The Parramatta Eels have followed up their announcement of the Mitchell Moses contract extension with today’s news of the upgrade to the contracts of both Richie Penisini and Ryley Smith.
Penisini was previously on a Development Contract and has now been upgraded to a Top 30 deal. This takes the number of players in the Eels top 30 to 28, meeting the NRL’s round one requirement.
The image from the Eels media announcement
An internal upgrade had been hinted at during the club’s recent fan forum when it was stated that for any signings to occur, they had to be better than those currently on the Eels roster.
Richie has excelled during the preseason, and his duels with older brother Will during scrimmages were very entertaining. He backed that up with a terrific hit out against the Knights, with his defence looking particularly on-point.
His recovery from the ACL injury that robbed him of the entire 2024 season has been very pleasing. Given that he actually rose from SG Ball to NSW Cup selection in 2023, the lost year might have cost him an NRL debut in a season where injuries struck hard.
Richie Penisini
This is what Parramatta Eels General Manager of Football Mark O’Neill had to say about Richie and the upgrade:
“Richard’s promotion to the Top 30 is a reflection of his hard work and dedication. As a local junior, we’ve seen his potential coming through our elite pathways program and are proud to have him take this next step in his career.”
Penisini’s upgrade has also made it possible for the Eels to upgrade Ryley Smith to a Development Contract and he’s inked a deal that keeps him at the club for the next two seasons.
The rising rake had previously sat outside the Top 30 and Development Contract list. This made him ineligible for first grade selection until Round Eleven. That now changes.
Readers of my training reports, and listeners to our podcast, know my stance on Ryley Smith. He excelled on the training track throughout the pre-season, and then carried that form through to both of the Eels trials.
All of this was on the back of a strong 2024 season in Flegg and eventually NSW Cup that earned him a stint in the current pre-season.
Ryley Smith
In my opinion, an upgrade was required to make him a selection option before round eleven. In fact he is now an option for round one, and for those curious about my take on how this impacts the round one team list, I’d include him on the bench.
Mark O’Neill had this statement about Ryley:
“Ryley has been very impressive during the pre-season and thoroughly deserves his promotion to the development list. His leadership, character and skill from dummy half makes our overall squad stronger. We are excited to see him continue to develop with us over the next few years.”
These two contracts are significant for the Eels future. It continues the faith being shown in the younger rising stars.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Great news two days in a row. Isn’t there a saying about things coming in 3’s? Come on Dyl…
The three have arrived. Moses, Penisini and Smith. What we want is good things come in fours. Then we will be really happy.
True zero
I’m still confident JonBoy
Great news would love to see him on the bench for round 1 as well
As I said, the upgrade changes my predicted interchange.
Great news for both players.
Richie looks classy. I wonder if the club view him as a wing option in the future? Especially if Will signs on long term like it has been hinted at. Will and Lomax would have a lock on the 2 centre spots, you’d imagine.
As for Ryley, congratulations. Hard work definitely paid off. I would have no hesitation throwing him into the team for round 1. I actually believe he can be a bit of a difference maker with his energy and not just simply making up the numbers. Does give some injury coverage as well considering he and Hands can both fill in at halfback or 5/8.
If this puts us at 28 now for the roster and our 6 dev guys are,
Keir
Artie
Pryke
Tago
Kautoga
And now Smith
Does that mean Samrani is still only train and trial this season?
Yes, Samrani still Train and Trial, but his deal moves him into Top 30 next season.
And as I said in the post and previously, Ryley’s upgrade was a must and changes my predicted team list
This is great news!
Richie may well get the wing spot for Rd 1. That would be great.
Ryley is a livewire! He would not be out of place on the bench for Rd 1.
Mitch obviously good news!
Pete, Richie has trained at centre all preseason so I don’t think he’ll play on the wing. Yes, my interchange changes with Ryley’s upgrade.
Good news on all fronts at the moment.
Just out of interest 60s, why would you think Ryley is likely for the round 1 bench, but don’t think the coaches will go for Joash? Is it just a factor of unlikely injuries in the backs and Ryley being a specialist 9?
I’d assume it’d be similar to most other teams with a utility where they are capable of playing and defending at 9 like Wishart at 9. Joash might be able to fill in there but hasn’t trained at 9 through the preseason. Parra don’t have a player like Mcinnes at the sharks allowing you to not have coverage for the 9 making smith more valuable on the bench.
That’s correct, Joash hasn’t trained there.
Mick it’s a matter of the quality of service out of dummy half. Also, if an injury happens to the halves, either Hands or Smith have demonstrated they can play in the halves.
Excellent news. Both would be a value-add for the Storm game. Those Storm wingers demand we very carefully consider how we match up, and Smith would provide versatility and good variation to the workmanlike game of Hands.
Yep, exactly if Ryles picks Richie it means Lomax could defend on a wing to help defuse the kicks to the tall storm wingers and Richie has shown defending in the centres is no issue for him.
I don’t see Richie playing in round one. His eligibility hasn’t changed and he’s been training at centre.
Great news. Ryles and the club are doing everything right.
My pick is that Smith will be on the bench with Hands starting and that Ritchie will take the wing spot.
I thought the same Spark, you just never know what Ryles and the coaching staff are thinking.
I’d like to think Tago playing the last trial was a decoy to give Bellamy as little chance as possible to prepare to target a rookie. Perhaps I’m/we are looking too much into it.
Richard showed really good defensive reads during his first trial, Tago on the other hand was exposed against the Tigers.
Lomax is a master under the high ball, Lomax could switch to wing if things go south, I’d prefer Richard in the centres over Tago if a backup plan on the run needs to be deployed.
