The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
Missing Mitchell Moses and Zac Lomax, playing their 5th debutante of the season and down Will Penisini for 78 minutes of the game – the Parramatta Eels delivered their most impressive showing of the season as they rolled the Manly Sea Eagles with aggression and physicality.
The Tip Sheet reacts live to a huge win for Jason Ryles as Sixties and Forty20 look at the big moments and what it means for the Blue & Gold as they provisionally ascend 4 places on the ladder.
WHAT A WIN!
See how easy we can compete and even win without so many errors?
What a great performance from so many players.
A superb win. And a testament to what Ryles has been trying to build since he took over. It is starting to pay off.
Shaun, it’s now starting to click. Finally, the systems, the skills work, and even the vibe in the group that was so evident in the preseason is showing out.
I love the vibe. This seems to be quite a united team. Being patient is starting pay off. Still some ways to go to match a team like the Storm but I do think a spot in the lower part of the eight is a now a distinct possibility.
The best win for some time Muz.
Gol, no wonder your down the bottom of Supercoach. Your tipping produced exactly nothing but at least you got part of the final score right….the 10 points.
There was real improvement in the Parra team, or was the Manly team so diabolical, that it gives us a false sense of improvement? Williams on the edge, Kautoga improving and Samrani in the centres all produced positive results along with good completions and vastly improved team defensive reads. If it wasn’t for Joash’s poor decision making we could/should have held Manly to zero. Go Parra!
Wouldn’t hate joash too much, apparently only trained at spine positions throughout the week. Plus that edge didn’t stop getting targeted all night so great for joash to fix the tiny mistake from the first 2 tries to not let manly in.
No hate there just pointing out the obvious and wing is probably a position he has never trained in.
What a win!! Hawkins was excellent, and a fantastic debut for Papalii! Always satisfying to beat Manly.
Hawkins had a career best game. I had him rated as one of the best but after watching the replay, I might have done him a disservice but not giving him the three points.
Great result
That’s a great team performance something to be proud of. Well done to Ryles he’s building a solid foundation to this club something sustainable and lasting.
Welll done to everyone involved.
When the team has significant players missing, I think that new systems become sustainable when they are in evidence every week. We have hit the point we fans can see those systems quite clearly, because the players have a better understanding of their roles. It means that the team can still function without Moses. Maybe they might struggle against a Storm team or another form team, but they will compete. In much the same way as the Storm and Panthers have competed without Munster or Cleary over the years. Next man up does his role in the system.
Live match thoughts
Set expectations low tonight. Very worried about Turbo proving a point. Worried how Hawkins, Russell and Penisini will match Hopa and Koula for pace (if that’s how it matches up). Worried about the lack of a long kicking game and worried about the bench.. Let’s see how it goes..
Turbo no strapping – eek!
Papalii in early! Let’s see how he goes
Moretti…. I’ll have more to say later.
Brilliant! Papali’i and Samrani! Neither should play NSW Cup again this year!
Nice! Congrats Joash!
Two big plays from Hawkins – the best bit, they’re better plays than anything he ever did at Souths and Souths fans would hate that!
Oops for a minute there I forgot we were a bottom 2 team…Silly me. 10-10
Wow! Dean Hawkins. MON, get on the phone to the Tigers – We have a transfer feee for them – his name is Dean Hawkins…
C’mon Jnr. Jason Ryles the player would have taken the field goal attempt!
22-10! Boy this is going to hurt when we ballz it up!
Turbo on an inside ball and Williams and Taulagi – our 2 worst lateral defenders get him easily! I’m no longer worried about Turbo.
BREAKING NEWS Russell passes to JAC!!!… and JAC understandably wasn’t expecting it and knocked on.
Hopgood knock on… Turbo perfect pass!
Phew saved by a finger! Funny thing to say about a Hopoate!
Hawkins the through ball, Tulagi the header, ball centred by Iongi, Hopgood – Goall!! I mean Try!
Fulltime! None of my pre game worries mattered. Best performance of the year. Well done Rylsey.
Katonga best game. Hawkins well done.
