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It might not have been the most glamorous victory but the Parramatta Eels continue to plug away under Jason Ryles and have been rewarded in Round 16 with a 36-20 win over the Gold Coast Titans. With an exhaustive list of unavailable players headed by Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown, the Eels were up against it from the get go but showed tremendous ticker to power through to a critical 16-point victory.
Sixties and Forty20 go live for a debrief on the win as well as all of the other action for the Eels on the weekend with the NSW Cup, Jersey Flegg, Harvey Normans and NRLW squads all in play across Saturday and Sunday.
Join the boys live from approximately 8:45PM for the live show.
What a game!! Especially considering the inexperience in the spine.
We actually look good without Moses & brown. It’s the Titans so it’s hard to properly gauge obviously..
But it’s clear the coaching and systems at our club are now far better and it’s repeatedle without a Moses or gutho to hold it all together. we are not even 1 full season in with this bunch all together. Hats off to the young players & new signings in particular.
What’s really interesting is that how we got a player like Joash with zero NRL experience at 5/8 to olay his role and didnt get exposed or over play his hand, good coaching and support from the players around him.
I’m a believer that there’s a lot of really good young players in this roster and that they are all thriving under the coaches. I can’t see one new signing or internally promoted Jnr who isn’t playing better at parramatta than at their old clubs.
Even Iongi, Joash and footy dean are miles better at parra and they were playing like guns at their previous clubs. This is a strong indicator that our coaches are doing a very good job.
For the cattle we have, and ultra low experienced team, we play like a well coached side when we just hold on to the ball.
RCG was great last year but seeing him today and most games this year – I’m 100% certain Jack Williams and Jnr Paulo are playing far better football.. another big tick to Jason and the coaching staff. Who would have thought paulo & Williams would be better than RCG this season? It shows we are doing things correcting in many areas.
Again, I know we are not top 8 but there’s many positives here.. the new coaches look very capable at turning players with zero to low NRL experience into first graders who do not look out of place. That’s a sign of quality coaching systems and preparation.
I really enjoyed that only on radio but again just I was always pretty confident .great win
It was a great Win Tanky
Our young players did well and Jnr paulo played well
It’s just great to see us get a win with our younger inexperienced guys in
It shows that the future is bright in their hands
Hopgood has a good game too which hopefully helps his confidence 🤝
I was a little uncomfortable with what we left out there in the first half but I was very happy with how we finished.
The systems are embedding Muz. It means they can play next man up with a bit of confidence – like the Storm can do. The Eels aren’t the Storm but the methodology is taking shape.
One of the favourite stats to come out of the game is joash with 30 tackles and only 1 miss, knew he would have the ball playing and flare for the 6 but had a lot thrown at his edge tonight and dealt with it well.
Good point.
Sebastian, thanks for the stat. Was texting my son during the game and after. Post match I texted saying I didn’t really recall Joash doing too much. It wasn’t a criticism but rather there had been no obvious clangers. So thirty odd tackles with one miss reinforces he had a solid game. Probably had the riding instructions of just play it safe, don’t try and overplay your hand and keep errors to a minimum.
Playing that position in games like last night have got be good for him in improving his craft and confidence whatever role he ends up in. I’m looking forward to seeing how he continues to develop.
Honestly there wasn’t anything incredibly exciting with his performance but I think that’s what was good, we’ve seen the highlights and the x factor but to be able to cool your head and fit in and do your job is an important step for him to be able to be a 6, connected great with kautoga and defended well which is all I wanted, the x factor and running will come as he gets more used to the role.
Watched a highlight package this afternoon and the pass to Kautoga leading up to Hawkins try was very nice.
Missed the game as our house lost power. But it seems it was a solid win with more evidence that Ryles is building a solid foundation.
Look at the teams from 11-17 how many are showing signs that they are improving? The ladder position belies the improvement in Parra this season. Definitely not a finished product but the team is heading in the right direction.
I agree Shaun and you can see how much they have bought in. Even during the rough start to the season, the vibe at training remained upbeat.
Don’t know if you saw the article in the SMH about the coaches heading towards strife as the finals loom. One to two were touted as favourites for the Parra role. By a bit of luck, Parra has got the coach it needed and not the coach it wanted. One thing I’ve noted is at some these clubs, there seems to be tension between the old boys and the new coach and this has the coach almost on the outer. Ryles has embraced Parra and the past players and they seem to have embraced him. Not bad for a former Dragon.
