What a week.
I’ve lived through some dark weeks as an Eels fan; salary cap dramas, Ricky Stuart’s overhead projector, nearly every Magic Round since it started, but these last seven days were right up there. The rare combination of such early season capitulation and a disappointing end to one of the strangest contract sagas I’ve witnessed, it hasn’t been easy to take when all I want is to be able to enjoy some footy after a long off season.
Now the Tigers come to Parramatta, motivated and no doubt ready to pounce on wounded prey. Can the Eels stand up and say “not today”? Can they regain some respect and give us all some hope that last week was a one-off, a false start if you will, and better days are indeed ahead of us? Can I remember to bring sunglasses for another early season game spent staring into the blaring, 36 degree sun? Let’s dig in to the preview!
Game Info
Date: Sunday, March 16, 2025
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
Kick-off: 4:05PM AEDT
Referee: Grant Atkins
Bunker: Kasey Badger
Weather: Hotter than the sun
Broadcast: Nine, Fox League, Kayo
Sixties Speculates (Odds quoted are NSW TAB)
Gol: After my effort in saying Eels for the spoon was a dumb bet last week, I’m convinced this section is cursed and will leave the punt to Sixties. He’ll be back later today with the tip.
Sixties: I’m not sure that my effort was any better last week.
This is a tough one to call. Both teams were awful last week. The Tigers missed a half century of tackles against a near equally poor Knights team, with their saving grace being that they weren’t playing a red hot Storm in Melbourne.
On the other hand, last Sunday was a diabolical way to start the season for our Eels. We all know what went down so it requires little elaboration.
Based purely on first round defensive evidence I see this as a high scoring game with the heat placing an extra burden on the respective defences.
That takes me to the pick your own total market with the total score of over 52.5 points paying $2.05. I’m being conservative with that selection is o honestly see the total points climbing past 60.
Happy, responsible punting everyone.
Teams
Parramatta Eels
1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Sean Russell 3. Will Penisini 4. Zac Lomax 5. Jordan Samrani 6. Dylan Brown 7. Ronald Volkman 8. Joe Ofahengaue 9. Brendan Hands 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Jack Williams 13. J’maine Hopgood. 14. Ryley Smith 15. Matt Doorey 16. Gideon Kautoga 17. Sam Tuivaiti. 18. Dan Keir 19. Joash Papaplii 20. Wiremu Greig 21. Joey Lussick 22. Charlie Guymer.
While the lifeless, substandard performance might have looked suspiciously familiar, the coaches reaction to it has not been as Jason Ryles dusted off and sharpened the Parramatta selections axe and took it to the underperforming Kelma Tuilagi and the perhaps hard done by Charlie Guymer. Shaun Lane is rushed back into the side after missing most of the pre-season with injury, we all know what he can do at his best, but it has been a long time since we’ve seen it. Gideon Kautoga replaces Guymer on the bench, the well regarded recruit making his Eels debut.
The other change is forced, with Jake Tago out injured and wing depth stretched so thin that Jordan Samrani makes his first grade debut out there. Better known as a centre, he will find himself a target for the Tigers attack and their kicking game. He’s probably still got a better turning circle than Maika Sivo.
Wests Tigers
1. Jahream Bula 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Adam Douehi 4. Starford To’a 5. Jeral Skelton 6. Lachlan Galvin 7. Jarome Luai 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Fonua Pole 11. Samuela Fainu 12. Alex Seyfarth 13. Alex Twal. 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Royce Hunt 16. Jack Bird 17. Sione Fainu. 18. Charlie Staines 19. Latu Fainu 20. Tristan Hope 21. Tony Sukkar 22. Solomona Faataape.
I’m not even going to pretend I know what the Tigers full strength lineup looks like, but their injury report only includes the long term absences of centres Brent Naden and Justin Olam, so this is likely the best they can do. Jahream Bula is back after missing last week through injury, aiming to dust off a severe case of second year syndrome. Api Koroisau also returns after missing round one through suspension, pushing feel good story Tristan Hope out of the side.
Speaking of second year syndrome, future Eels five eighth Lachlan Galvin hopefully suffers a severe bout of it this week, as he learns to play with star recruit Jarome Luai. They split touches and kicking duty fairly evenly last week, but Galvin is much more inclined to run and took the line on more than most of his forwards. The ruck defence will need to significantly improve to contain him.
Disaster
Gideon Kautoga makes his debut after an impressive pre-season
There wasn’t much worth analysing for an Eels fan last Sunday, the effort was so poor and so disjointed that it defies belief. The defensive line was panicked and scattered, decisions were made in vacuums and usually at complete odds with the defenders around them. It was an embarrassment, and how the side reacts will tell us a lot about them and about Jason Ryles as a coach.