Hey Joseph, coaches rarely change things up that much. The players have spent the preseason learning the requirements and responsibilities of their roles, and in changed up systems. I doubt they will change things on them with just a couple of days notice.
Spark, I’ve replied already that Ryley’s eligibility has changed so now my predicted bench changes. Richie’s eligibility has not changed. I don’t see him playing wing in round one.
Do I take it that this leaves Ron Volkmann without a contract,? Do we know what his plans are?
i would say that the Volkman situation is heavily dependent on the decision of Brown.
If Brown decides to leave and Volkman plays the lights out in cup, there may be decisions made.
Hopefully for everyone, Brown makes up his mind ASAP
Volkman has a deal – train and trial. But if he continues to shine you’d expect an upgrade. They have two spots open. They might use one at some point.
Amazing news.
Our club is truly headed in the right direction, you can see it happening in real time.
I think I speak for most eels fans when I say there’s nothing better than to see eels pathways players step up and get opportunities.
We were known previously (and I know this first hand from speaking to young players) as a club that you often didn’t want to go to because NRL pathways were ultimately blocked with older & larger senior players which we preferred as our squad DNA for the most part.
I know this is only a small detail at first glance, but understand our club will now also have better chances are signing more elite young player players as they see our club is giving young players plenty of opportunities to crack first grade.
This isn’t to say it will be easy, but long term if young elite players can see Eels as a great NRL pathway, our recruitment across all grades should improve over time.
I think the signings of Papalii & Iongi will be game changing for our club. They are good examples of NRL squad opportunities being open and appealing to ELITE talent at other clubs encouraging them to jump ship over to the eels.
I think you are right Muz re giving young players opportunities. You can take the safe option (as we did in the past) by filling spots with average, more experienced players, or you can fill them with young players who have real potential. Obviously the young blokes will inevitably make mistakes, but the important thing is that they learn from those mistakes. Ryles seems to be taking the latter option, which has risks but the reward could be great.
The squad seems to have a good balance of marquee players, workers and young players with potential. This is not something we have seen for some time, and creates our own conveyor belt.
What is a better word for potential? Ability! While potential is an ingredient it does not always grow. Too many young blokes are signed on potential and fail to deliver. A reason why – expectation! Sometimes we load kids with such a heavy expectation load they cannot cope. Galvin has an ability that outshone his potential. We want to sign players who have ability while nurturing those with potential giving them time to cultivate their ability.
Zero, the problem is that identifying young talent who are definitely going to play NRL is such an inexact science. I’ve seen too many young stars not cope with the demands of full time training, let alone the pressure of expectation. The Eels Jets program is designed to prepare young players for what’s in store.
Longfin, the priority should always be to fill the majority of lower end spots on the roster with players whose best days are ahead of them. That’s not to say that a role can’t be filled by a player like Dean Hawkins who can be relied on to do a job in first grade when required.
As you pointed out Muz, it’s important to get the balance right of providing opportunities for pathways talent as well as becoming a destination club for recruits.
Good on you Jason Ryles for throwing us a rope and begin to pull us out of the quick sand we’ve been stuck in for years. We might not succeed straight away but hell it’s nice to breathe some fresh air again.
Isn’t it great mate ! We WERE stuck in the same loop, doing the same things, with the same people.
The Ryles acquisition will be the best thing this club has done for years.
Just a thought on Dylan brown I’m hoping he stays. Surely being apart of a parramatta grand final team breaking the drought would be a huge incentive to stay. Would turn him and players like Moses into parramatta legends.
I hope he does too mate but that pay difference… You are only in the game for a short time and it’s not like the old days, the players from different teams all interact these days.
He’s been an Eel since he was 15. I know that guarantees nothing, and clubs are often far from loyal in return. But I think he’ll stay.
That’s good to hear mate
I had an interesting catch up with a good mate out at Penrith this morning who is with that outfit.
The topic of Blaize Talagi came up and he told me that the staff were absolutely amazed by how RAW he is.
Yes, massive potential but they reckon he’s at least 12 months away from NRL and can’t understand how the Eels debuted him.
All this talk about him taking the 6 at the team is a pipe dream this year unless something extraordinary happens.
Apparently, Blaize is cool about it and willing to work hard ( and good on the kid) but others less so.
Comes on the back of what I heard when Ryles came to the club and was totally shocked about the level of basic skill in the team.
Just goes to show you that it was a damned miracle that we made the GF in 22.
Thank goodness, we have Ryles. It may go belly up this year but we are definitely on the right track.
Spark, let’s not re-write history. I don’t want to go back and set it straight but if I must. I’ve said during the preseason reports that there was a strong emphasis on skills for a reason. But as for being a miracle that the Eels made the 22 Grand Final, that’s just not true. The Eels built up to that point by playing finals footy in four of the previous five seasons. It would have been five out of six if not for the points deduction. They were consistently beating the Panthers in regular rounds. You don’t achieve that by a fluke or a miracle. I can also assure you that the current coaches won’t listen to shit being put on who was there before them, and they are highly appreciative of the work ethic they inherited. It’s all about what happens from here on now. They have a far different approach. Let’s watch them do their thing.
Mate, only passing on what I was told and my sources are rock solid.
The readers can dismiss it, dismiss me or my sources, doesn’t worry me in the slightest.
Loads of positivity for this new set up !
Hey Sixties,
If Dylan decides to leave is there any kids you can see pushing to replace him or we go on the market and go for 2 ex juniors in Galvin or French? Actually think Douehi will be a great pickup he won’t be playing in the halves in Wests shown in trial he is still quality and also has a combination playing with Mitchell for Lebanon.