Fellas Iongi might be knocking on the door for QLD maroons jersey within 3 seasons if he keeps this up.
I really love when the commentators or Parra haters comment on how Clint gutherson is the signing of the year or how we should never have let RCG go.
As far as I’m concerned Iongi looks like he could be a 10 year NRL fullback and possibly has even more upside than gutherson. Which is an almost insane prediction when you think about how good gutho was and still is.
All Iongi needs is a better platform from the forwards (hopefully next year). I’m convinced Iongi is growing in confidence and he has grown leaps and bounds since round 1.
It’s crazy to think Iongi has has the most runs out of any fullback in the NRL this season. It’s his first year and he’s one of the only players who’s rapidly improving it seems like on a weekly basis.
I’m very proud of young Iongi and even guys like Ryley smith, Joash and Kautoga.
They’ve shown heart for this club and played with pride for the jersey. There’s not been a hint of entitlement or softness from these young blokes.
You can tell they genuinely care about this team and are giving it their 100% every week.
I’m convinced Jason Ryles signings and internally promoted players are now the hardest working parramatta players, it’s crazy to think that.
Brand new players or guys with barely any experience are now the best players for the eels nearly every week.
It just shows you how badly we needed a roster clean out and an awful culture had set in prior to Jason Ryles arrival. I won’t name names of players who obviously didn’t give their and have hardly played or have now left…
But Jnr Paulo obviously loves this club. Parra eels means something to Jnr. Ryles said his loyalty and commitment to club has been impeccable.
It just shows you how selfish or culturally unbalanced some of the other players were.
We had a grand final team from only 3 season ago and Jnr Paulo is the only long-time eels player who’s turned up and put his best foot forward for us in 2025.
It’s extremely disappointing that guys like Carty, Matto, Joffa, Lane, and whoever else basically didn’t aim up and buy in for Jason Ryles and the eels for 2025.
Jnr is older than all of them and had probably the worst fitness out of all of them too because he missed majority of last season.
Yet Jnr’s the only one who put his ego aside, and cared more about the eels than he did about his loyalty to Brad Arthur. Jnr Paulo loves this club and has shown 100% support & loyalty to Jason Ryles.
I know jnrs 31 and can’t play like his 27 year old self every week, but hats off to Jnr and as a lifelong eels fan it means a lot to us that you have devoted yourself to this club and our new coach, and not thrown a sook like some players who obviously mentally checked out for this season.
I’m going to add Dylan brown into the 50/50 category too. He didn’t line up for about 6 weeks for us. He is not playing any better now than he did for us in his first 2 years of first grade. People can make excuses but that’s an attitude thing. Admittedly he has been better. But he is a million dollar running 5:8 player who often runs 2x in a game when we need him.
Rant over. And I won’t say a bad word about Hopgood or Will p. Because it’s form that’s been their issue at times. It’s never been effort! Those boys have thought in and given 100% for Parra & Jason Ryles! They both played well tonight too. So well done. 👍
Muz I agree with virtually all of what you said. With some of the players you mentioned I think it was more of a case that the style of football didn’t necessarily suit them, and they were older. I won’t go in to culture and ego but a change has happened. Virtually every new face has made a valuable contribution.
Junior busted his arse and stripped so much weight in the preseason. He deserves so much praise.
I will continue to defend Dyl because I have known him since he anrrived as a 15 year old and he’s a quality human. Not saying he’s without flaws, but he is genuine and giving with his time to the community as well as supporters. Plus I see his work ethic which I can never fault and how important he is to the team, especially in defence. He was awful at the start of the season, and it was that bad that you couldn’t have argued had Ryles dropped him. However, I said it at the time and he has since verified my opinion – the contract decision messed with his head. Though he was denying it at the time as any player would he now admits it. It was a decision he had no intention of making, but the money and security won him over. I reckon he regretted it the moment he signed. But it’s done now. We move on. Dyl remains the best 5/8 option for the rest of the season. Ryles wouldn’t select his team based on emotions or attachment. He wants to win games, so Dyl remains the answer.
Look out for Dyl trying to get out of his contract…….
The rumour is out there.
Really good performance given the halves were missing. Playing against one of the worst defensive teams in the comp but we did what you should do and put plenty on them.
Excellent game from Ionghi. I was very against putting all our eggs in the basket of a kid who hadn’t played first grade unless we were writing off the year before it started. But fair play, he has come on faster than I imagined.
Lomax is a beast.
Ryles has the magic sauce when it comes to Jnr it seems.
