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The Eels have made their first major external move for 2026 as they pick up St George Illawarra Dragon Jack De Belin. It is a move that has caused some complicated feelings among the Blue & Gold faithful and Sixties and Forty20 are right there as they sift through their thoughts on the matter. The boys look at the controversy behind the addition, what De Belin brings to the club on the field and where they sit with the signing.
Coincidentally, the Eels are facing the Dragons this week across all three grades as The Tip Sheet previews all of the action between the Blue & Gold and the Red V. How do the Eels stack up across the NRL, NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg?
Listened to the boys thoughts and will respect all opinions but.
Let’s can the 34 years old, but fewer games under his belt because of the suspension so kind of younger.. talk. He will be 35 in March and has still played 250 games in the forwards.
Why sign him now? Who else is banging down the door to sign JDB, a 35 year old forward with 250 games (who is not changing a game for anyone).
If he is signing for $400k, that’s $400k you no longer have if you end up in a bidding war for someone who might matter. If you fill 28 or 29 roster spots and you get a player of his calibre late for low money, fine. And if you miss out, who cares? You then fast track a player in your system.
When you look at our signings over the last 3 years, It seems like we sign players no one else is bidding for and that is the only way we get anyone. What does they say about MON?
Then to the man JDB. Forty – Of course female supporters shouldn’t feel bad for not being able to stomach this signing. They’re not the ones cheating on their pregnant wife (or doing worse). Should we be surprised our club signs the likes of JDB and Walker who have shown a lack of respect for women? Maybe not when we know why someone was forced out of the Tigers?
It’s a gut punch signing. As I wrote on the other thread. I’ve watched 95% of Eels games played since all games were on tv, with the exception of 2015. I didn’t watch a game Watmough played in blue and gold. I won’t watch a game JDB plays either.
It’s a disgraceful signing both from a roster perspective and a club values perspective and everyone involved should be utterly embarrassed if not ashamed- not the supporters and certainly not the female one’s.
With you, B.A. Sports.
Don’t be so dramatic
We desperately need someone who can fold and the low error rate is welcome
He’s not been convicted so give him the benefit of the doubt
Your comments are disgraceful, maybe pull your head in a bit
It’s only a 1 year signing with an option, it’s a good move
Spot on Bob
You’re right, he wasn’t convicted of rape. However, he publicly admitted to cheating on his pregnant wife, which is what BA actually raised.
There’s also the whole hiding under the bed at an illegal covid-lockdown party.
I’ll stick to being disgusted at his character, rather than his footy.
You should maybe talk to the women in your life, and ask what they think of his character.
Wilhelmina, are you seriously going to rack the man over the coal over breaching a Covid protocol? That’s piss weak, this is rugby league not tiddlywinks
Do you want a mongrel prop or not, you think we should be searching the library to find out players?smh
I disagree, I think he can bring toughness and defensive steel to our middle 3rd, which we desperately need. In any event it’s only for one year plus a club option. And I think the clubs female fans won’t care less if he helps us get closer to a premiership.
He’s started 3 finals games in his 250 game career. – none since 2018. Now somehow at the age of 35 he is going to miraculously help turn us into a finals team?!
No other club wants him. No other club has shown any interest in him since his forced break. But we’re desperate to get his pen to paper and section off money that will at some point preclude us from going after players not 35 years old. Why?
Forgetting the off field stuff, I will respect others opinions about the player signing but IMO it is a flat out dumb signing, made dumber by the timing… IMO. Even if Ryles wants him, the CEO and GM should step in and slow the roll. But then, these are the guys who couldn’t get a kid to join the club who was a Parra fan, who could have played next to one of the best halves in the comp and whose manager is our halfbacks nephew! If you can’t get that deal done…
I highly doubt it’s 400k. More like 300k. If Werimu greg was on 250 and we have Debelin in 300, it’s a win for the club. Who would you guys rather have.
It’s apparently 300-350k cheap as chips
His stats this year are similar to Jnr & Williams
His error count for the whole year is only 2 – Hopgoods made more errors in 1 game than Jacks made all year
Like the ado car deal the deal is in our favour and it drives the player to perform so they can earn their second year of the contract
Jacks the second best dragons player more than likely….
And his defence stats are extremely high
This is another W to Jason Ryles
Jack will add nice depth and experience to our middle forward stocks and that’s currently or weakest area
Jack can play lock as well which adds another option should Hopgood or Walker miss any games
How can he be signing here for 400k, when his final few years at the dragons was $300k confirmed.
Try. $280k
Or maybe you just would like to keep Werimu Greig who’s on very similar coin
BA, that is all ok being your choice and i get the view.
Can I ask what he is guilty of in terms of law?
Are you still barracking for Dylan Brown?
I barrack for the team / club tbh.
Great response Milo. He paid a heavy price for his infidelity. However his case was dropped by the courts due to lack of credible evidence. The responses here are dripping with innuendo.
