NRL Team List
Round 26, Friday 6:00PM, Go Media Stadium
We love a cheeky wrasslin reference on TCT and with the New Zealand Warriors meeting the Eels in the penultimate round of the regular season the pun practically writes itself this week.
The Eels certainly embodied the sort of energy that made the Ultimate Warrior so famous in their victory over the Roosters, can they carry that same effort into their lost road (well, air) trip of the season?
Jason Ryles has enjoyed the rare privilege for a Parramatta coach in naming an unchanged side for two consecutive games. Technically speaking, Matt Doorey and Charlie Guymer have swapped jerseys but it is overall the same 17 players!
That means Dylan Brown has held off the returning Sean Russell at left centre with Ryles seemingly giving Dylan a nod and a blessing in signing off as an Eel in the remaining 2 games left this year.
Last week it was a major milestone game for Dylan Walker with his 250th NRL cap and this week Josh Addo-Carr reaches a huge benchmark in his career as he notches game #200 in first-grade. The Foxx has been a force for the Eels on the left sideline and surely be keen to tack on to his tally of 15 tries for 2025.
With both the Eels and Warriors coming into this clash fresh off last-start wins the table is set for a hum-dinger. New Zealand are looking to shore up their place inside the Top 4 while Parramatta will be looking to aggressively build on a season best victory over the Roosters. The pub slot game is a bit rough for fans of the Blue & Gold but it still should be a cracking Friday evening game!
| Parramatta Eels | New Zealand Warriors | |
| Isaiah Iongi | 1 | Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad |
| Zac Lomax | 2 | Dallin Watene-Zelezniak |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Adam Pompey |
| Dylan Brown | 4 | Rocco Berry |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 5 | Roger Tuivasa-Sheck |
| Joash Papalii | 6 | Chanel Harris-Tevita |
| Mitchell Moses | 7 | Tanah Boyd |
| J’maine Hopgood | 8 | James Fisher-Harris |
| Ryley Smith | 9 | Wayde Egan |
| Junior Paulo | 10 | Demitric Vaimauga |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 11 | Kurt Capewell |
| Jack Williams | 12 | Marata Niukore |
| Dylan Walker | 13 | Erin Clark |
| Interchange | ||
| Tallyn Da Silva | 14 | Te Maire Martin |
| Matt Doorey | 15 | Eddie Ieremia-Toeava |
| Charlie Guymer | 16 | Tanner Stowers-Smith |
| Jordan Samrani | 17 | Leka Halasima |
| Reserves | ||
| Sean Russell | 18 | Taine Tuaupiki |
| Dean Hawkins | 19 | Samuel Healey |
| Dan Keir | 20 | Bunty Afoa |
| Toni Mataele | 21 | Kalani Going |
| Joey Lussick | 22 | Edward Kosi |
NRL Injury Report
Bad news for Richard Penisini with his season brought to a premature conclusion due to a MCL sprain. The silver lining for the young centre comes in the consideration that he should be good for the NRL preseason given that MCL injuries tend to top out at a recovery of 8-12 weeks for major sprains and ruptures. The club hasn’t offered the full grading of the injury but hopefully Richie will be primed for the preseason.
| Richie Penisini | Knee (MCL) | Next season |
| Kitione Kautoga | Ankle syndesmosis injury | Round 27 |
| Sam Tuivaiti | Knee (MCL) | Next season |
| Luca Moretti | Calf | Next season |
NRLW Team List
Round 9, Sunday 6:15PM, CBUS Super Stadium
Steve Georgallis has named an unchanged line-up as the Eels desperately look to arrest an alarming slide after dropping their last 3 games. While they were competitive with the Roosters through the first half in Round 8, their second half fade saw the Tri-colours post 44 unanswered points in an alarming capitulation.