Our back five for the future – Papalii, Iongi, Samrani, JAC and Lomax. JAC won’t be around for long, but that is the future, let’s find away to play them all and develop them.
Post game observations: Samrani needs to work on his hand shake – very dead fish!
Two men of few words, Jnr and Nath Brown have a conversation for more than a minute! Has to be the longest conversation either of them have ever had?!
Lol
One of your best match thoughts BA Sports!
Great win. The entire second half, I was sitting back on the couch, relaxed. I was so confident we’d win. Such a good feeling. I’ll catchup on the instant reaction tmw. Looking forward to it!
“Why are you so calm after a win like that?” Yoko to me last night. Funny how I was like that – I expected the win and the team delivered.
woo hoo!
How good!
Well well !!! About freaking time …
So proud of our boys tonight!
Everyone stood up and got the job done. The passion, and sheer want to win the game was outstanding!
Joash !! Well done mate! Brilliant Debut!
Dean Hawkins !! Brilliant performance!!
Dylan Walker, Jack Williams, & Junz & Moretti up the guts !
Jason Ryles keep doing what you are doing !
UP THE MIGHTY EELS 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💙💛💙💛💙💛
Well said Barney
What’s most impressive is that once Samrani and Joash settled in and got some reps in defensively their edge was then sound.
What’s all showing is our pre season work and the new style & conditioning inserted by Jason Ryles.
It now looks like Basically if we go set for set with teams and don’t drop the ball or give away too many penalties we actually come out better in the second half / have a good gas tank to continue showing up both sides of the ball.
Huge hats off to the coaching staff. Last year we collapsed at 50-60 mins totally cooked, gassed out.
Now we actually look dangerous right up until the 80 minute mark.
The kick pressure from Ryley smith also plays a huge factor that many people won’t fully understand or appreciate.
We are making players kick rushed and they cannot kick it as accurately or as powerfully. It’s making a huge difference that cannot be underestimated.
I hope Will is ok after his head knock.
This is starting to look like a properly coached side. I’m sure we will still have some awful games. But when we are fundamentally looking like a better team.
The fox commentators after the game started to float the idea of the eels making the top 8.
We have NEVER looked that good without Moses. Jason Ryles has recruited very well for us.
For anyone who said Jake Arthur is better than Hawkins.. I highly, highly disagree with that. Jake is a good depth player, where’s Hawkins can hold his own in first grade and doesn’t look too out of place. His kicks were very good and consistent, defensively he was solid too.
I felt for Jake last night. How many times did he have to catch a pass at his boots? And as you said, Ryley put the pressure on with that speed from marker or out of the line. He made it a personal mission. Manly doesn’t look like a happy club. There’s a reason that DCE wants out so late in his career.
Exactly mate I like Jake and felt sorry for him as a former eel and good kid.
Service was often poor to Jake like you said.
But manly has not looked the same really since it was known DCE wanted out.
To be fair if we played like that last time that we played them at manly earlier this year we would have won then as well.
I commented this on the pre match posts:
You put kick pressure and line speed pressure on manly and they do not like it.
They are flat track bullies who only really thrive when all the space in the world is given to them, or when DCE is having a blinder, and the ref is giving them lots of penalties.
You just rarely see manly win games when the other team is playing decent. That’s my take on manly. They look a million dollars when it’s smooth sailing and no line speed pressure on them.
A tremendous victory!! Penisini not needed as expected! Ennis just gave a lot away without saying it – Galvin to dogs. I don’t care, he appears a spoiled brat. We will continue to rise like the true fibros we are!!! Great victory boys!
A great win! If he goes there we don’t need him
Agreed. He dropped the ball over the line last week
There’s no doubt Gavin can play BUT…I question if we need him. Between Joash, Josh Lynn, Volkman and Hawkins we already have our next #6. Save the $$$ and bring in a big man so Junz can go around for another couple of years off the bench and get his 300 up.
I’ve missed the game live as I’m travelling so can’t wait to watch the replay tomorrow afternoon 💪💪
You’re going to enjoy it JonBoy.
So many great performances;
Hawkins, Iongi, Walker, Williams Samrani, Kautoga,…Junior..
