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The agony of defeat and the ecstasy of victory. The Parramatta Eels felt the highest highs and the lowest lows today as the Lisa Fiaola Cup and Tarsha Gale Cup secured historic premierships while the SG Balls had one hand on the title before stumbling at the very last. Sixties and Forty20 bring you a comprehensive review of all the action raw and unfiltered on The Tip Sheet.
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Ball result somewhat disappointing considering they led till the end only for some discipline issues
They can hold their heads up tbh – Easts only got in front when we lost a player! And a key one indeed- shame but that’s footy.
Well done to the girls teams – superb.
Milo, credit to the Roosters as they somehow had our measure this year. Mind you, tough run of calls late in the game. Very tough.
How good is our nsw cup side looking. I know there’s nrl players in there, but they are not the best players every week in the team.
We actually look good across all lower grades, the Jason Ryles effect has already taken effect in my opinion.
You can see consistency’s in how we play between different grades in certain areas.
I’m not trying to make our Ryles has all the answers, first grade team & roster building still has got a journey ahead obviously.
But I’ve never seen all of our lower grades basically playing this good, I’ve never seen our jnrs and rookies come into the NRL side either and look not only “deserving a chance” so to speak, a good few are actually thriving and are obviously under very good coaching directive from all of our coaching staff.
Like a maccas franchise, it looks like we now have teachable & repeatable systems and instructions that even NSW cup players are able to play first grade and more or less do their jobs. Very few clubs are even successful at this. Bad or average teams usually can only buy players because they are unable to bridge them from pathways to NRL successfully.
I know it’s early days yet and some people will never be happy, but I think as Gus guild said before Ryles ever ran a team out for the eels, He said Jason is known as a great developer of young footballers, that reputation followed him from both the chooks and the storm.
Very proud of our girls today and bad luck to the ball team… it’s still a very good sign that we are dominating lower grades. Clubs who compete for premierships (as we’ve seen) that comes from within. Panthers absolutely dominated lower grades during their reign for the most part.
I don’t suggest that alone means everything. But the direction we are headed in is clear and there’s evidence the coaching staff & players across all grades are obviously thriving under the direction from the coaches, who have all been collaborating with Jason Ryles since pre season as sixties and others have suggested. The influence is obviously positive.
I’m confident our first grade side would also look something like what the sharks looked like in attack is we too had the back rowers or props they had, I feel like we looked ok considering our roster. That sharks side is the 2nd best defensive side this year. We beat them (I feel) if that ref didn’t destroy our chances in that match.
Fair call Muz. If only a small percentage of the juniors progress to be good first grade players then it augurs well for us. We will not be able to hold on to all the ones we want, but if enough keep coming through, with a set “whole of club system” we should be able to secure sufficient to ensure an ongoing competitive roster.
Namrebo, it’s amazing what a good preseason and opportunity can do in terms of when a player is ready. Many might not have expected Sam Tuivaiti to be a regular NRL selection early in the season in 2025 given he spent 2024 in Flegg. But he’s validated Jason Ryles’ faith in him and the pundits see him as a future star. So who knows what will happen with the forwards in our lower grades moving in to 2026.
Outside of that, what about the NRLW production line the Eels are producing, because those wins were based on talent, not size.
Yes Sixties, agree on the NRLW gpipeline. Only seen highlights in the main for Tarsha Gale and Lisa Fiola Cup games but seems to be some talented players coming through for sure. It was great to listen at the Eels function last Friday how many people were talking about the junior girls.
Muz, it’s an interesting time for recruitment and retention. I like the additions that they’ve made. Perhaps some of our brightest emerging players are 18 months or so away from being considered. So do they go big in recruitment or put faith in the talent within? Obviously you have to strive for balance but I think there are big calls to be made with forwards given the players on the rise.
Well done boys and girls, yesterday was a success before a ball was kicked.
Shame we couldn’t get the trifecta but the boys can hold their heads up high.
Our Flegg team is in the top four and our cup team is second, our club is building just nicely.
As Penrith has shown, a winner culture starts in your lower grades. We need talent to flow into our top grade, that talent is more likely to succeed if winning is ingrained in their mindset.
You raise an interesting question Sixties, how far do we go with our forward recruitment? Ryles has shown he’s not afraid to fast track talent, he’s seeing what we’ve got without wasting time and roster positions.
Looking from the outside in, my guess is Ryles will sign quality over quantity. I’d rather we go all in and sign two top shelf proven forwards than a bunch of fringe players needing development. I’d rather see our own kids being developed.
Joseph I think Jason will do something similar too
Look his effective experienced forwards like Paulo & Walker have been when they are on the field
If we had another highly experienced sat back rower, a Similar standard player to say Walker & Jnr
That would immediately impact our side in a massive way, particularly in attack
You see the sides who have good / elite back rowers (sharks, Bullsogs, Storm, panthers)
It helps immensely
Sixities agree it will be interesting to see how it plays out regardless recruitment as our cap space starts to free up.