This weekend we’ve already seen a few teams stand up after taking a round one beatdown, showing that a turnaround is only a positive week of training and a kick up the backside away. The Eels were so bad last week that it does feel like a fresh start approach could work, a “forget it, and how about you actually execute what you’ve been training this week” might be enough to fire the side up. It requires a buy-in from the playing group and some unity behind their coach, and that is the big question mark over this squad right now.
There was a distinct gap in performance between the incumbent, long term Eels such as Junior Paulo, Joe Ofahengaue, Brendan Hands and especially Dylan Brown, and the youth brigade coming through under Ryles. Ryan Matterson hasn’t even been given a chance to disappoint, dropped after a late withdrawal from last week’s clash. The pressure is on Shaun Lane to lift for the old guys and show some buy-in to the Ryles way.
We’ve seen both sides of this story as recently as 2023, where Cameron Ciraldo took over a Bulldogs side and basically had to trade the entire roster to wash away the stink of failure and install his own defensive systems, which were demonstrated to great effect in 2024. That’s the “wreck and rebuild” path, which may be what Jason Ryles wants to do given the mass turnover since his hiring.
The other side of the coin is the Warriors, who were revitalised by a new coach and, with minimal roster changes, completely transformed into the darling of the NRL. Sure, they immediately reverted to pumpkins the following season, but a new voice and a new style can have an immediate impact as well.
So what is it to be for the Eels? I’m leaning towards a complete rebuild and a tough year until Ryles can get the roster he wants, because I expected so much more from the senior heads last week. We needed forward leaders to take the contest to Melbourne in the early stages and both Paulo and Ofahengaue went missing. Brown deferred to a near-rookie, though he at least had the burden of being about to tell his team he was leaving for the biggest contract in rugby league history.
The bigger worry to me was Kelma, who doesn’t qualify as an old head, had signed a new deal in the off-season under Ryles, had the faith of the coach to get a start, then played so badly he was hooked after 12 minutes. He was trusted over incumbents like Cartwright, Matterson and Lane, and he didn’t perform. A saving grace was that the freshest faces, Tuivaiti and Smith, both stood up, but you can’t compete in the NRL with a team of enthusiastic rookies and little else.
Roaring Return
Riley Smith was one of the few bright spots last week
One hope for the Eels is that the Tigers don’t realise just how bad they were last week. While the final score was close, the Knights completed at 64% yet somehow earned an even share of possession, and bombed several opportunities that could have blown the game out. The Tigers missed 51 tackles, gave up 7 line breaks while making 1 of their own, and after scoring early couldn’t cross again over 74 minutes. It was a game they should absolutely have won.
For a performance that ordinary, there has been a lot of back patting this week in Tiger Town. Media coverage of the club oscillates between pure negativity or deranged hope, with little in between. We’re clearly on the hope side of things right now as pundits predict them to make the eight and talk of the glory Jarome Luai will bring them, but all I saw last week were sideways runs and no point scored. I’m hoping they believe in themselves a little too much after a noble loss and the Eels can exploit that.
There are some worries in that team. Samuela Fainu and Terrell May are great young forwards with plenty to prove, and May showed some tight ballplaying before shifting into a battering ram later in last week’s contest. Galvin loves a run inside the 20 and Parramatta last week showed they still enjoy leaving holes you could drive a truck through behind their ruck. Skelton and Turuva is the most competent wing pairing I’ve seen from the Tigers in years, and the side as a whole played effective Panther-ball with their backs making good, tough metres. Unfortunately for the Tigers, leaving Alex Twal and Fonua Pole fresh to execute in the attacking zone doesn’t have the same impact as Isaah Yeo and Liam Martin.
The Game
Jordan Samrani also debuts, in a somewhat unfamiliar position
I hope it goes without saying that the Eels can’t take the Tigers lightly. Heck, the Eels couldn’t take a scrimmage with the Wenty Magpies lightly the way they played last week. Yet if you needed to make a huge turnaround in form, there aren’t many better teams to come up against. They’ll miss tackles and they won’t throw a lot at you in attack, but they’ll play hard and compete for a good portion of the match.
It will be a scorching day, which I thought would help us last week but it wasn’t fitness that cost the Eels so much as complete incompetence. The Tigers have talked a big game about their own off season program, so it may come down to which team can hold the ball and force their opponent into defensive effort in the hot sun. The Eels will need more composure in the halves, maybe signing his deal with finally make Dylan Brown lead a side on his own, but more likely the forwards just need to give Volkman more time to execute on his kicks, and perhaps a better platform for them than 20 out from his own line.
Play mistake free footy and earn some red zone opportunities, and the points will come. The Tigers defence is too feeble and the Eels boast enough attacking talent, even without Moses, to exploit them. As long as the Eels play hard and match the Tigers effort early, I think they have it in them to win an arm wrestle.