He is in good form this year and assuming he plays as well next season he will add some much needed starch to the middle.
I think you’re being petty B.A. To me, this is a very good signing, by the sound of it you have been a choir boy all your life, never made a mistake, never looked at another woman. Not only do we have to look at who we are signing but, why we are signing that player. If you look at the player market, there are no rep level forwards available for ’26, this is a ‘gap’ signing, we will be able to talk to players from November 1 this year for ’27. JDB has been in great form this year, arguably Saints best forward. For 1yr, possibly 2 if he performs is a low risk move and we can still talk to other targets without JDB breaking the bank. By your beliefs B.A, you haven’t watched any Broncos games lately, must have been hard for you to watch Manu Mau, or Kenny Edwards play for Parra, or watch any Parra games for the last couple of years with Dylan Brown playing, or are you just being a hypocrit.
All of his stats are similar to our best forwards. His defensive % is actually higher than our forwards. His above any eels player in fantasy points. His the second best saints player behind Gutho. Contract size is tiny. His fast and mobile. It’s an absolute steal for the price.
His way better than Joffa, Matto, RCG even in 2025. And costs just around 300-350k reportedly. Short deal and adds depth.
Anyhow who things adding cheap high quality low risk depth to the middles stock is out of their minds.
Not every signing needs to be a 600-800k forward like Matto, lane, Carty, who looked good form max 2 seasons then fell off a cliff. His still actually better than all of those players, and costs us 50% of the salary.
If there’s one lesson from last off season, do not question Jason Ryles ability & decisions regarding recruitment and decision making. I’ll back Jason’s decisions until we see otherwise.
Some of you doubted Ado car as well and his turned out to be one of the best players we’ve signed in years. I’ll back Jason Ryles here. He knows more than all of us and some more after that.. 🤝 in Ryles we trust.
So far basically every player Jason’s recruited or promoted is a stand out eels player in both grades every single week. He not only picks them, they buy in and perform for Jason on a weekly basis. Something many players didn’t do under Brad. That hectic inconsistency we suffered in efforts has disappeared this year.
He*s FFS…
Well said Muz, agree 100% with what you posted.
The JDB deal as described in The Herald is a stunning coup, exactly what was needed. I’m truly surprised that The Dragon’s let him go. I believe that, with Dylan moving on, we have 6 covered internally with an amazing range of talent. Another experienced prop and we’re close to all we need for an effective 2026 campaign. I would like us to take a look at Tommy Talau as well.
Good solid short term signing, will add stiffness and some mongrel to our middle.
Exactly, I’ve been calling for some mongrel prop and we get one. Can’t wait to see what he can do/fold.
3 finals in a 250 game career. I don’t know what anyone expects him to do that will turn us into a finals team when he hasn’t been able to do it for the first 14 years of his career…
If your issue is with his character that’s completely fine but your issue is with his ability? He’s on 300-350k for us next year he doesn’t have to be the guy that carries us to the finals?
If all you care about is finals next year instead of building a long-term juggernaut maybe swap ship to a team trying to buy a premiership but it’s clear Ryles is trying to build a long-term successful club and that starts with mentors to guide our young crop of forwards that are still a year or 2 off. For 300 k he could sit on the bench in cup and still be a better signing then half the guys we have on 600k+, using his finals record when he’s been loyal to a bad organization in the dragons isn’t looking at what he is as a player which is a consistent and good middle forward.
Again if your issue is with his character that’s completely understandable but stop with this random argument you have about his finals record because rn the eels aren’t much better.
He played SOO and from memory fitted in really well and Fittler made commentary on his strong work around the ruck. I don’t condone his alleged off field decisions, but he’ll be the one who has to gain redemption by his approach to life over more than just one or two football seasons.
Jack wow, nobody knows the full or true story, Sixties, you read my mind when you said Jack may be not be guilty of serious charges he faced but he still guilty cheated on his wife. Well, I put this to my daughters and wife, they surprised me by saying, “how do you know he cheated on his wife?” Then they asked if his wife still in the picture. They said if his wife can move on then so can the world. Of course my girls don’t represent all women and my opinion is you can’t get burnt if you don’t play with fire but how many times can you hang the same man?
Zac knows Jack and his character, it would be fair to assume the club would not have made the signing without Zac’s opinion and blessing. For this reason alone, I”ll give the club the benefit of the doubt. Am I comfortable with the signing? My honest opinion is no purely based on public perception.
Shall I give a list of great players who, to my knowledge, have “cheated on their wives?” Politicians? Arts figures? To our knowledge he’s never been violent to a woman, he comes to us with his family unit in tact. Please! Let those among us, and so on…
Agree Joseph & Noel. People can only get upset about stuff they know about. He wasn’t convicted, didn’t no fault stand down policy time. Move on. You don’t need to have a beer with JDB or even particularly like him. But if he helps us win footy games, great. As for the rest, its none of my business.
I assume we need a player or 2 to fill our top 30 pre end of June?