The team just needed time to build and start to know eachother.
To me Kautoga is a young Kikau but will be better considering his age.
Samrani is huge and still quick he will be a force of nature on the edge.
Walker has been a great signing. In fact all the new signings have been a revelation.
I thought we’d go on a run at the end of the year. But we are only 1 win out of the 8!
I have always had faith in Ryles and wins like these are something to be very proud of.
Congratulations to the team and the coaches.
Jason Ryles recruitment and eye for potential has been mild ahead of anything we have seen at parra for many years. Not only that, guys like Sean russel and Jnr paulo have improved massively under him it looks like.
Very good performances from everyone you mentioned and to be fair they’ve all been growing every week more or less.
We and maybe the dolphins are the only team who looks to be improving every week it seems.
Iongi is also playing not far off what gutho offered us and he has under 20 NRL games to his name… which is unbelievable mate.
Muz, this group of new recruits has their best years ahead of them, rather than being players that BA was expected to turn into gold. There has been a distinct shift in the players brought into the club. Where Ryles deserves credit is for his own faith in sticking with his systems. There was no panic after the disastrous start to the season. He’s got the right staff alongside him too. Brown, Wisemantel, Moa. And how fit do the players look under Blair Mills! The preseason was hard work, made fun. As a former teacher, I could see, and wrote about, the learning environment. The coaches were generous with their time in explaining their goals to me. I found the early season failures perplexing. Not because the team lost, or even because of the scores. It was because they showed minimal evidence of all of that work. Now people can see it.
Yeah Muz, I think we can say it was Ryles recruitment. Because his approach is chalk and cheese compared to wherever were. Still not the finished product. But Ryles has an eye and a plan.
Miles ahead* sorry Pete.
I kept saying that Kautoga will come good. And Muggo was straight to the point in our recent appearance in the club when I raised fans concerns with him. He said that Gideon was just as promising as Iongi, and nobody was suggesting that Ryles drops Iongi because of a few errors.
Some people magnified his mistakes. But were ignoring the good points. This game was a watershed.
A well executed victory, well done to the players and Ryles. Just want to give a big shout out to a player that cops more unwarranted abuse than most, Sean Russell. He’s not a flashy player but, his defence has been outstanding of late, a bit of the Opacec feel about him. The player identification by Ryles has been phenomenal, didn’t go out and buy players just to make up the numbers, they were hand picked with a purpose in mind. Last but not least, Dylan Walker, buy of the year, didn’t realise he had that much footy smarts about him. If we can keep this up, and with the new SOE, we WILL become a force to be reckoned with in the next couple of years, and a club players will want to play for. Off topic, Galvin, if the rumours are true about the dogs, I think he is making a massive mistake, he would learn more playing with Moses than what he could at the Dogs. I can honestly see dramas at the Dogs if they sign him.
Mick Sean russel has been defending really well and playing very well.
A lot of our guys have massively improved this year under Jason and the coaching staff.
I agree that Sean Russell has improved. He just needs to realise he has JAC to pass to.
Fox was stunned when it finally happened tonight, and subsequently dropped the ball 😂
Anyway, happy to see Sean improving each week !
Mick, Sean has been outstanding in defence. And I agree with that Opacic analogy.
You had to see the impact that Walker immediately had at training too. Suddenly there was an extra voice. I had never given him the level of credit he deserves as a player.
Great game, and great spirit shown by the Eels.
We won it on effort, they obviously have been working on their handling errors
I thought there were a few opportunities to get the ball to JAC that weren’t executed, Papalii was fantastic on debut and Walker was outstanding as usual
The officiating was superb, good to see a game without constant intrusion
With what I saw last night I can’t see us getting Galvin, I think the money is better spent on a Leniu type character
Who said Origin was unfair on the NRL teams !
I still believe Galvin is coming to Parra but that’s another topic for discussion. I think most fans expected us to struggle without Momax. Self belief is important. It’s developing in this team.
Sixties do we really want him? It’s very easy to get swept up in the excitement of a rookie? He hasn’t achieved much.
Tks men, life is better after a win.
