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The Parramatta Eels will kick off Magic Round, or at least the NRL portion of it, as they face down the Cronulla Sharks on Friday night. Sixties and Forty20 preview the head-to-head contest as Jason Ryles looks to secure his first set of consecutive victories at the club. The boys look at the key match-ups across the park and how Charlie Guymer will go as he steps onto the edge to replace the suspended Kelma Tuilagi.
There are also a pair of huge games out at Henson Park as the Eels and the Jets clash in the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg in a Top 4 double-header. Spectators should get their moneys worth on Saturday will all four teams in top form and the boys discuss how the Eels can topple their fellow contenders.
Excellent show as always gents, thank you.
Sixties, mate about time, every podcast needs Patron support. I’ve admired that TCT has never actively promoted support however I always thought TCT deserved to be supported for the time, effort, passion and entertainment TCT have delivered over so many years not only during the season but for the entire offseason. We are living through tough times and understandable not every TCT contributor is in a position to lend support to in my opinion the best and most trusted Parramatta Eels supporter platform. But for those who can spare some loose change and as Sixties mentioned, as little as $5.00 per month will help the boys cover expenses taken for granted such as equipment, fuel, site costs and time dedicated to delivering three shows a week.
Speaking for myself, I’m a battler running a struggling small business. I wish I could support TCT more so than the minimum and perhaps I’ll be in a better position in future, for now I feel something is better than nothing and the hours of quality content deserves some level of support.
Disclaimer: I don’t personally know the boys, they certainly don’t know me. TCT is important to me and I’d like to see TCT further progress and continue to deliver content covering one of my true loves in life, the mighty Eels.
Gents, I agree, we need a few star signings, hopefully Galvin is one and we need a strike edge forward for next season if we are serious about giving the comp a shake.
Besides Pearce Paul, there’s really no top shelf edge forwards off contract. I would not be shocked if the Eels make a play for David Fifita, he’s rip for the picking and is clearly on the nose at the Titans. He needs a fresh start and a halfback that can unlock his full potential. I wouldn’t be surprised if we negotiate a player swap or sign Fifita with the Titans taking a hit on their cap.
John, love your confidence, I think we can take the Sharks, we need to hold our own in the middle to allow our spine to do their thing. I don’t rate their halves, if our forwards can at least hold their own, our halves will do the rest.
The weather is a concern, we have won only 39% of our games when precipitation is 15% or less. The weather forecast is not a precise science so I’m hoping precipitation is closer to 20% where we have won 59% of our games.
But there is only a 10% chance of that Joseph
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Thanks so much Joseph. Your comments on our posts add plenty to the content for our community of supporters here, so we are always appreciative. You are correct. After ten years, it becomes very difficult to meet the expenses. It’s always been a passion project and we’ve been loathe to push for assistance but we have reached that point. Hence you see some ads that we’ve tried to make as unobtrusive as possible. So thank you for understanding why we mention it. And it actually has been motivated by TCT followers telling us that we should push things like Patreon more as they never realised how simple it was to get behind us. We will likely have around a million site visits this year as we have averaged in excess of 100K per month in 2025, and that doesn’t include podcast listens.
As for the Sharks, we just have to win that forward battle.
Just looking up Meni Luke’s career stats – can’tfind his age but he played Panthers Nsw cup in 2019 so hed have be in his mid 20s. Maybe 25, 26. Not trying to.be negative but is he a late bloomer ?
The talk around him has been that he could force his way into nrl contention. Was thinking he was a much younger prospect who had ample upside.
He also seemed to have a break between 2019 to 2022 when he joined Parramatta. There’s no record of him.
Like I’ve said not trying to be negative, as I’ve heard good things about Meni.
Sorry, I got the players mixed up. My thoughts were around Will.Latu
Chief, Will Latu was from memory recruited into our pathways from Queensland. Had injury late last season and early this season but apart from that has transitioned through the grades. I rate him highly.
I think if parramatta can get to the kick on most sets and utilise Mitch Moses long kickign game to max effect then we will probably win this game.
The big thing our players must now get used to and trust in is like brads old teams you must learn to play behind Moses kicks, you cannot beat the good teams turning over cheap ball by trying to score off every set.
If I think back to last weeks game, or the sharks game last year where Moses played and we beat them.
You can see the opposition players fade out as it tires them running back to the 10-20mtr line from every Moses kick, it gassed them out turning them all around every set making them run so far back.
You could see it last week vs tigers who’s defence has been solid this year – eventually fatigue sets in and holes open up all over the place as they wear out.
I have heard it from two players (Api K & Brandon smith), these players have said how much they hated playing against Moses. The kicks just killed them.
Brandon said the player he Most hates facing is Moses due to those long kicks. He said he lost 4 games for Storm vs parra and he said it was because of those long kicks more or less making it so hard to beat us.
I don’t think people realise how good Mitch is. I wouldn’t be suprised if we flogged the sharks.
But it’s our defence that concerns me especially on our try line middle field where big AFB & Kaufasi etc will be running straight up the middle where we keep letting in soft tries it seems.
Muz, our kick chase is absolutely critical. Nullifying their back three will go a long way to winning this game.
That’s what I was thinking too Joseph mate, it’s really down to that somewhat.
This and centre feild try line defence will be huge as sharks forwards are huge and you can bet will be targeting exactly there.
Nicho hynes isn’t a top half but his team around him are very good they have a substantially better forward pack.
Our ace has to be the long kicking game and crucial focus on the organised chase. Keys to victory.
We have to win that middle Muz. As you noted, the influence of Moses cannot be underestimated, but the others need to fulfil their roles as it complements the advantages Moses brings.
Agree 60’s if they others can do their job and hold the ball etc
The kicks will gas sharks out as game goes on and opportunities will start to open up in second half I think
Like our last game vs tigers
Even though we are still close to last, this shapes up as a statement game, need to be competitive and play out the whole 80 minutes. It’s that simple after the first 4 rounds, be aggressive and contain and commit pressure.
In a sense, we don’t have to win, but we don’t want to have a score out on us, and that’s possible with a very hot and cold Sharks team. If Ryles can coach up that sort of effort, then we should look forward to winning a few more games that seemed likely just a couple of games ago.