The Eels get one of those beautiful “home away from home” games this week, literally, as the Panthers host the Blue and Gold at CommBank Stadium. The four time back-to-back premiers are anchoring the ladder, homeless and on weary legs after a big New South Wales win in State of Origin. I thank you for your services to your state, Cleary, Yeo, and co., now let the Eels demonstrate that appreciation by beating on you for 80 minutes in front of more Eels fans than Panthers.

It hasn’t always gone well for other teams trying to claim Parramatta as their own den, jungle or kennel, especially when playing against Parramatta. I hope that new grandstand and a mens bathroom that isn’t just some target circles on the back wall of the sheds is worth losing a dynasty for, Panthers. We may be in the wrong rooms this week, but this is still our home.

Eels v Panthers clashes have been special contests in recent years, and the oddness of Penrith sitting bottom of the ladder, hosting a home game at the Eels ground, and doing so a few days after State of Origin won’t change that. This promises to be an intriguing contest, so on with the preview!

Game Info

Date: Sunday, June 1, 2025
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
Kick-off: 4:00PM AEST
Referee: Peter Gough
Bunker: Grant Atkins
Weather: Mild, sunny
Broadcast: Nine, Fox League, Kayo

Sixties Speculates (Odds quoted are NSW TAB)

This is simple. The Eels are $2.50 head to head against a team that they always compete well against in an away game that’s really a home game.

That will do.

But as always, keep it fun.

Happy, responsible punting everyone.

Sixties

Teams

Parramatta Eels

1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Zac Lomax 3. Sean Russell 4. Jordan Samrani 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Jack Williams 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Kelma Tuilagi 12. Kitione Kautoga 13. J’maine Hopgood. 14. Dylan Walker 15. Luca Moretti 16. Ryan Matterson 17. Joash Papalii. 18. Matt Doorey 21. Dean Hawkins.

Unless I wait until an hour before kickoff to post this, we won’t know for sure if Mitchell Moses and Zac Lomax will back up from Origin. Moses was seen icing his leg after the game which is about as good an omen as a blood moon and birds falling dead out of the sky, but I hold out hope (Update: it looks like both are in!).

In other changes we can confirm, Will Penisini will rest this week under concussion protocols, with Jordan Samrani taking his place in the centres. Joash Papalii retains his place on the bench after an impressive debut, while I’d expect the sneaky late change with Moretti and Tuilagi to happen once again.

Penrith Panthers

1. Dylan Edwards 2. Thomas Jenkins 3. Izack Tago 4. Casey McLean 5. Brian To’o 6. Blaize Talagi 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Mitch Kenny 10. Lindsay Smith 11. Scott Sorensen 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo. 14. Luke Sommerton 15. Matt Eisenhuth 16. Luron Patea 17. Harrison Hassett. 21. Daine Laurie 20. Preson Riki.

The Panthers have welcomed back some troops, but have five players backing up from Origin including Brian To’o, who is only one club game (and one Origin) back from injury. His return has reshuffled the backline, with Casey McLean and Thomas Jenkins preferred over Paul Alamoti. Seeing how the Panthers backline has defended this year, I prefer that lineup too.

In the pack, Liam Henry is suspended while Liam Martin and Isaah Yeo back up from Wednesday. The starting pack still looks fierce, but there aren’t a lot of familiar names on the bench these days.

Bad Panthers

One half of the MoMax connection – primed for a big one

Penrith’s total collapse in 2025 certainly wasn’t on my rugby league bingo card. After absorbing years of losing key players to the open market without a blink, like repressing decades of emotions it all collapsed in a heap without warning. Was James Fisher-Harris really that important? Did nobody replace Jarome Luai’s boombox duties? Maybe they just got sick of winning. Regardless, it has happened. Penrith are bad.

While the attack can still get it together when it needs to, their defence is downright terrible. That might sound very familiar to Eels fans, but Penrith don’t even have a recent turnaround to pin some hopes to. Their backline is being run through like training drills most weeks, and as Eels fans we all know that is usually driven by a collapse from the inside out as much as it is individual failings.