We should have a decent amount of capacity in the bank to land some solid players. Will be interesting to see where the club spends the coin.
Anyone have any idea what’s happened with Hands?
He hasn’t played any nrl this year has he? I thought he extended over pre season.
Not a good look if he slacked off or just fell down the pecking order after getting an extension.
The fact Ryles is enquiring into TDS from the tigers demonstrates that we are not settled on the 3 first grade experienced hookers currently in the top 30.
My only guess is either hands or Lussick will be leaving after this season and TDS will be seen as the other hooker to share the role in our first grade side.
I thought hands might do well this year. Has anyone got an update on him?
Lussick is unsigned past this year so I’d assume we are trying to get a 3rd hooker option to replace him for next year.
I’d guess the reason Lussick is getting a shot over hands in first grade is probably just how similar the are to smith at the 9. Smith has attacking stats in him but alot of his role this year has been defence and service from the ruck straight to the first receiver which probably suits Lussick more then hands at this point in time.
Honestly don’t see us signing TDS with multiple clubs willing too outright start him at 9 and I wouldn’t wanna loose smith in the future by limiting his opportunities considering how much he loves the club.
Agree Sebastian. I feel the TDS to Eels talk by media is just another Bulldogs smoke screen. I mean Galvin is best mates with TDS and all the talk was Mahoney was on the outer.
Pete that wouldn’t be surprising either
A few people have said that about him with the dogs
I can’t see any club where he is a walk up starter though – it’s probably just an excuse because he wants out of the tigers
Jason Ryles has a lot of cap space compared to other clubs especially after this season
So it would make sense if another hooker does get signed considering Lussick’s contract end ends after this season
Hands falling below Lussick though is not a good sign
Jesus so we start this pod cast by talking about a new signing’s off field conduct and all I heard was he was found not guilty, all charges dismissed and his relationship is still going strong.
Do you guys dig into every player on our current roster and see if they have all done nothing wrong??
Cheating on partners would be happening all the time with males on this roster and with female partners cheating on current players.
And we then talk about how the fans will feel about this.
Please we are in the business of winning football games not fans feeling on someone who has been cleared of wrongdoing in the court of law in a case where a police officer was found to have lied!
Dyl Brown was found guilty in the court of law but no worries Dyl is a great bloke let’s not talk about that he is still on the roster!
I take that back cheating would not be happening all the time but it would be happening.
With kk now being part of the top 30 at the eels we now have 30 spots taken up which was a requirement by June 30 , unless we medically retire a player there will be no signings for the rest of this season which must take place by Monday midnight, happy to be proven wrong but I think we may of missed our latest target
I’m a bit frustrated that nothing’s been done regarding Shaun Lane before the June 30 deadline, but I’ll assume that’s partly out of the club’s control and give them the benefit of the doubt—for now.
The real test will come after November 1. We’ll have money to spend, and if we don’t land at least a couple of solid replacements—Averillo and Josh Curran immediately come to mind—then Mark O’Neill and his recruitment team will be exposed for not being able to compete with the big boys. Whatever happens I trust 60’s will finally ask some tough questions during his annual interview with Mark O’Neill assuming he is still employed by the club.
Jeez, Josh Curran? I would like to think we are aiming higher
JDB is a really strong signing his a piece of the puzzle that we don’t have a great deal of EXPERIENCE. His still in decent form and I think is a player who can be invaluable for all our younger players. We can’t just fill a squad with youth we need the balance and I think de belin plays his role. Theres a lot of conversation about our so called war chest we have but that doesn’t just mean we should sign anyone who comes on the market.
A saw a lot of people on various sites wanting us to sign cobbo but we’re was he going to play? His a winger everyday of the week but he wants to play fullback and be paid equivalent money. We have Iongi, Lomax and ado carr and his not better then any of those players.
I think we definitely need to be pro active in the market but until the right player either becomes available or can be persuaded behind the scenes I wouldn’t be throwing 800 + at any origin level player who comes on the market. They still need to fit within our plan
JDB is an excellent signing. Exactly what we need in a young inexperienced side.
He doesn’t work out on 2026 then it’s only 12 months win/win
TDS .. can’t understand what any club sees in him. He is just lazy.
All flash and nothing else. Passes from dummy half and that’s it.
Ryley Smith is twice the player.
Surely there are better options around than TDS ?
Its just such a pity that Hands has fallen out of the picture.
A one two punch of Smith and Hands would have been ideal.
How about grabbing the hooker from the lower grades and putting a decent pre season into him ?
Invest in youth.
Yer I’m not much on the hype of da Silva. On the back of a really strong forward pack his running game can be a plus but I think that is really it. He is in no way a more complete player then smith. Ryley laps him in effort plays, defence and his service seems stronger. Da Silva is an impact hooker and needs momentum to be in any way affective. If he was happy to come play a bench role I think he’d be ok but we have coinakis coming thru aswell. 2027 he good potentially push into first grade