All in all, we still have glaring holes in the squad and the CEO’s comments on the podcast this week, don’t make you feel any better. But it isn’t the week to focus on the players we are carrying.
I wish Dean Hawkins all the best when he goes to Perth to compete for the half back job.
I find it interesting we boo Tino, but nothing for Foran who was one of the bigger lame duck contracts in club history
Des Hasler did the Eels a huge favour putting Tino and Mo on the bench.
The football gods didn’t do us a favour giving Campbell a cat 1. The Titans are simply better with him off.
Sutton was dreadful reff’ing the Knights v Roosters last week, so do we read into it that he effectively got the spoon bowl game this week?
I couldn’t believe my eyes when Lussick ran out to start. To be fair, his first stint was one of his better ones… until he quit on his assignment 2 plays before he was to be sub’d out and Randall scored. It’s a development year, enough with Lussick.
Off topic, but if Kahn-Perreira played left wing for Souths for the last decade, how many more tries would he have scored than Alex Johnson has scored? 30?40?
And finally. As Eels fans, we all hope Manly lose every week. So if the rumours are right that Mick Ennis is in the running to be Manly’s next coach, then I couldn’t be happier. Some of his takes on players and rulings are mind blowing. I can’t imagine the team and club he would put together and would be betting their long deserved wooden spoon is on the way.
Manly are a major rebuild. Look at their lower grades and pathways. The fact that they might throw the job to a novice coach is mind blowing. I say novice because Ennis hasn’t done an apprenticeship as such. He’s had specialist coach roles.
100% Sixties. That is a full club re-build. The legacies of the Fulton’s etc is still there and it will need someone with experience building/rebuilding a program, not a ring in head coach. Mind you, the NRL seem to think it is good enough for Perth – to give them a ring in who hasn’t coached in the NRL in over 20 years… so who knows.
I thought Ennis has assisted both Stuart and Siebold as a part of their respective coaching squad.
While not happy with some aspects of the ref’s game or his touchie mate, 3 of the 5 penalties conceded were for foul play Smith/Hopgood/Penisini. Can’t hammer the ref for that as we’d be howling for a penalty if the situations had been reversed. Very pleased with the win. Some really good passages of play that are so encouraging. Hope R&R can deliver some missing pieces to this improving team. Agree it was Hopgood’s best game for some time, the same for Russell. Good on him for that try chase, love those 1 %’s.
Hey Trapped. You are spot on about those penalties. If he didn’t penalise those he’d be hauled off for a HIA. But he also got a couple very wrong that thankfully we challenged. The main issue was what the ref missed from the Titans. There were numerous cases of slowing the ruck up and being caught offside that he missed. He wasn’t good at all.
Great to the get the two points there against a titans side who are pretty ordinary all round. Thought we played really well in patches of that game and looked really sharp. Special mention to dean Hawkins and Shaun Russell, dean has been a fantastic backup acquisition and I’d be definately giving thought to having a him and Moses combo short term. His short kicking game is fantastic and would really compliment Moses long kicking. Lorenzo I think should be our long term vision his a serious talent but needs to go thru the grades before he gets his shot. Sean Russell although in no way the flashiest player his and ado carrs defence is outstanding. If Bailey comes back and is going to the centres it should be at the expense of will.
Bailey will probably come back via Cup given the length of time he was out of action. It will be a big call from Ryles when Bailey is fit. I agree about the current pecking order.
Tks men. We must have had the same binoculars, usually you guys add about another 50% in observations to what my aging eyes and brain absorbed, but after an hour I thought yep, we saw exactly the same game…officiating, Russell’s effort, Hopgood and Penisini, Junior winding the clock back, Hawkins’ competency, JAC and Lomax’s class, Iongi’s raw skill and attitude etc etc. and a couple of big picture things 1) our approach is still keeping opponents in the game, can’t wait til we tighten this up 2) our defence looks so much more dependable (yes, I know sixties and forty, I just repeated your views, but I swear you guys copied everything I had already thought last night, and forty just to demonstrate how attentive I was I’m pretty sure it was Lomax not Russell who got blatantly swiped across the face but missed by the whistle and flag crew. Also the Randall try, both Lussick and Walker seemed completely on Mars, there was a Titans player wandering around in behind them, did he make a call that confused them, who knows? because it all looked so weird.
