NRL Team List
Round 20, 3:00PM Saturday, GIO Stadium
Given that the Parramatta Eels occupy the 3:00PM Saturday afternoon slot this week I feel somewhat safe in assuming that neither Andrew Voss or Michael Ennis will be calling our clash against the Canberra Raiders. That is probably for the best given they were already losing their minds about Dylan Brown playing dummy-half this week and Jason Ryles has gone even further in Round 20 with Brown relegated to 18th man as the Eels head down the Hume Highway.
True to his word in the post-match press conference, Ryles has installed Joash Papalii has as first-choice five-eighth moving forwards as Parramatta’s head coach looks to steal a march on the 2026 campaign. Ryley Smith returns from suspension to begin his new combination with Tallyn Da Silva at dummy-half while there are also some interesting changes in the pack.
J’maine Hopgood has been named to start in the front row alongside Junior Paulo as Jack Williams returns to the edge. Charlie Guymer played on the right edge last week so I presume Williams will take over for the injury Kitione Kautoga (who has been sidelined for 2 months from an Izack Tago hip drop tackle that drew a ONE WEEK SUSPENSION) on the left. Dylan Walker will make his second straight start at lock forward.
The interchange bench is also spruced up by the return of Jordan Samrani as he is joined by regular rotational fixtures Matt Doorey and Sam Tuivaiti.
Canberra have assembled a formidable roster this week and will enter this game as heavy favourites for good reason. Given the absence of Mitchell Moses and the development path Ryles is focusing on currently, I will consider it a genuine win if the Eels are seriously competitive against one of the form teams in the competition.
Get ready for a barrage of Dylan Brown articles from the mainstream press by the by. This is free real estate for them and they will run with this all week long.
| Parramatta Eels | Canberra Raiders | |
| Isaiah Iongi | 1 | Kaeo Weekes |
| Zac Lomax | 2 | Jed Stuart |
| Bailey Simonsson | 3 | Matthew Timoko |
| Sean Russell | 4 | Sebastian Kris |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 5 | Xavier Savage |
| Joash Papalii | 6 | Ethan Strange |
| Dean Hawkins | 7 | Jamal Fogarty |
| J’maine Hopgood | 8 | Josh Papalii |
| Ryley Smith | 9 | Tom Starling |
| Junior Paulo | 10 | Joseph Tapine |
| Charlie Guymer | 11 | Hudson Young |
| Jack Williams | 12 | Zac Hosking |
| Dylan Walker | 13 | Corey Horsburgh |
| Interchange | ||
| Tallyn Da Silva | 14 | Owen Pattie |
| Jordan Samrani | 15 | Simi Sasagi |
| Matt Doorey | 16 | Morgan Smithies |
| Sam Tuivaiti | 17 | Ata Martiota |
| Reserves | ||
| Dylan Brown | 18 | Chevy Stewart |
| Dan Keir | 19 | Trey Mooney |
| Toni Mataele | 20 | Noah Martin |
| Ronald Volkman | 21 | Danny Levi |
| Haze Dunster | 22 | Ethan Sanders |
Injury Report
| Kitione Kautoga | Ankle syndesmosis injury | 8 weeks |
| Mitch Moses | Calf strain | Round 21-22 |
| Luca Moretti | Ankle syndesmosis injury | Round 20-21 |
NRLW Team List
Round 3, 12:45PM Saturday, GIO Stadium
Steve Georgalis has kept an even keel after a disappointing loss to the Warriors on the weekend with an unchanged top roster. The most interesting addition to the team sheet (or perhaps subtraction from the injury report) is that of Mahalia Murphy in the 18th player slot. If she is truly fit to play I would be expecting some form of pregame reshuffle to the squad to facilitate her return.