The 6th placed Titans represent their ‘weakest’ opponent in a nearly a month but they come into Sunday night’s game with a strong last-start win over the Dragons to their name.
| Parramatta Eels | Gold Coast Titans | |
| Abbi Church | 1 | Lailani Montgomery |
| Zali Fay | 2 | Georgia Grey |
| Mia Middleton | 3 | Sarina Masaga |
| Lindsay Tui | 4 | Ivana Lolesio |
| Martha Mataele | 5 | Phoenix-Raine Hippi |
| Fleur Ginn | 6 | Taliah Fuimaono |
| Rachael Pearson | 7 | Lauren Brown |
| Elsie Albert | 8 | Sienna Lofipo |
| Rueben Cherrington | 9 | Loly-Rose Kolc |
| Breanna Eales | 10 | Jessika Elliston |
| Boss Kapua | 11 | Jasmine Solia |
| Mahalia Murphy | 12 | Shaylee Bent |
| Kennedy Cherrington | 13 | Georgia Hale |
| Interchange | ||
| Taneka Todhunter | 14 | Estanoa Faitala-Mariner |
| Paige Travis | 15 | Laikha Clarke |
| Tess McWilliams | 16 | Natasha Penitani |
| Chloe Jackson | 17 | Takoda Thompson |
| Reserves | ||
| Ryvvr-Lee Alo | 18 | Kelsey Parkin |
| Kiana Takairangi | 19 | Niall Williams-Guthrie |
| Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis | 20 | Ngatokotoru Arakua |
| Yasmine Baker | 21 | Megan Pakulis |
| Jessica Kennedy | 22 | Jasmin Morrissey |
NRLW Injury Report
| Tyla Amiatu | Shoulder | Season |
| Cassey Tohu-Hiku | Syndesmosis | TBC |
| Rysh’e Fa’amausili | Neck | TBC |
| Rory Owen | Fractured fibula/syndesmosis | TBC |
| Rosemarie Beckett | HIA | TBC |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 26, Saturday 7:30PM, North Sydney Oval
It is the last round of the regular season in the NSW Cup and the Jersey Flegg Cup which means it is the last chance for a tune-up for the Blue & Gold ahead of the finals. Nathan Cayless will be looking to put a lopsided result in New Zealand behind him in a game that saw a seriously under-strength Parramatta outfit dusted up by the Warriors.
He welcomes back a sizeable stack of troops with Apa Twidle, Bailey Simonsson, Sean Russell, Haze Dunster, Dean Hawkins and Toni Mataele transforming his starting squad ahead of their clash with the Bears. Russell makes an early return from injury for the Eels but will come back via the NSW Cup – although I am not sure what his eligibility status for the finals is.
Araz Nanva shifts back to the bench this week as the back line utility while young bull Ryda Talagi gets a second taste of the Cup after making his debut last week. Patrick Spence has been called up this week on the back of a really strong individual campaign in the Jersey Flegg and will deputise Joey Lussick at dummy half.
| 1 | Apa Twidle |
| 2 | Bailey Simonsson |
| 3 | Sean Russell |
| 4 | Jake Tago |
| 5 | Haze Dunster |
| 6 | Lorenzo Talataina |
| 7 | Dean Hawkins |
| 8 | Wiremu Greig |
| 9 | Joey Lussick |
| 10 | Toni Mataele |
| 11 | Jezaiah Funa-Iuta |
| 12 | Dan Keir |
| 13 | Brock Parker |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Patrick Spence |
| 15 | Will Lewis |
| 16 | Ryda Talagi |
| 17 | Araz Nanva |
| 18 | Samuel Loizou |
Harvey Normans Women’s Premiership Team List
Round 9, Monday 7:00PM, Kellyville Park
| 1 | Ella Carlisle |
| 2 | Alysha Bell |
| 3 | Josephine Lenaz |
| 4 | Kiana Takairangi |
| 5 | Paige Knapp |
| 6 | Matisse Bettridge |
| 7 | Aaliyah Soufan |
| 8 | Liaina Dimech |
| 9 | Rory Muller |
| 10 | Ruby-Jean Kennard-Ellis |
| 11 | Jessica Kennedy |
| 12 | Fontayne Tufuga |
| 13 | Kyliah Gray |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Ava Jones |
| 15 | Ashlee Pottinger |
| 16 | Alana O’Loughlin |
| 17 | Matoisha Kalepo |
| 18 | Teagan Long |
Jersey Flegg Cup Team List
Round 26, Saturday 2:00PM, Seabrook Reserve
Some interesting changes for the Eels this week as they continue to try and find answers to cover their fullback depth crisis. Nathan Howlett reverts to the demanding #1 role, a position he occupied in the Junior Representatives for the Eels before making the jump into the centres this season. Tuvaka Palu is back in the centres to help facilitate the switch while Tyrese Lokeni drops back from a long stint in the NSW Cup to reinforce the front row. It is the same for Ieti Samuelu who comes back onto a starting edge.