I believe in the turnaround. Well, maybe it’s that I can’t bring myself to tip the bloody Tigers of all teams here, so I have to believe. Also, it’s round two, if we can’t have faith now, when can we? The A-League season isn’t even over yet, and the NFL is a long way away. It’s believe or nothing for Eels fans, so I’m willing to give this side at least one more chance.
The Blue and Gold Army will be out there, shielding our eyes and sweating in the March sun for another pre-daylight savings Sunday afternoon special. Don’t let us down, boys.
Prediction: Eels 28 d Tigers 22
Man of the Match: Isaiah Iongi
Gol
I can’t remember a worse game for the Eels in recent memory than the dross served up by Kelma Tuilagi last week.
A re – watch of the game only made it worse.
He must have been suffering from the flu or something similar because an NRL player just can’t serve that up.
Poor old JR, I’m sure his chin bounced off the floor when he reviewed the ‘lowlights’.
As for the Tigers on Sunday, just got to watch Galvin running to the line.
He plays both sides and handles every play.
Very fit and robust for a kid and if we give him a sniff, we will pay for it.
Tuilagi was beaten so easily by Papenhausen, made no effort to get to a loose pass and then tried a ridiculous offload with less than a minute to go in the first half. That’s three tries. No NRL team can win with that level of defensive effort.
Brown made a pathetic arms grab at a tackle. Another try.
Intercept when we looked like scoring and a 90 metre run. That’s five tries and thirty points just for starters.
Tago outleapt. There’s 6.
A gaping hole in the forwards close to our line and a big bopper who probably doesn’t score too many ran through it. This way boys to the line. That’s seven.
An around the corner pass bounced off the backside of one of our defenders and fortuitously into the arms of a Storm centre with a fair bit of pace. Of,course he eluded four cover defenders but that’s 8.
Surely this cannot happen against the Tigers.
McFersie I don’t think I have the confidence to say it won’t. Their halves will be too tricky for our boys.
Just the same if we fire they are gone.
Big if.
I’m usually very confident as well. But that’s my worry as well the halves for wests. Hopefully we get a good start and some confidence
Good stuff. I reckon tomorrow will be a points fest. Hears hoping for an Eels massive turn around and absolutely bulldozing the tigers
Look I’m not confident at all firstly with our leader out and also our defence – based on last week.
The weather may help us to be honest due to our lighter pack.
Errors and defence will be the winner – if we can compete at around 75% and defend better than last week we win.
Who is going to be our leader in the pack and backs?
This game last season Galvin was superb. I hope we can bring him back…
Galvin was also superb in the trial.
He is so much like Jonathan Thurston in the was that he takes the line on and handles every play.
We just need to smash him every time he has the ball and give him absolutely no space.
We played as badly as last week at least 3 times last year. It’s just that Melbourne had the talent to make the most of it.
The weak backline defence is still a gaping wound that needs healing before it becomes mortal.
We need smart, enthusiastic plays out of our own 20 and a strong performance from a forward pack that I think has lost a lot of strength.
On the plus side, if the back line gets going in attack they will be lethal.
Should be a good afternoon.
That’s it, Hopgood is in my dog house.
What’s the stat on our completions inside Tigers’ 30? I reckon it’s about 10%.
What an absolutely disgraceful performance. Worst eels team in last 29 years.
If only that were true
What does Ryles see in Volkman, he is a dead set passenger
Beats me. But I’d say the same about half our squad. We are putrid and devoid of leadership
This has the feel of 2018, it really does.
It does. There is so much dead wood that needs to be moved on and little options for replacement at the moment. Even players like penisni need to be on notice.
As for Dylan brown – god he’s a let down. Every game I hope he stands up and it’s like he shrinks more and more. Some of that is cause of how bad volkman and others are. But he really should be doing better
What makes it worse is I see Canberra transitioning really well to a younger team but we have made very mistake possible in how to transition a team. It’s a pathetic management team. If you made a book of what not to do you’d put parra as first case study
Wow, I can’t believe how bad Parra are. We have no leadership, no vision, we don’t trust the guy next to us. This is all basic stuff that you teach U10s. We are so far off the pace in the NRL that this will take years to recover from.
Errors in this heat are a cardinal sin.
Poor defence
Our forwards particularly Junior and Joe O are not making ground two weeks in a row. Junior was a little bit better with 11 for 104m 3 misses. Joe 8 for 79m 4 misses. Lane was equally disappointing 5 for 40m 5 missed tackles. Will also missed 6 tackles as that side was ripped to shreds. Dylan is lacking effort in my view. The senior players are not stepping up and setting tone. They don’t look to be fully dialled in.