| Parramatta Eels | Canberra Raiders | |
| Abbi Church | 1 | Elise Simpson |
| Zali Fay | 2 | Madison Bartlett |
| Rory Owen | 3 | Leianne Tufuga |
| Lindsay Tui | 4 | Cheyelle Robins-Reti |
| Martha Mataele | 5 | Isabella Waterman |
| Cassey Tohi-Hiku | 6 | Georgia Thomas |
| Rachael Pearson | 7 | Zahara Temara |
| Elsie Albert | 8 | Chloe Saunders |
| Rueben Cherrington | 9 | Chante Temara |
| Breanna Eales | 10 | Sophie Holyman |
| Chloe Jackson | 11 | Monalisa Soliola |
| Paige Travis | 12 | Hollie-Mae Dodd |
| Ryvvr-Lee Alo | 13 | Simaima Taufa |
| Interchange | ||
| Taneka Todhunter | 14 | Lili Boyle |
| Rysh’e Fa’amausili | 15 | Grace Kemp |
| Tess McWilliams | 16 | Jordyn Preston |
| Fleur Ginn | 17 | Tatiana Finau |
| Reserves | ||
| Mahalia Murphy | 18 | Amelia Pasikala |
| Rosemarie Beckett | 19 | Kerehitina Matua |
| Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis | 20 | Jaida Faleono |
| Yasmine Baker | 21 | Relna Wuruki-Hosea |
| Chelsea Makira | 22 | Sereana Naitokatoka |
Injury Report
| Kennedy Cherrington | PCL tear | Round 6 |
| Tyla Amiatu | Hamstring strain | Round 7 |
| Boss Kapua | Fibula fracture | Round 4 |
| Mia Middleton | Facial injury | TBA |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 20, 5:15PM Saturday, GIO Stadium
Like Bailey Simonsson and Sam Tuivaiti before him it looks like Luca Moretti will be given at least one game in the NSW Cup to get his legs back underneath him. He is scheduled to line up at lock forward for Nathan Cayless on Saturday night in the solitary major change to the team that toppled the Panthers last week.
| 1 | Apa Twidle |
| 2 | Jake Tago |
| 3 | Araz Nanva |
| 4 | Richard Penisini |
| 5 | Haze Dunster |
| 6 | Matthew Hunter |
| 7 | Ronald Volkman |
| 8 | Wiremu Greig |
| 9 | Joey Lussick |
| 10 | Toni Mataele |
| 11 | Tyrese Lokeni |
| 12 | Dan Keir |
| 13 | Luca Moretti |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Brendan Hands |
| 15 | Brock Parker |
| 16 | Saxon Pryke |
| 17 | Reece Alderton |
Harvey Normans Women’s Premiership Team List
Round 3, 5:00PM Saturday, Aubrey Keech Reserve
| 1 | Ella Carlisle |
| 2 | Paige Knapp |
| 3 | Josephine Lenaz |
| 4 | Kiana Takairangi |
| 5 | Teagan Long |
| 6 | Matisse Bettridge |
| 7 | Aaliyah Soufan |
| 8 | Taylah Falaniko |
| 9 | Chelsea Makira |
| 10 | Armani-Lea Auvae |
| 11 | Jessica Kennedy |
| 12 | Fontayne Tufuga |
| 13 | Ashlee Pottinger |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Ava Jones |
| 15 | Bella Sandford |
| 16 | Alana O’Loughlin |
| 17 | Caitlin Peadon |
Jersey Flegg Cup Team List
Round 20, 11:45AM Saturday, Raiders Belconnen
| 1 | Cooper Fuller |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Corey Leigh |
| 4 | William Lewis |
| 5 | Mohamed Alameddine |
| 6 | Lorenzo Talataina |
| 7 | Josh Lynn |
| 8 | Damascus Neemia |
| 9 | Patrick Spence |
| 10 | Ryda Talagi |
| 11 | Domenico De Stradis |
| 12 | Jezaiah Funa-Iuta |
| 13 | Max Popo |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Raffaele De Stradis |
| 15 | Lachlan Coinakis |
| 16 | Ieti Samuelu |
| 17 | Isaac Jim |
I guess this is Ryles finally acknowledging that realistically the Eels will finish somewhere between 14th and 17th, so lets focus on 2026. How the players react to that will be interesting. Even though in their heart of hearts they, like us, knew they weren’t going to make the top 8, dumping Brown altogether for the Joash project – on an away trip against a top 3 team.. signals what the intent is.
If we were trying to win, we would still probably play Brown ahead of Russell in the centres. Even though Brown offers little on form, given his basic football IQ would seem to be leaps and bounds ahead of Russell, it would give the Eels a better chance of winning. But it doesn’t really matter does it.
