars locked up in players who are no longer able to fulfil the role in which we signed them up for, I think our second row options from a defensive standpoint point may be weak (unless), maybe Ryles Plugs if with Guymer & Williams at some point.
Our coaches know what they are doing and you could imagine they will play around with the starting forward pack a lot by round 5 if there’s any who look to be weak defensively.
I wouldn’t over think a trials game. We’ve aced them before then lost 6 games a row when the nrl season starts. 😂