Very good BDon. I reckon this was a straight forward game to analyse so I’d be surprised if there were many dissenting views. That try you referenced, it was confusing to watch at the ground. I sit next to Clint and his first take was an obstruction by the dummy runner. It probably wasn’t but it did the job of causing confusion in those defenders.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed a harder, tougher resilency in the group, especially in defence. It just seems there’s a mental toughness that the players have adopted which is starting to change our results.
Yes it’s early days, and yes there are still some dumb mistakes, but overall the team looks far more composed.
I was also thinking about our 5/8 moving forward. Could Hawkins be that solution until Lorenzo is ready?
He knows our structures and has a decent kicking game, backs up well. Im going to watch him a bit closer over the coming weeks, especially his defence.
All in all, we won! Great effort 👌
Adam, that’s been that “fight” that Ryles demands of his players. Definitely the resilience is on the rise. They look very fit too don’t they!
Who will be the NRL rookie of the year? Ilongi, Smith or Katonga – it has to be one of the three. I got the feeling Hopgood is over his injury concerns – he was so mobile and did not (finally) drop a ball or throw a dumb pass. The crusher tackle was stupid. Junior really tried and his effort was tops and that’s the player we want every week, but he does go missing. Sean Russell has earned his spot in the top grade. And the credit for this goes to JAC. His defence is excellent and strong all because JAC has helped him along the way. I love their attack stragegy it’s finally coming together. The negative – those two soft tries through the middle. If it wasn’t for that intercept try they would have been held to less than twenty points. Parra’s defence has really kicked up a gear. The best thing for observation was the camaraderie and sheer enthusiasm when they scored. The team is really playing for each other. JR should seriously consider leaving Brown out – Joash much to my surprise did his job. We are still in the mix for the spoon bowl but if we can roll the Dragons next week and then a bye it will lift us out of the danger zone. I notice Penrith have breasted the top eight. Parra played them into form.
Zero, I don’t know if Parra played them into form in the context I usually use with that term. My context of saying that is when a team surrenders and lets another regain confidence. However if you are saying that Parra played Penriths into form because they had to find another level to beat Parra, then I agree.
Mr Sixties, they were wounded and in desperate need of a win. Yes, they had to lift to another level. But let’s not forget they had five origin players coming back and that alone would have lifted their form. After yesterday’s game I pretty confident Parra will get the better of them next time
Firstly let’s congratulate the bunker official!
The on field referee was atrocious but most of his calls were overturned by sensible bunker calls.
Beau Fermor is a bloody cat. First he cops a small swipe across the chin that had the force of a handkerchief and stays down like he had been hit by a truck and then repeats it in when two players tackle him and he appeals for a crusher tackle.
I thought the NRL were going to look at this behaviour?
If Fermor was so injured he should have been hauled off for a HIA.
It would stop players dogging it straight away.
Well done to Lussick, he played well but Ryles did leave him on 5 mins too long and he missed his assignment in the Randall try. Hopefully it’s his last year with us.
I dont understand why Twiddle is playing fullback on Cup when we have Joash to slot in as a replacement for Iongi. We are very skinny in the centres at the moment especially if Penisini is suspended. I would like to see Twiddle given a run there.
All on all we are twice the side we were at this time last year. Well done to all.
Spark, I agree about looking at a player staying down twice for a penalty. If he is staying down with a complaint about contact to his head then it should be HIA.
As for Apa playing fullback in Cup, who would you play there? Apa is primarily a fullback or 5/8.
Cup should exist solely for the NRL team. I see Penisini is now out for 3 weeks. Who would you put there ?
We are very skinny for centres at the moment so it doesn’t make sense to play Apa at fullback, a position we have well and truly covered, when he can gain experience playing centre In Cup.
I would leave Joash at 5:8 and put Brown into the centres. Have always thought he could be very good in the centres and could assist Joash with kicking duties if needed
He will probably put Samrani into the centres but yes, I would definitely look at Brown to go in there.
Can’t believe Ryley Smith got 2 weeks !! But he definitely needs a break.
Harsh on Smith,I’m pretty sure there were 1 or 2 other players in the Smith tackle, their weight and force looked to push downwards on the Titan player’s torso and turned the tackle into a spear motion. There wasn’t much lifting height or intent from Smith. Penisini just looked to put too much energy into his tackle and got the physics all wrong.
Dyllan in the centres makes sense and they are not chess pieces, Dyllan is has no kicking duties. Only opportunities.
The biggest issue is that Lussick is a stretch for any longer than 25 minutes in his first spell…..is Hands available to come off the bench?