Raiders form has dipped, but we are completely outclassed all over the park here – particularly in the backrow and centres, and with no discernable long kicking game to speak of against the big boot Foggarty and high altitude of Bruce Stadium… it could be a loooong afternoon.
And for the record, no problem with seeing what you have in Joash. Probably would have been nice to give him a punches chance by waiting for Moses to come back, but maybe there has been a setback there.
This is a very interesting move and I don’t think it’s only a case of “thinking of the future” here alone.
Brown a few years back was viewed as a near top level 5/8 who I think even had more try assists than Cameron Munster one year – most NRL experts labelled Moses X brown a top 3-4 halves combination.
Make no mistake if brown was running the ball regularly, playing like he used to, and one of our most important players each week Jason Ryles would be rewarding him with his guaranteed starting 5/8 role regardless of him leaving next year.
I’m personally a bit sad to see brown not playing. Can’t help it that I like the bloke or have a soft spot, he is a parra Jnr after all, and Dylan’s always been kind to us fans.
But hopefully Jason Ryles can vet Papalii and see if there’s a future for him at #6 so he can decide wether to go to market rather than waste all of 2026 trying to find out.
I personally like the changes of hopgood starting middle and Jack Williams at back row.
Jack Williams has not only been a stand out Eels player this season particularly with his consistency of efforts, and looking very dangerous when used our wide…
The NSW blues invited Jack into origin camp. Jack is up there with Iongi and Ryley smith who have turned up with 100% efforts for the eels jersey in 2025.
I think Jack Williams consistent of efforts just like Iongi and Ryley smith this year should see Jack rewarded with his favoured position. Jack has said his favourite position is to play at back row.
Hopefully we turn up and give it a red hot crack.
Will be a tough game but if we can put up abit of a fight I’d be happy, couldn’t listen to the commentary on Sunday with how annoying the commentators were.
With samrani on the bench I wouldn’t be surprised to see guymer on the left and Williams on the right. From my memory of the u19 origin a few years ago left edge looked like guymers preferred edge and early in the year when Williams was lining up on the left it didn’t look nearly as lethal as on the right.
Additionally from everything I’ve seen samrani is an out and out right side specialist and when he comes on in the second row I’d rather see Williams do a shift in the middle rather then guymer who was great over the weekend in the second row.
Ryles has been loyal to DB for 19 rounds. Ryles has been patient with an underperforming Dylbags. People saying Dylan would make a difference have not been paying attention. Sure Dylan is great in defence. But aside from that he’s MIA. He’s more like Corey Norman all the talent in the world but lacking application. I wish him well for 2026 joining the imploding knights.
Joash is only playing 6 because we didn’t sign Galvin. Joash needs the reps so it’s better to get them now.
There’s too many injuries to think we are going to turn the season. Ryles is being pragmatic. The future is now! It’s all about 2026…
Raiders hopefully will be too confident and hopefully not turn up.
Interesting Yeo and Cleary are rested against Souths. Do they see that as a gimmee or did they respect us not to rest last week.
No Lane, Matterson, Cartright, Ofahengaue, Gutherson, Sivo, and now no Dylan Brown. My head is STILL spinning.
I was a Brad Arthur fan. He gave us competitiveness and stability in a time that desperately called them – things did go stale though. My biggest criticism of Arthur would have been the conservative selections, it felt like there were underperformers that got picked when they could have done with a stint away from the top grade. There were never radical innovative selections except when Terepo got picked as hooker – and we got smashed by the Storm.
I guess I am seeing what I wanted to see in the Brad Arthur years – adventurous selections etc. Not that I’m an NRL coach or anything.
But the omission of Dylan Brown is stunning.
I love it
There is little advantage in selecting DB. There is a huge potential upside in giving Joash Papalii an extended run at 5/8 this year. He can play but he’s never going to displace Iongi so let’s see what he can do and if he can grow into the 5/8 position. It’s a gutsy call for the future of the Eels. Good on Ryles for making it.
Ryles is a very smart operator although he should have dumped brown when he signed with knights.
I like the way the club is going here. Short term pain = long term gain.
Just gotta get rid of MON! Let’s face it, his recruitment policies are diabolical.