The Tip Sheet breaks down the Round 13 clash between the Eels and Panthers as Sixties and Forty20 dissect a heartbreaking loss that featured some incredible football from both sides. Join the live reaction as the boys break down a genuinely quality loss as odds as that sounds.
I’ve seen some comments saying that we were pretty awful but honestly I must have watched a different game.
Penrith basically played their GF this afternoon and if the Eels or the Panthers had played any other team, they would have won comfortably.
We are absolutely light years from where we were at the beginning of the season and if we play as well as we did today, every game, we would breeze into the 8.
The master chin was the difference.
Sometimes you just have to concede that you were beaten by a better team.
My thoughts mate I thought that was one the best games I’ve seen the improvements in parramatta is unreal bit of luck blue and gold eyes to 8
Well said
Agree. It was a better game than the State of Origin.
Why did we lose?
Cleary played better than Moses, To’o was incredible, Samrani still has to gel in the defensive line and Penrith, as usual, got away with a skinny 10 metres.
We are still short absolute class in the centres and more importantly, a couple of forwards didn’t handle the pressure.
I think they will learn a lot from this game.
I still hate losing t Penrith.
It’s hard to say we’re down on class with centres when 2 of our best were out injured for this game.
Russell has had an outstanding season. The question is, would either Simonsson or Penisini have made a difference today? Possibly.
That was our point too Spark. Panthers played their best footy of the season, and the Eels did too.
Yes we did well overall tbh but I hate losing.
Some defence lapses cost us. And just look at our team now compared to last season!
We are in need of another strong forward for me. A must.
Penisini and Simmo would make us a bit stronger too.
Is there an news if Lane is out for season or the club have not mentioned?
No news as yet Milo.
Yer have to agree I thought Penrith were really strong today and they beat most teams today. We battled with them all game until the last 15 minutes and Cleary put on a bit of a clinic. We’re not far off at all and we are becoming a really hard team to beat. Still far from a finished product but If we keep improving like we are we will beat a lot of sides moving forward
I was impressed that Mitch got on the field today. He had a hamstring problem and 10 stitches as a result of SOO on Wednesday.
He is a dedicated captain.
He’s a tough individual.
The improvement in the Eels is marked.
We played well. Happy with the effort. Imho Samrani is a real weakness in the centres and he is getting exposed especially in defence. But he is a very good edge forward.
I would love to see Brown to right centre and Papalii to 5/8. Let’s see if Papalii can handle it.
Penisini will be back this coming week Sec.
Hopgoods errors… what is Jason Ryles going to do there ?
Mate? Come on
???…32 tackles, none missed, 1 error, 1 penalty (which he released the tackled player within 3 seconds, the Panthers were subsequently allowed plenty of time to release). JAC and Kautoga made 2 errors each.
His stats are solid. But out oppositions ball playing locks do not make sometimes several knock ons in attacking sets per game. If he can tidy up those knock ons it will help us a lot. His work rate is always good. JAC had a shocker I thought compared to other weeks.
We have improved out of sight tho compared to earlier this season, panthers played one of their best games this year and only narrowly beat us. Our try line defence has been solid.
JAC had a shocker, what constitutes a shocker in your eyes Muz.
What winger has Parra had in recent times that would have got that ball down for the try to take us to the lead.
JAC may have been well handled but “shocker” wakey wakey!!
I thought that early on Muz but overall his effort areas were off the charts. Defensively he was outstanding. I think he’s on the improve.
My live notes;
Moretti . Hope it isn’t serious, but great outcome if he comes back on after 20 when he is fresh and the opposition aren’t – that’s when he has impact.
TRY! Russell almost butchered that with a horrendous line. Nice work inside though.
That conversion shank could come back to haunt us.
Just have to stay disciplined and they can take this to the wire.
Hopgood…. Another game. Another two errors in the first 20 minutes…
Bomb allowed to bounce .. Lomax almost sweeps in (who didn’t have thoughts of the 86 Grand Final)
Some timing and communication issues out there.
Great run by Williams. Wish Ryley went right to Moses on next play given the centre made the covering tackle.
Couple of last tackle pass plays that I think Mitch would like back.
Kautonga needs to put away the tip on pass. It’s not his skill set.
First half in the books. A bit clunky at times but all in all definite improvement. Defence looks strong although we seem to be giving up a few too many metres. Panthers look weakest when they’re having to defend the entire width of the field, so let’s spread it.
TRY! Good start. Does Sivo score that? Not sure.
Cleary kicks on the 4th tackle, despite his team having had 40% possession. Keep doing that Nathan
Momentum swinging the wrong way. Too many metres up the middle.