What I think Jason has done so far that’s really important to note as well, is how well he has gotten Jnr Paulo playing.
Both over the weekend and in previous games, you can bet there’s tries which have his involvement. His actually been playing really well with Jason. After watching replay again of Friday’s game, it become even clearer how important Jnr was. His offloads and tough carries are great.
It’s very interesting that Ryles knew Jnr was going to be good, he bet on Jnr, he obviously knew actually how to use Jnr for maximum effect.
With it being obvious now Jason’s got a good eye for young players and good at getting the most out of them..
It makes you wonder now.. who else can Jason see that is going on the market who might be like a Jnr paulo? Not the same. But I mean a good player who is down on form? Or gone a little stale?
Somebody who Jason could trim body body weight, and maybe adjust their preparation & game plan to get most out of them?
I was thinking David Fifita fits that role. There would be other Snr players obviously Jason will have his eyes on, no doubt.
If David came to parra and Jason got him to drop 5-12 KGS in an off season. Revamped his mobility a little, freshened up his mindset and gave him new wind in his career, kind of like Jason has helped Paulo do..
You could see David back playing great again. Imagine a in from David F outside of say Mitch Moses. Or lachy Galvin (dreaming here)..
But you get the gist.
I personally feel Jason’s learned a lot more from his old boss more than some of the other Storm assistants.
He seems to be getting very good consistent performances from Jnrs, and then you’ve got guys like Paulo back to their best.
My guess is Jason will go after a project high end forward or two, guys who are great but out of from a little maybe, so price not super high, but he can get them on track.
Then a mix of mid developed NRL players and a few younger players.
Dylan Walker and Jnr Paulo are absolutely deadly for us in the middle when playing.
I feel like we needed experience in the forwards and Paulo & Walker have shown how important that is.
Jnr paulo has easily been one of our best players this year. I’m very proud of Jnr. I feel like we need 1 more experienced prop incase Jnr suffers any injuries.
We look dramatically better I feel like whenever Jnr & Walker are on. We look a different team when our experienced forwards are on. I love the youth but I feel it’s a big risk into having 1 specialist prop on the roster who’s heavily experienced.
Muz, good points mate, David Fafita is who I had in mind too.
He would benefit greatly playing with Moses.
He’s on the nose at the Titans and I’m not speculating because I know nothing. But, I have a gut feeling the Eels have Fifita on their radar. It stands to reason, we need a strike forward and we have the cap space, the Titans have a million dollar strike forward playing reserve grade.
High profile players who are dropped to reserves never ends well and the relationship between the player and coach is permanently fractured.
He won’t be at the Titans next season and he certainly won’t be at the Roosters😀
We have knack for signing disgruntled players who never would have signed with us if not for circumstances.
Mick Vella is a player agent for Titan Sports management who manages David so who knows?
Joseph we’ve had a great track record under Brad turning good forwards unhappy or out of form at other clubs come to us.. then thrive. As we’ve all seen.
Jason looks good at maximising players potential too from what we have seen so far. Jnr paulo, Sam Tuivaiti, Samrani, Joash Papalii, even Sean Russel, all look better under Jason so far.
It’s obviously speculation at this point. Jason may have a different understanding or perspective on this than us.
But I feel like If he came to parra, Jason got him to do the Jnr paulo (drop 5-10kgs), big off season focused on effort areas, etc.
Then had an elite half like Moses feeding David perfect ball in advantageous positions on the field.
You would probably expect David to look like a star again, steam rolling players and looking like an origin player again.
Remember how good Ice papalii looked when Moses was directing him? Even Kelma Tuilagi looks brilliant in attack with Moses beside him.
We will obviously have to see if his relationship improves at titans. But from what I’ve been told by somebody close to the club is that the eels are definitely hitting the market for forwards for next season as their focus.
It’s also obvious to speculate that without any information, but it’s nice to know that that’s also apparently going to be part of their focus.
Because I feel like Jason has built up our back stocks now pretty well + Jnrs coming through.
But Jnr is our only experienced specialist prop now + older. We ideally need a Jnr Paulo replacement to take the middle forward leadership if her goes down.
Williams is obviously a great player, just not your specialist middle prop / pack leader. We need more experienced big props + back rowers (imo).
Roosters have granted winger an immediate release. He’s favoured to go back to the knights but would he be worth having a go at .good finisher from what I’ve seen
Dom Young
I’d have him at the right price, he is mistake riddled but is good under the high ball.
Moses would have both Lomax and Young to shoot at.
Simmo has been excellent though.
Tanky I’m not sure where he fits…? Both Ado car and Simo are both better than him. Dom young is a good finisher though and better high kick target.
My observation on how he possibly fits:
Simo & Lomax are centres.
Ado car and Young wingers.
But #1 issue: Lomax still looks a better winger than centre.
Plus this puts Will Peninsi in reserve grade.
Dom young also probably wants min $400k – $550k. We probably need another forward for that same price instead. Thoughts? 💭
Yeah mate probably too pricey
Yeah mate probably too pricey