Samrani was great shows what type of effort is required 196m.
Do we persist with Junior and Joe O? Because young forwards like May, Haas and Carigan seem to have the ascendancy.
No we don’t.
I wish I was coach. Junior and Dylbro would never don the Eels jersey again.
Leaders they ain’t!
Pretenders and Pinisouti has never been first grade material.
My round 3 team
1) Iongi
2) JAC
3) Penisini
4) Lomax
5) Samrani
6) Papali’i
7) Brown
8) Tuivaiti
9) Smith
10) Joffa
11) Williams
12) Guymer
13) It’ll have to be Hopgood
14-18) I have no idea
Brett, so many missed tackles. So we ask is Sam Moa doing his job? Hopgood – 46 tackles and 3 missed – that’s 94 percent effective rate. That’s pretty good but it’s his errors – for an origin player that’s too many. We still had forty missed tackles – that’s just not good enough. The Tigers were not that good so how bad was Parra. It looked like strangers playing for the first time. What is it just before half time? Do they think because Parra has clocked off the other side will too? Volkman should have run the ball over the sideline to kill time. That was one of the worst kick chase of the season.
I would have Joash at 7 and Brown at 6. Agree with your forwards but what do we do with Hopgood? How about a twenty minute break – ten each half. His errors are from exhaustion. Bench – Lane, Cartwright, Matele and either Paulo or Hands.
Why Cartwright – he can be creative. I don’t get Paulo – he is a physical giant and yet he is so easily pushed around. He should retire because he plays like a tired old man with no strength.
Next week against the Bulldogs and again likely in stifling heat. Why can’t they put it back an hour. That’s three straight games in stinking heat. I have say reading through Mr Sixties positive training reports and you wonder if this is the same players who trained that had those glowing reports and yet it doesn’t relate to game day. That’s a mystery – someone mentioned 2018 – I don’t know. One thing for sure they won’t win dropping the ball in the red zone.
My issue with Hopgood is how easily he is dominated in tackles. He gets left on the bottom of the pile way too often, which then leaves us shorthanded in the defensive line or at marker. He’s also becoming less effective in attack. We’ve probably got to play him, but I don’t see him as a long term player.
We deadset have seven players who genuinely want to be there and consistently show effort.
Hopgood, Lomax, Iongi, smith, Tuivaiti.Williams Samrani was also good.
We have absolutely no leadership and it’s showing up badly. If this is not a complete rebuild I’m not here. There is currently 10-15 players in parramattas squad who need to be moved on. I had some hopes and it’s only round 2 but I’ve seen absolutely nothing from some of our existing players to suggest they are worth working with. Dylan brown is going to be an issue going forward his playing completely uninterested and it will affect the players around him. His body language is so poor at the moment and is providing no direction in attack and his one strong suit his defence has been ordinary. If I’m ryles I need a big shift in attitude or his day are numbered
There are some hard calls to be made around penisni. Out of the 17 Junior, Joe o and lane should be shipped off at end of year. Matto, Lussick, Grieg, Cartwright aswell. Dylan is gone. Kelma isn’t reliable. So much of the top 30 still to clean out…
I couldn’t agree more re Will P. He gets burnt most weeks for pace and seems to put at least one ball down cold as well. What is so frustrating is that the experienced guys are the ones dragging their feet and the newbies are showing effort, commitment and desire. For a time there today it seemed that the whole attack was centered around Tuivaiti. If he wasn’t playing the ball he was trying to crash over. There was nothing else happening from the “playmakers”. Just an embarrassing performance today and I wish they would stop rolling out a player at the presser to state the bleeding obvious.
Guys it’s pretty simple – we just don’t have the ability. Moses injury was a massive problem but would not have changed results. He will be out for at least half the year.
My view is that There are any number of good first grade players in our side, but there exists massive deficiencies as well.
Senior players current attitude is appalling. Hopgood sadly has gone backwards, as have Lane and Joe O. We legitimately have the worst props by far in the NRL. Outside back row stocks are also incredibly weak. Yes lots of NRL experience but weak!! Williams has some promise, but was let go by Cronulla for a reason.
Then there’s Brendan Hands-wow, park footballer at best.
Penisini is bog average and Russell is a filler.
Overall, we have to focus on developing good young players, whether they are eels juniors or not. The dead wood in matto, lane, Cartwright, Joe O and Paulo must be moved on asap.
Serious consideration should be given to standing Brown down or swapping him this year for a couple of young guns at Newcastle.
Don’t give up on Ryles – he has inherited a dogs breakfast from the bush coach.
Why does it feel like most of our senior players have said ‘fuck it’ I’m happy to just turn up each week and do the bare minimum, get paid and wait for my contract to expire