10-12 They are killing us through the ruck. Markers have to work harder.
10 to go. It’s been a chess match the last 10. Wouldn’t mind Papalii running at Talagi. We haven’t attacked him enough today.
40-20 Cleary… Ominous.
That’s the ball game. Can’t help but wonder if we were numbered up wrong on that T’oo try and wonder if it was having a guy in the middle not used to playing in the middle.
Full time. With all the possession we really should have won – Scoring 10 points against the 2025 version of the Panthers defence is disappointing. Mitch wasn’t running so hopefully nothing serious. His kicking game wasn’t bad, but Cleary’s (in key moments) was better.
Two points missed. The ball going down from Samrani and the fact that Penrith played more like 2024 Panthers than 2025.
BA Sports, stick to your day job.
I want to know why Papalli should have run at Blaize.
Cleary kicking on the 4th tackle was very smart, especially when compared to our predictability in that part of the game.
Sivo does not score that try, not in a month of Sundays
Analyse the game, they are a 4 time premiership winning team, probably the greatest club side since St George’s record breaking in the 60’s, they had 5 Origin players returning, have arguably the best player in the world leading them.
I was proud of our buys and realistic about being inexperienced in a match like that.
Throw in Moses injury and it was a great effort.
We are playing a good brand of football with a lot of inexperience in our side.We have a war chest and we need to make it count.We definitely need a big unit forward leader with mongrel and a five eight Sandon smith maybe.i would be looking at Owen Pattie from raiders as they have signed Starling and Brailey to play 14 with Rylie.
Where is the future of Papalii in your opinion Gianni? Could he be either of those two positions?
I would have liked to see a bit more game time for Joash yesterday. It didn’t look like he had much time to get a feel for the game and therefore his output was pretty limited to passing from the ruck. I felt he missed one or two opportunities to take a dart from dummy half with a defender left on the ground. His explosive speed from standing start will be a real weapon when he tunes into the pace of the game
Definitely not a 9, he is not a front on defender for long minutes and would be a waste in a sense of his attributes. 5/8 could be a temporary position, but seems like a genuine fullback and a fill in elsewhere in the backline .
Lockyer and others did the fullbacks/five eight switch, perhaps that’s a more genuine possibility.
Until you see consistency of improved performance there’s always that doubt about competing, being a genuine threat and finishing in front. I”m starting to better wrestle with that doubt, we are playing for 80, defending much better and showing an ability to break down the opposing defence. The first half was one of those frustrating times when we needed an ounce of composure or luck to put a 10 or 12 point lead on the board but the Panthers scrambled insanely, then tightened their game right up in the second half, the opportunity had bolted, we fought strongly then that 40/20, the game slipped away.
Genuine question, not a whinge, why wouldn’t Sorensen be binned for deliberate obstruction (professional foul) on Moretti about to hit open pastures after Smith break?
Excellent points and good question BDon. I also wondered about the consequence of the high shot on Moretti.
Hopgood was terrible. Consistent in making errors. What about the third tackle of the match throws a terrible pass and forces a turnover. He’s a poor man’s yeo. Gotta go as such an important position.
Otherwise – I thought we played well. We have improved so much it’s just terrific!!
Josh, I thought the early error or two were bad and I was cursing. But his overall performance is a big improvement on his early season form. Look at his defensive output.
Not really sure what to make of this game. I read on here how many contributors, while unhappy with the loss, praise the effort, how we were in the game until the end and Panthers played the best it has this season. Yet somehow I felt at best an empty void.
I’ve said before the nature of our Ryles transition means there are going to be a lot of two steps forward, one step back scenarios. Perhaps this was one of them. Kautoga reverted back to too many errors a week after his best game albeit with no lack of effort is one example.
Perhaps last week had made me overly optimistic of where we were at. Maybe it was because it was Penrith and I really wanted to see them at the foot of the ladder as well as the mountains. I’m not sure but this game left me empty for some reason.
There is no doubt we are better than the beginning of the season and you can see the fellas are playing for each other and for us. Maybe I just need to temper my expectations a little.
Hopefully my enjoyment levels will be on the up next round, especially if I seen Junior use Mahoney as a speed bump on the way to a four pointer.
Thanks for the podcast fellas. Appreciate your take on things as always.
I’ve held my tongue all season, don’t want to sound too critical of individual players… But i cant understand how Hopgood hasn’t been sent to reserve grade to get some form?? he must of dropped 20+ balls this season what’s the go Ryles ? Can someone please get Hopgood to practice catching the ball this week/ also not throw ridiculous hospital passes. He is quickly becoming the new Justin “no run straight just pass” Horo.
Overall we played strong.