I texted a mate at the ground as the first half went on that Manly’s 10 points came from back to back penalties and an error on our 20, stop the leg ups and we win easily. You just got the feeling that physically and mentally we were focussed, energetic and working together. Many of our starts this year have sent the opposite message, just hope we can maintain a similar encouraging standard, that’s the challenge now. When I saw Junior more than once try to obliterate a ball runner in the ruck I thought ‘where has this been, I love it’..fortunately for the ball runner he was missing by half a second but watch out when he tunes that up. A bit like a metaphor for the team.
The difference in energy between the teams was palpable.
Our best win in years.
Excellent.
Composure Spark.
Moretti starting in the middle and Williams starting on the edge have transformed the dynamic of our pack. Their go forward worries opposition and their defence has stiffened our middle. It allows our other forwards to do their thing and display some skills. I thought Matto was very solid as well.
Galvin to be confirmed to dogs by end of the day. Vella flipped him after Isaac had essentially assured Parra he was coming. Guess it was always bullshit that he wanted to play for the club.
Hopefully DCE is confirmed by the roosters soon and we are all in on Sandon Smith.
Our 2025… FINALS starting 17. 😉
1). Iongi
2). Lomax
3). Simmonson
4). Dylan Brown <-
5). Josh Ado car
6). Galvin
7). Moses
8). Paulo
9). Smith
10). Moretti
11). Jack Williams
12). Kautoga
13). WALKER
14). Hopgood
15). Matterson
16). Samrani
17). Tuivaiti
18th man). Papalii
Who agrees? 👇👀
Ps I’m putting in Dylan brown and Simmo in over Russel and Penisni. I think they are both good but Dylan brown and Simmo is better centre combo.
I like the theory of this Muz.
I think Tuilagi has a lot to offer, but not sure where he fits in.
Getting the sense that Galvin will end up at the dogs to be honest though.
My prediction of making the 8 looks plausible now.
Young Joash needs to learn how to defend as a winger like the others have but he couldn’t have had a much better welcome. He will watch that first Manly try and hopefully get the message.
I think it’s important to realise that Manly were being mentioned as a chance at the title earlier in the year. I think they expected us to crack but we got stronger.
Brown hasn’t been mentioned here but he had a great game.
Beating Manly is one thing but winning a competition requires the best team you can put on the park and Galvin would help achieve that.
The refereeing was a bit harsh on us in the first half but improved as the game went on.
I got a chuckle at Junior’s reference to “screamin Dean” at the press conference, but he had a really good game.
The forwards are working as a pack now. Every one of them had moments worth calling out, but Kautoga really gave Manly headaches.
Bring on the Panthers.
57, I too had a giggle at the Screamin Dean mention. My family looked at me as if I was weird. I had to get my old Screamin Hawkins blues cd that I’m not allowed to play out of the closet to remind them. If that’s his nickname I love it but I’d be surprised if any of the Parra players know him so it probably relates to something else.
Screaming Jay (Dean) Hawkins – I love it!
He certainly put a spell on Manly
Really enjoyed last night’s game. Son got home just after it finished so I watched the replay with him straight away.
I mentioned Kautoga last week and how he had slowly improved. Also mentioned his last effort against Manly – three runs in sixty five minutes. How different was last night. You can just see his confidence levels increase. Some decent hits in defence too. Ryles has shown a lot of patience with Kautoga and maybe it’s starting to pay off. I’d forgotten what Muggo had said a while back so kudos to him.
Also loved Ryley Smith’s effort again. How about his tackle on Olakoatu, classic little man on big.
Samrani too was impressive and great to see Papalii score on debut, better still to see what it meant to the players.
I am with Mr Sixties, I want Galvin and I hope he comes across. He enthusiasm alone is worth the money. He will be a perfect foil for Mitch and he is a creative footballer.