The bench also gets a serious bump this week with Teancum Brown returning from a long layoff.
There is also another SG Ball graduate in the mix with Wesley Pakoti taking over the bench utility role.
Patrick Spence is also named in this grade as the starting dummy half but clearly something will have to give on Saturday. Whether Spence plays in Flegg and the Cup find a replacement or someone like Lachlan Coinakis or Jack Hudson are late inclusions in this grade, there will be a change in some capacity.
| 1 | Nathan Howlett |
| 2 | Lorima Rokosuka |
| 3 | Tuvaka Palu |
| 4 | Antioch Faitala-Mariner |
| 5 | Mohamed Alameddine |
| 6 | Matthew Hunter |
| 7 | Josh Lynn |
| 8 | Tyrese Lokeni |
| 9 | Patrick Spence |
| 10 | Damascus Neemia |
| 11 | Domenico De Stradis |
| 12 | Ieti Samuelu |
| 13 | Max Popo |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Wesley Pakoti |
| 15 | Raffaele De Stradis |
| 16 | Javahn Stevenson-Hala |
| 17 | Teancum Brown |
| 18 | Beau Lucien |
Confused why Bamblett is not our first choice fullback in Jersey Flegg.
Hope Coinakis and Petrus are back into that team asap. Perhaps trying to give other players a chance before finals like they did with Jim and Miller last week.
Very interested to see how Cup and Flegg line up in the finals. Cause players like Doorey, Guymer could be apart of cup
This is how we could line up for finals across cup and Flegg. As I said lot will depend on whether predominantly NRL players like Papalii, Simmo, Doorey, Tuilagi, etc drop down to play
1. Papalii
2. Dunster
3. Nanva
4. Simonson
5. Tago
6. Volkman
7. Hawkins
8. Doorey
9. Lussick
10. Mataele
11. Samrani
12. Tuilagi
13. Guymer
14. Spence
15. Grieg
16. Parker
17. Keir
18. Loizou
You have to play 5 games to qualify for nsw cup unless you have come from a junior grade like Jersey Flegg.
I assume Pryke and Latu are out for the rest of the season. Have not been given an update on them.
1. Twiddle
2. Rokusuka
3. D De Stradis
4. Lewis
5. Alamadine
6. Hunter
7. Lynn
8. Brown
9. Coinakis
10. Lokeni
11. Petrus
12. Funa-Luta
13. Popo
14. Talataina
15. Neemia
16. Talagi
17. Samuelu
18. R De Stradis
It is always difficult to extrapolate why a player isn’t selected in the Flegg given the restricted information available. Bamblett’s absence points to injury as the most probable factor and unfortunately the position has just been cursed by bad luck for the Flegg this year.
Bamblett has been managing an injury since semi final at Schoolboy Nationals. He also has mid week finals for Mulholland Cup next 2 weeks They have to manage school football with Parra still for him.
Petrus and Bamblett are both named to play Peter Mulholland Cup SFs tomorrow.
Good update and thank you
They also beat Endeavour 30-16
With all of SPB’s points coming from Eels players
Quality updates lads, much appreciated! The club needing to balance out school boy footy commitments is another factor that is easy to forget.
Would I be too hopeful in thinking the simonson inclusion means the tension has settled and he’s staying?, just feels weird for me that he seemingly is free to negotiate to go to a different club next year, was given a leave of abscence and then returns to play cup for the last regular round of the year which he seemed to have an issue with earlier.
Could it be related to titans falling through with the coaching staff or some other reasons? There are a few clubs that would have been interested that he’s a walk up starter for on the wing.
In my idealistic fantasy ryles had a chat with him about his place in the team and his ability to earn a starting spot.
It is definitely the optimistic viewpoint Sebastian but the fact that Bailey has returned to duties in the Cup at least keeps the door ajar for hopes of mending the relationship. Having Bailey on board and bought in for 2026 and beyond would be a huge boost to our back line stocks no doubt.