A few errors cost us. On saying that the Panthers experienced players stepped up. Easily Panthers best game all year.
Too was immense for them. He shut down 2 attacking raids of ours with his defence. They were up in the face of Jac and Kautoga.
They dumped Alamoti for the much taller athletic centre Mclean to support Jenkins against Lomax. And Jenkins defused that attack.
I’m not disappointed with the loss. Because we battled hard for most of that game and Panthers woke up sore today.
Panthers had 89% completions
Panthers layed all day 3.8sec almost 4 seconds. We were told to get off 3.3sec. Panthers are the master of the dark art of slowing the tackled player and getting away with it.
Our first error was costly when Hopgood gave a rubbish pass to Moretti and Moretti got credited that error. But it was a dumb play coming out our end. We managed to wrestle ourselves out of that which showed positives.
2 HIAs also distrupted our flow.
Panthers are not a bottom team and neither are we! Well go on a bit of a run. I said before it’s more about ’26, ’25 is just the beginning.
A couple of things..
Joash is no hooker so with Brown playing I just dont know the merit of playing him in the top side this year.
I makes a lot more sense to play him at 6 in Cup to see where it goes.
I’m surprised that we have continued with Samrani at Centre. He just doesn’t have the speed to play there at NRL level. I understand we are light due to injures but perhaps someone a bit quicker from Cup or Flegg may be worth the investment?
We are burning Ryley Smith out. We need a two hooker rotation. Joash is not the answer. It would have made better sense to have Joey Lussick in the 17 to share the duties with Ryley. The way Ryley is going he is really going to burn out and is looking very ragged at the end of games.
I assume Hands is either injured or completely out of favour.
Are we completely off May as a centre ? I know he’s questionable but he really can play and would strengthen our team immediately.
I’ve heard a rumour that unless there is a turnaround, Penisini won’t be retained beyond next year.
Spark I love Ryley but using him for 80 each week puts him at huge risk of being burned out you would have to think mate by end of season.
Will and Hopgood will be under some type of pressure or position change possibly next season if they cannot improved handling errors.
We need another middle, versatile outside back, a hooker, and another dummy half.
Apparently we’ve expressed interest or let it be known we are still looking at dummy halves on the market. Lussick or hands will be moved on you would think if Jason gets another dummy half added to the top 30 next year.
Spark may is a real talent. The only issue is Jason’s probably very cautious as it’s his first head coach gig, May is a high risk signing in regards to his personal issues.
Looks like Souths might sign him. I personally think May (like his brother) has massive potential.
We are short for outside backs. The only NRL standard back up centre we have is Russel.
Sorry didn’t mean to say hooker and dummy half. I Meant to say hooker and possibly another lock to bolster the top 30.
May is a risk we don’t need to take.
Spark, this May fella the same one that slammed that young blokes head into the floor from behind. And you’d have him at the club ? I don’t think so.
I know I know.. but the game is built on redemption stories. If we are only going to employ angels we will go nowhere.
How good has Jack Williams looked out on the edge?
Really great to see him each week looking great at back row.
Jack Williams is a quality player. Very athletic for a forward.
This was a game where we really needed Kautoga to fold some cnts, with he should be using his size to his advantage
It’s a loss that I don’t mind, there’s some fine tuning to be done but I can see us going on a run- starting with the dogs.
Watching the game I honestly think parra beat 90% of the other teams in the comp yesterday. Think people are looking too much into the ladder position of penrith when we versed them without remembering it’s still penrith, they had 5 origin players backing up and they played like it. They’re scramble defense was absolutely insane and there were a half dozen missed tries from the eels that would’ve been scored against arguably every other team in the comp.
At the end of the day half our team are rookies or people with less then 50 games of experience and they’re playing out of their mind, up the eels the future is looking bright
I am surprised of the negativity on this site after this game. Don’t usually see that here, I expect it on the other site and strangely enough there was good optimism over there.
In the circumstances this game had more speed and intensity than the Origin game on Wednesday.
Two player’s (Samrani and Hautoga) failed to measure up and they will both be better for the experience.
I don’t think any of our rookies (especially those 2) would have experienced that sort of speed of the game before.
One observation on I will make on Joash P. I agree with the comment he cannot be a 14 with any intent to cover Hooker, as he was reluctant to get in the front line.
For the same reason he will struggle at 5/8 where defence is ultra important as well.
Finally he is a good nippy player but I think his role is as a back up fullback for the rest of this season. He has not got the blistering pace for example of the similar sized full back for Canberra we saw on Sunday night.
This game is more and more about speed now. The defense’s of the good sides are hard to crack unless you can get that referee type momentum that changes a game.