I’ll leave it to people who care about Penrith to figure out the exact causes, I just want to know how the Eels can exploit it. The centres will need to be generous in spreading the ball, something both Samrani and Russell haven’t always managed, though they should be able to shovel a ball along if the gap manifests further inside thanks to Brown, Moses and Iongi creating mismatches. The side can’t get crash happy trying to exploit the edge with the back rowers, though I appreciate the sentiment and effectiveness of throwing runners at Blaize Talagi and letting him turn himself inside out deciding which runner to fall off of. McLean, Jenkins and Tago have all been bad defensive decision makers in 2025, so throw some decisions at them with the halves combining on one side or Iongi joining the line.

I’d also hope that Zac Lomax and Mitch Moses noticed what happened in Origin when Xavier Coates was put against Brian To’o in the air, and they will attempt to repeat the scenario. It’s an oft-suggested but rarely successfully implemented strategy, To’o has been short his whole career but it only seems to come up as a weakness in his game at Origin, but if ever there was a time for MoMax to shine, this is it.

Panther-Ball becomes Football

The other half of MoMax. Also primed for a big one.

It took a bit longer than I expected, but Panther-Ball has become the dominant rugby league strategy in 2025. Parramatta implemented it to a disturbing degree in some of the early rounds, with the back rowers combining for fewer hitups than I managed halftime hotdogs in some matches. The balance is better now (and we’ve seen what Kautoga can do when he runs the ball), plus the effectiveness of Samrani, Lomax and Iongi as metre eaters out of yardage is both creating field position and resting the bigger bodies. When Ryles went with a smaller, fitter pack this was no doubt what he was looking for.

It’s not always the most fun to watch, but right now this is the modern game; the backs will be doing a lot of early tackle work. The early mover advantage that Penrith had on the rest of the NRL in this strategy has well and truly worn off, while an inability to replace Sunia Turuva like-for-like hasn’t done them any favours this year either. Everybody else’s forwards are just as fresh, their backs just as capable of taking hard runs. Without that advantage in fitness and line speed, they’re just another football team with some outside backs and one half that don’t tackle very well, with some replacement level middles coming off the bench,

Add in some fatigue for the few stars remaining in that pack in Yeo and Martin, and this is a game that Parramatta’s forwards could really make a statement in. Moses Leota has been decidedly human since his running partner left for New Zealand, while hard workers such as Sorensen and Eisenhuth fall back into the field when they don’t have the advantage of being fresher and hungrier than their opposites. Lindsay Smith has been posting good numbers, but did this Australian representative even come up in the NSW Origin discussions when we were down to fumes in the middle?

Without their line speed and middle dominance, what do the Panthers have? Well, aside from the best halfback in the game and an elite fullback, winger and lock? Talagi is a livewire with the ball but every player in the Parramatta squad should be licking their lips at running at him, and not just for revenge. Anybody on the nudie run should be lining him up from ten out. The fresh stock of backs that have come into the squad are finally not ready-made representative players. Izack Tago might not have played a good game since he made Kelma Tuilagi look like a back rower playing centre more than a year ago. This is a very human Panthers side, living off the hope and expectation that they’ll pull it together.

The Game

Not related to MoMax at all, but I just really like what Dylan Walker brings to the side

If the Panthers are just trundling along before making a run to the finals, they’ll want to start this week. With tired legs, a weak backline and no sign of righting their defensive woes, against an opponent that has found their rhythm and just won big without their best players, it is a big ask. This week might be the week that everybody starts to realise the Panthers are bad bad, not just ‘they’ll come good eventually” bad.

You can’t just shake your head out and throw off defensive deficiencies. If you could, then damn, why haven’t the Eels paid for that service over the last three decades? The Eels have shown gradual improvement for the best part of two months, a blip here and there were setbacks, yes, but for a few weeks now the defence has been tight, and it survived the absence of our halfback where at the start of the year that consigned us to cricket scores. If Parramatta are going to make something of 2025, and I think they still can, they need to show they are the better team here

It’ll be a simple case of execution. Penrith might be down, but they can turn it on at a moment’s notice and when they aren’t having to rely on their defence, they are dangerous. They can still score points at will, they still have some very, very good players in that side. Last year, the Eels weren’t good enough to keep the boot on the throat for a full 80. This year, this side, can get the job done.

Go you Eels!

Prediction: Eels 28 d Panthers 24

Man of the Match: Mitchell Moses

Gol

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