If you are going to wait five weeks to win your first game of the season, you may as well do it in heartstopping golden point with the matchwinning field goal kicked by the star recruit playing against his former club. That it ruined what was shaping as an otherwise fairly handy return to Parramatta for our former captain was icing on the cake.

There was even a bit to like about the footy being played. Dylan Walker gave some width to the attack and it was no coincidence that Dylan Brown then played his best game of the year off the back of that. The forwards rolled the metaphorical sleeves up and dug into the dirty work, and the composure displayed to come back from 12 down bodes well for the mental toughness of the side. 

The win was a just reward for some steady improvement over the last three weeks, and if we can build on it next week, then the week after, and every week after that, maybe there’ll be something of consequence come of season 2025 yet.

 

I’m not going to pretend it was perfect, but nuts to pointing out the bad when we’ve just put up our first win of the season. While it is in the nature of a Parramatta fan to look on the glum side (we weren’t even an hour post the full time siren when I heard an Eels fan lamenting that the Dolphins early lead likely consigned us back to the bottom of the ladder), just sit back and enjoy breaking the duck.

 

There were a lot of good efforts to choose from, which was a nice change in itself, but I was impressed enough with Ryley Smith to give him the first of what will hopefully be a career full of TCT grades “best in class” awards. In a tough game Ryley’s kick pressure, smart decision making and crisp service made the difference, and his golden point efforts to first force the kick error then to feed quality ball to Lomax for the matchwinner is a textbook example of footy plays that deserve but rarely make the highlight reel.

 

 

 

There’s still some work to be done defensively, but let’s give that a pass this week and enjoy the breakout round for Isaiah Iongi’s attacking football. It wasn’t just the workrate, he was finding himself in much more dangerous spots on the field with room to use his footwork, and in the case of his try, that beautiful show and go. He’s finding his space in this side.

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We’ll get him into space one day, but his try showed he can still find himself in the right spot at the right time and finish off a chance. He brings energy, he brings composure, he brings Luke Combs as his try scoring song in a classic disparity of song title to song content. If he keeps this up, I’ll be belting out Fast Car every time he crosses.

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Back on his favoured side of the field and the man of unspeakable nicknames was back to his usual self. It wasn’t a blowout performance, but he looked a different player than the one that bumbled through the first month of the season.

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Another immense effort from Lomax, who did a lot of tough yardage work coming in from the wing, while defending stoutly when tested and slotting in for the game deciding field goal like he’d been working with this group his whole career. It was a well deserved last laugh for Lomax in his battle with the deposed King. Long live Lomax!

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Pretty solid work from Sean Russell, who shifted to the centres and defended fairly well against tough opposition. Figures that he’d find his place in the backline just in time for Bailey Simonsson to come back and take it.

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Much better from Brown, whose game today was worth a cold beer at the end of a hot day: exactly what we needed. Whether it was getting more from his pack, the pressure relieved by the presence of Dylan Walker, or just his finding his own way, this is what we need from Dylan every week from now on.

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Dean Hawkins was the steady hand in this one, keeping the Eels in the arm wrestle with the long kicking and pulling off the first successful “just kick it to Lomax” of the season, leading to the opportunistic try from Kautoga. He wasn’t targeted in defence, a sign the Dragons either have no idea or that he was well protected by his teammates, I’m choosing to go with the latter for now. At least he’ll go down in history as being the first player to get pinged for an uncontestable dropout. I’ve seen kicks land in row G not given penalties, but hey, glad that didn’t decide the result.

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Short stint for Joe O, who didn’t get a lot done with the ball or without it, then got caught walking and arm grabbing on Clint Gutherson for the opener. That might have something to do with why we didn’t see him again, and if we see much more of that (and Jason Ryles can find a warm body in reggies to come up) he might not be long for first grade.

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For a young bloke with a handful of first grade games under his belt, Ryley Smith is doing the little things well. The energy he brings on kick pressure and in cover defence should shame some of his veteran teammates and while the headgear and his stature will condemn him to a few years of comparisons to Reed Mahoney, he’s already nailed a field goal setup better than Cash ever managed.

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This is more like it Junior. 72 minutes, nearly 200 metres, 3 offloads, tough defence, this was the kind of performance that makes me think he really didn’t like Clint Gutherson that much and took his return personal. Whatever he needs to motivate himself is fine by me if it delivers footy like this.

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That completely unnecessary obstruction penalty was a real Shaun Lane moment, but it was a small blight on an otherwise solid game. He’s making a lot of tackles, was hit again and again with that short ball from Dylan Brown, and seems to be warming into a bigger role on both sides of the ball. I’m not 100% convinced, but I’m not off him either. Let’s call it Lane Limbo for now.

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Rocks and diamonds for Kautoga, who got caught out badly on both of Gutherson’s tries, on the first not able to lock down an offload, then picked off on his line for the second. He was much improved with the ball and was on the spot for a try, but I’m yet to make a call on the Kautoga Conundrum.

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I did not have “J’maine Hopgood, starting hooker” on my Eels bingo card for 2025, but to be fair I haven’t punched a lot of holes in that card over five rounds. How he coexists with Dylan Walker will be interesting (I can’t imagine he’ll be at rake too many more times this year) but hopefully relieving him of some playmaking responsibilities will get the best out of him.

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For a debut where he might not have a single highlight reel moment, this might be my favourite first up effort in an Eels jersey in a long time. Walker hasn’t always been my cup of tea off the field, but he’s been saying the right things and delivered exactly what we needed on the field. No pressure, but the revival is now on your shoulders, Mr. Walker.

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16 minutes, 3 runs and a whole lot of energy, I’d love to have seen more of Luca Moretti in this one but given it was his first run of the season, there’s plenty of time to get our fill of Moretti Mongrel.

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Sam went back to his impact minutes, but he managed to make them live up to their name with some tough runs. Not much to say, other than I love his footy almost as much as I hate his hair.

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Tough, hard work from Guymer, who also managed to show a bit of playmaking to go along with the dirty stuff in a twist to what has been a fairly straight up and down career so far. He has to work hard to get into this team, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen when he’s got in the squad.

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It was truly cathartic to be belting out the victory song after this one, at least until they cut it off halfway through to play some dance mix or other in a criminal act of disrespect. Don’t mess with my Click Go The Eels. Still, what a win.

Now we head up for our last Darwin expedition, hosting the Canberra Raiders who melted into mice on their trip to Townsville two weeks ago in what I hope is a sign of how they handle hot, humid weather. While few tears will be shed for the Darwin deal, I’d love to be tearing up with the joy of victory twice in two weeks.

That’s just the kind of dreaming a win gets you. Whether it is the start of something more we’ll soon find out, but gee it was good to get this one.

Until next time, stay slippery, Eels fans.

Gol

Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media