NRL Team List
Round 11, 6:00PM Friday, McDonald Jones Stadium
You would be hard pressed to believe it is actually happening given everything that has gone wrong for the Parramatta Eels this year in terms of the endless injuries we have endured. Still, after damn near half the season we are finally set to see Mitchell Moses and Zac Lomax take to the field at the same time for the Blue & Gold – with Lomax playing on the right wing no less.
It is absolute the head line takeaway from this week’s Team List Tuesday but there is still plenty to discuss! Jason Ryles continues to empower the young talent at the club as he hands Toni Mataele his maiden NRL cap. The 22-year-old forward has been close to making the breakthrough to first-grade for some time now and has been rewarded for his diligent work in the NSW Cup this year. ‘Tiny’ Toni now claims a place on the interchange bench for the Blue & Gold and standing at 190cm with 108kg to his name – he has the chance to rip in and make an impact as part of the Eels’ middle rotation.
The final major change this week comes with the promotion of Matt Doorey to the start right edge slot. He displaces Charlie Guymer, who becomes the man to make way for Mataele’s debut. Doorey has been more at home in the ruck this season and it will be interesting to see how he is deployed this week. Jordan Samrani will likely enjoy the larger split of playing time on that edge and that could free Doorey up to return into the middle rotation later in the game.
Talk of the spoon might be still premature but this week’s clash with the Newcastle Knights is a head-to-head contest for two of this season’s battlers. Both the Eels and the Knights have struggled for consistency this year but from a Parramatta perspective, the team has been on something of an upwards trajectory in recent weeks – even if there have been some serious wobbles along the way.
With all that said, the Eels must have this win. Dreams of any kind of tilt at the Top 8 hinge on it while it will likely become a pivotal junction in the long war to avoid kitchen cutlery.
| Parramatta Eels | Newcastle Knights | |
| Isaiah Iongi | 1 | Kalyn Ponga © |
| Zac Lomax | 2 | James Schiller |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Dane Gagai |
| Sean Russell | 4 | Bradman Best |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 5 | Fletcher Hunt |
| Dylan Brown | 6 | Fletcher Sharpe |
| Mitchell Moses © | 7 | Jack Cogger |
| Jack Williams | 8 | Jacob Saifiti |
| Ryley Smith | 9 | Phoenix Crossland |
| Junior Paulo | 10 | Tyson Frizell |
| Matt Doorey | 11 | Dylan Lucas |
| Kitione Kautoga | 12 | Kai Pearce-Paul |
| J’maine Hopgood | 13 | Adam Elliott |
| Interchange | ||
| Dylan Walker | 14 | Jayden Brailey |
| Luca Moretti | 15 | Mat Croker |
| Jordan Samrani | 16 | Thomas Cant |
| Toni Mataele | 17 | Brodie Jones |
| Reserves | ||
| Joash Papalii | 18 | Jack Hetherington |
| Ryan Matterson | 19 | Tyson Gamble |
| Dean Hawkins | 20 | Matthew Arthur |
| Jake Tago | 21 | Kyle McCarthy |
| Brendan Hands | 22 | Paul Bryan |
Injury Report
| Bailey Simonsson | Foot | Round 18-20 |
| Sam Tuivaiti | Ankle | Round 19 |
| Arthur Miller-Stephen | Knee | Season |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 11, 3:30PM Friday, McDonald Jones Stadium
A host of reinforcements for the Eels in reserve grade this week as they look to bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Bulldogs in Tamworth. With Toni Mataele making his NRL debut, the pack picks up that slack by way of Wiremu Greig returning from suspension while Dan Keir conquers a quad injury to return at lock forward. Charlie Guymer will start on the left edge which bumps an incredibly unlucky Will Latu to the interchange bench.
Joash Papalii is a huge in for Nathan Cayless at fullback while the spine gets a double injection of goodness with Ronald Volkman also passing fitness tests to come back into the team against the Knights. Joey Lussick deputises Brendan Hands at dummy-half after a long layoff due to a thumb injury while the Eels continue to rotate through available wingers on the right sideline with Samuel Loizou getting the call this week.
| 1 | Joash Papalii |
| 2 | Jake Tago |
| 3 | Araz Nanva |
| 4 | Richard Penisini |
| 5 | Samuel Loizou |
| 6 | Ronald Volkman |
| 7 | Dean Hawkins |
| 8 | Wiremu Greig |
| 9 | Brendan Hands |
| 10 | Ryan Matterson |
| 11 | Charlie Guymer |
| 12 | Bryce Cartwright |
| 13 | Dan Keir |
| Interchange | |
| 15 | Joey Lussick |
| 16 | Kayne Kalache |
| 17 | Brock Parker |
| 17 | Will Latu |
Jersey Flegg Cup Team List
Bye
Is there a chance Doorey in the 2nd row is a sign of how ryles wants to blood young guns into the starting side? Have Doorey take the sting out of it for the first 20 and Samrani comes in after that, similar to how the first few weeks of smith being named to start he had Hopgood play the first 20 at hooker.
Thought the Flegg had that catch-up game vs Manly from round 4 this week?
I know this might not the right place to ask this question, but…
Been living os.
I have t been to McDonald Jones Stadium in about 20 years.
Where do Eels fans tend to sit?
I will be coming on my own and hope for “safety in numbers” 😉
Really excited about this game (and reserve grade, too)!
There’s an away fans area in Bay 60, which includes discounted tix for Eels members, but I’ve not seen any comms with a code – I’ve reached out to the membership team to ask. I’m also going on my own, and tend to go for that bay. Hopefully it’s not raining, as there’s zero protection there!
I’m delighted to see Toni get his chance; I suspect that he’s ready and I’ll be interested to see how Ryles uses him; despite the time he’s spent on the edge I think he’s best suited to the centre in to-day’s game.
I’d like to see Charlie Guymer given a fun in the centres. I think Sam Louizou is better suited to centre than wing; I think he is a very good defensive centre And I’m surprised that he hasn’t been given more chances than has been the case.
This side will beat Newcastle.
Big fan of Toni. It’s definitely time. We were too small last week in the forwards. After losing Tuivati we needed to replace him with a big body. Kelma back next week as well. Another bigger body.
I feel like Toni can be a big impact player off the bench. Shorter minutes than he plays in cup. Big body coming on later in the game, with an offload. Good luck Big fella. Him and Tuivati are definitely the future of our pack.
Sammrani is a great player to have on the bench who will eventually push his way into the starting back row spot I imagine.
I have been a fan of Doorey’s work this year. Wonder how he will go back on the edge. Latu is probably a big month away from forcing his way into first grade calculation. He has everything we are missing in an edge forward.
Who else reads it in John’s voice? Great work and good post mate.
Big congrats to Tony! Nothing an eels fan likes more than to seeing eels jnrs getting NRL debuts.
What’s happened to Dunster?
Just noticed that the Eels Jersey Flegg will be playing theur makeup game this week. A couple of interesting names listed Will Shears (I believe was a highly touted junior from the NQ Cowboys), Twiddle is back in the fullback role and sadly neither Brown, Neemia or Samuela named. Do you know when any of these bookends will return?
Do you have any info on Shears? He must be doing something right to displace Antioch Faitala-Mariner.