The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
Even with the NRL on the bye there is plenty to preview for the Parramatta Eels as The Tip Sheet tackles a massive Saturday for the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg against the New Zealand Warriors.
Sixties and Forty20 also cover the painful news that Mitchell Moses is facing a stint on the sideline with a calf strain. Offsetting that is the positive news of Jezaiah Funa-Iuta’s selection to the NSW Under 19s and with his week in camp it gives Christopher Petrus a chance to step up to the Jersey Flegg tomorrow.
As to Mitch, with Dylan also out for Round 16 we are left with interesting selection questions. When it seemed that Mitch would be playing I thought we may as well play Dylan Walker at 6 and see how that looked long term. With both halves out now I guess we may as well promote both Hawkins and Volkmann, who have been doing so well in Cup as a combination
Is anyone else concerned that Mitch’s. body is looking fragile for someone we’ve signed until he’s 35?
He is clearly going to be need to be managed from now on. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is.
Mitch is made of glass. He’s had some bad injuries but calf injuries have lingered with him for years. I don’t know what parra do. He seems more than happy to sacrifice the parra season for origin each year or kangaroos.
I wonder why Mitch was playing last week against dogs. He has looked hampered every game since origin. Reluctant to run the ball.
Pretty much locks in spoon if we lose to titans next week
He was rarely injured prior to 2023. He was extremely durable till then. I doubt he sees it as sacrificing the Eels. We want as many players playing rep footy, not fewer, and there’s no reason to believe any of his injuries are attributable to playing Origin. It’s unfortunate, but the club will have to manage it from now on.
Great, just great. We all knew Mitch hasn’t been 100% which is why when he put his hand up for origin the was a collective groan from Eels supporters
Now that the inevitable has happened we can move onto the second half of our season with less distractions
I would like to see Papalii given a go at 6, paired with Hawkins
Hopefully Lomax makes it through origin unscathed or it will be nomax and a likely spoon
By the way when are we signing a big prop? We’ve got the cap what are we doing??
Mitch i think could retire from rep football. He’s over 30 now and these injuries aren’t going away. He hasn’t goal kicked all year because of load concerns and has to be managed.
Surely he must not play game 3
Given what we know, there’s no way Mitch will be fit for Origin Three. Not an issue. If he is in fact committed to Parramatta, certainly he’ll retire from representative football.
I don’t think load concerns were the issue with him goal kicking, kicking 2-3 conversions a game wasn’t gonna impact much more then the 15 kicks a game. He wasn’t goal kicking because our first choice goal kicker was kicking for the blues and Australia last year so we could let Moses talk in the huddle which is much more important with such a young team.
Hampered?
Reluctant to run?
I must have dreamt he 80m sprint to score in the corner!
There was a shot of him getting his calf massaged in the in goal after one of the Dogs tries and it’s not the first time I’ve observed that with Mitch during a game.
Mitch may have had more chances in representative football but for the success of Penrith. Still, he’s won games and series at state of origin level and has played half in the Australian side th,at won the Pacific Cup. He hasn’t won a premiership. It would be nice if he made that his total focus. In the meantime, how valuable has the Dean Hawkins recruitment proven to be?
It’s certainly been an issue for us over two years now. And he’s captain too. It’s a discussion for Ryles and Him. Personally I’d like to see him mend his body and focus on Parra and a comp!
I also would rather us blood Papalii at 5/8 and go from there.
We can definitely beat the Titans in two weeks
Moses only played 8 games last season..
It seems like (correct me if I’m wrong) but he gets injured every origin season he’s played in?
Here is where I believe: If Moses is serious about this club he needs to reign in his ego and retire from rep football.
Turbo is offering to leave his club and refuses to play for another NRL club if it stops his fellow team mates from having their contracts extended or upgraded, he even asked NRL for permission to reduce his salary due to repeated injuries, NRL declined it so he was unable to.
If you dead set love your club and you are captain you need to put team first. NSW will fine without Moses. NSW has stopped playing sideways now, they’ll likely still win even if Moses isn’t there.
What’s frustrating is Moses actually hasn’t been 100% all year, You could actually hear him groan whilst kicking the ball during a few games. He’s also stopped goal kicking. They had Sean Russel doing it even with a poor conversion %. Shows you how much they were concerned regarding the load on his legs.
I don’t want to hear the cuckhold “it’s his career he should play origin if he wants” when the eels are in dire straights and the eels desperately need their highest paid players in the team.
Mitch is around 30 and now gotten injured during every origin serious. How much has origin effected the Eels season now every year Mitch has played origin? We’ve gone backwards at the same time as he become a rep player. Its definitely played some part in that you have to think. Our win % in his absence is poor.
I wish Mitch the best on his recovery. But also hope he knocks nsw blues on the head. There’s now several years of data to suggest 2 things:
Mitchel gets injured every origin and misses many eels games.. and the eels winning percentage is poor when he’s unavailable.
If I’m club first, highest paid player, captain, and my teams down the bottom, I’m putting the parramatta eels first from this point onwards if I’m him.
It will be very telling on how he goes about this moving forward. Mitchel’s body at this point of his career is injury prone and it’s hurting us unfortunately.
So you want Mitch to ” reign in his ego ” for the sake of Parra. Just go and ring him up personally and demand it. Hilarious
Hahaha, yep just reign in the ego Mitch you have played 3 soo games that’s enough.
How dare you get picked by nsw selectors and have such a big ego to actually go and play for your state like Cronin, Price, Kenny, Sterling did for so many games.
I’m sure they don’t but really hope no players bother reading any comments on here.
Was not that long ago we were talking about Iongi on tic tok!
The wider issue is the season is too demanding on players. They need to cut down regular season games (to 20 or so) and pause the comp while origin is happening. Isn’t the NFL a 16 week season? I’d have thought rugby league is tougher on the body over the long term, and we run for an extra 11 weeks plus add rep footy.
The other thing that needs a re-look is Intetnationals. Rugby league isn’t really a competitive international sport. The Kangaroos go in hot favourites every year, like the All Blacks did between 2010 and 2020 (albeit their dominance is over). So when it’s the Kangaroos and then daylight, exhausting our best players even more is bananas to me. Look at Paulo – he’s having a great year and it’s off the back of finally getting some rest after being flogged to death for around 40 weeks a year between 2021 and 2024. Mitch is now seeming to be more fragile, and he’s also had heavy footy loads with club and rep over the last few years.
The only upside is, at least this isn’t happening in a year where we were challenging for a premiership. Cut losses, rest players as needed, get them fit and build towards 2026.
100% the season needs to length needs to be addressed. I think the new media deal happens around the same time the 3 new teams get introduced meaning hopefully we could have a 21 round season with 1 bye and play every team once. Even have a mid season origin break similar to the all stars in the NBA and play the international rivals there to fill in for the missed games (Tonga vs samoa, Fiji vs PNG, kiwis and poms).