We are pretty well excited over that win. It only takes a win and we are back on board. I have to say every week I tip the Eels but couldn’t do it for last night. I was expecting a big game from Turbo and Huamole and they did try but Parra were so organized with their defence it was only the spread in the red zone with Turbo there that they got those two tries. Sure Joash let in the first two – so what! It was the third attempt by Manly that he stopped with a great tackle. He learned from the first two. While a win over Manly is always a great reward for the team and supporters the highlight of the game for me is how enthusiastically they celebrated Joash’s try. It told me they are a team that really care about each. Have another look at that celebration – it wasn’t over the top but it was the joy they showed when he got there. This team is on the verge of turning the corner but only if they show that same enthusiasm and camaraderie. On a sour note – would it be possible Hopgood could go a game without dropping the ball at a crucial moment. Having said that he made up for it with that try. A great game played at pace which I thought put Manly off balance. The team is coming together under Ryles methods and while it didn’t look good for the first set of games I have no doubt Brown’s announcement had an effect on the team. And why wouldn’t it! It’s still too early and injuries haven’t help but if the team hold it together then, I can’t help but think I am starting to get a sniff of 2009. We have a testing couple of weeks ahead and if we can get over the hump – watch out. One last thing I believe Huamole should be suspended for kneeing Ryley Smith in the groin. He actually lifted it on purpose. He was starting to get really angry in the second half and put in the dirt.
I note there was a few comments on Russell not passing to JAC, but I thought Kautoga also had draw and pass opportunities out wide but pinned his ears back. They both had good games, and who knows, forcing passes brings errors. Smith 58/2 and Hopgood 41/1 shouldered the hard work, and Matterson had a clean sheet 21/0. I felt for Hopgood when he dropped the ball, we only got 1 replay but the ball jumped up and out and looked like a cunning nudge. Rugby League has a way of trashing perfection.And agree re Haumole, that knee lift didn’t look like a fluent, natural stride, and he was sailing close to the wind in the 2nd half as wasTevaga.
Fantastic game to watch at the ground. The atmosphere was so much better. Best moment was the Jack Williams Try. Play before offload to Dylan who made a good run- quick play the ball. Shifted wide with options- Matterson ran a good line, Iongi out the back and Williams straight hard running line. Hawkins went to the line and made the right choice.
I think we may have found a really good 2nd rower who can help open up our backline and give our outside back more space.
I would love Galvin to come but I think he will go to the Dogs- Gus normally gets who he wants.
I don’t get it because if he goes to the Dogs he is going to a team with an established 6 and Galvin is not a 7 and is many years from potentially becoming a 7 if ever. You would hope he would learn from his experiment with Luai 2 6’s don’t work.
I only want players who are passionate about our Eels like Junior. So not fussed either way.
18min to go after the Hopgood try and players breaking from the circle you can lip read JAC saying “give me the ball”
Credit to the team last night they were really impressive and even though manly were poor I thought that was largely due to us completely out enthusing them. Last month of footy has shown some real positive signs around our defence we look a much harder team to break down. If we can get Moses and Lomax both on the field for an extended period we will worry a few teams. One thing I’ve noticed in the last month aswell the team look happy playing with each other
I didn’t think Manly were poor. Sure they had some poor moments where they slipped off tackles they should have made, or some brain fades at inopportune times, but I think they were only able to play as well as Parra let them play. If they could have had more good field position, their shifts to the left would have carved us up a few more times. But the lads got on top and didn’t let that happen.
Overall a very enjoyable game. I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself, but that’s now 4 good games on the trot – we were robbed against the Sharks. They should have mowed down the Dolphins (and would have with a few more minutes). We pumped the Knights and then Manly. If we can get over the top of the Panthers and Dogs, it’s game on. And that’s absurd given how the season started!
Williams and Kautoga were the stand outs for me. Kautoga growing in confidence and Williams 100% an edge. I think Matto should be a permanent feature in our middle rotation with say Morretti and Junior starting and Matto rotating in with Tuaviti when fit. I’m not fussed about whether we start Walker or Hopgood, but they should both get decent spells.
Was thinking the same thing, if, for example, you draw a line throughHaumole,he normally doesn’t get that much ball without making breaks or causing moments of havoc, and it’s why he was getting annoyed and reverting to where he was 3 seasons back, poor discipline and extras in the tackle. We contained him very well, not an easy assignment even without DCE managing his running and kick chase game( Jake Arthur rarely hoisted the ball for Saab and Haumole).