The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
It ended up a closely fought affair but the Parramatta Eels have secured another prized scalp with a cracking 26-22 upset victory over the New Zealand Warriors. In a contest that was fueled by controversial calls – including some clutch challenges by Mitchell Moses – the Eels held on grimly in the final moments to keep the dreams a 10-win season alive. Sixties and Forty20 break it all down in a live reaction to a big win!
A great performance. Season 2026 can’t come soon enough!
Ditto?
Does the season have to end ?
Another 4 weeks and we’re in the 8
JonBoy, I hear ya 😁
And those missed opportunities during the season and the ones that we could have won with Moses. I guess every team can look at “what could have been” moments.
I think the coaches feel similarly – the team is truly warming up!
Great effort by the boys. Warriers are in the top 4 for a reason and they came hard at us. We were very good defensively. Their tries were very good plays. Moses inspirational with that defensive try saving play on Harris-Tavita.
That tackle as good as you’d see from a halfback close to the line.
Gutsy win; high completions and less errors! We did well and played tough.
Milo the big take out for me in the back half of our season is the huge improvement in defence. In fact the effort areas everywhere in our game.
The other observation about the last two games is the relationship between Mitch and Kelma. It was great last week against the Roosters but better again against the Warriors.
Yes John we seem to be sticking in defence and the boys holding the ball
More!
I think you’ll find that the coaches are starting to feel like the defence is getting very close to where they want it to be.
Very gritty Milo.
Vaimauga admitted he touched it.
Despite the skinny 10 meters for the Warriors all night, despite the ridiculous 6 again calls, despite the Warriors getting the penalty for Iongi being in front of Smith instead of us getting the penalty for Moses being taken out of the play – we won.
Not because we were the better side, even though the defence held, but because we have try scoring brilliance all over the park.
For mine the Warriors were in a different league to the Chooks last week. They would have smashed the Bulldogs or the Broncos.
We have to be aiming at top 4 next year.
We have a really solid team that loves to play.
MOTM Junior. What a game.
Aa star amongst stars.
Yes the ref was atrocious and good to see I wasn’t the only one. I very rarely ref bash but yesterday was obvious and blatant. From the very first penalty, marker not square, look at the game and tell me what that penalty, and most of the others, was for? I said then that the fix was in and the poor calls kept coming but they had a problem….the video ref wasn’t told! Don’t know what the penalties and 6 agains were but we didn’t appear to get many. Based on that I’d say we were the far superior team. One match to go and with a good injury free off-season we’ll come back stronger and better next year.
I thought the worst call came when The Warriors were pressing our line, a player blatantly rolled the ball back with no attempt to touch it with his foot, there was some sort of challenge, the ACT was replayed on the big screen, scrutinized by the bunker and we played on; it’s arguable that a penalty for a play the ball attempt not as bad as that cost us a win a couple of weeks ago.
The standard of refereeing is one of the two problems attacking the professionalism of League, the other being the uneven draw.
Noel, I refer people to my referee tip sheet post. It was meant to be a fun poke at the whistle blowers, but how much truth was there in it?
Glenn, I said in the preview podcast that the biggest factor would be how Gough officiated. I said we’d be lucky to get six again calls, but they’d be plenty against us. How the Eels play football doesn’t sit well with him. For whatever reason. The Eels did well to overcome the lopsided penalty/restart count.
Good calls on all of that 57!
Committed and disciplined with a few very good moments. Wasn’t sure what we would get, whether they would carry on last weeks good game or if that was their GF, against the Roosters, but it was good to see them turn up.
Tulagi very good again as was Iongi and the forwards all dug in all be it made no ground.
Barely any ball at the attacking end of the field so we needed Moses boot to get us down there and stay in the game.
Some sloppy defence on the Williams/Joash/Russell edge more than once.
And of course for all the bemoaning and claims we don’t get calls because we are a lowly placed team.. well we got some tonight – especially the 50/50 last no try – against a top 4 team, and on the road. Hopefully that puts some conspiracists to bed.
And shout out to DWZ breaking Maika Sivo’s record for 24 consecutive games staying down to play for a penalty…
Looking ahead. Given it looks like our starting 13 tonight will probably be the same for Rd 1 next year, (for better or worse) I think we do an Ivan and rest everyone. Send them all off on holiday now and get them back a week early for pre season.
Not a chance.
JR should play Brown against Newcastle.
See what his next year’s teammates really think of him
No. He won’t play drops Brown
Why should he. Its not like he’s retiring.
Anyway, Joash already has a better attitude and instincts
He touched the ball and it went forward. Nothing 50:50 about that. We had 3 of our possible top 17 injured tonight. So dubious assertions on two fronts. And who knows who we sign in the off season. Great win. At least your first paragraph was positive,
Given that 5 mins earlier the bunker ruled “inconclusive” in an identical contest, it could easily have gone that way again.
It was like the play on call when the ball came off Penisini’s head. Right call, but more often than not, gets stopped.
Not sure who the 3 of our top 17 you are referring to, but that is the best starting 13 we have that started tonight. Any arguments we are only talking semantics replacing a fringe first grader with another. And I am not holding my breath for a significant signing for next year this off season. Unless it is a Pezet or someone allowed to negotiate, the good players are signed away a year in advance.
You’re allowed to be optimistic, that’s cool. I prefer to be realistic and if something good happens, I will be pleasantly surprised.
BA, where we are in agreement is that I don’t have massive expectations about a big signing, but I’d like to think that if certain players become available that the Eels will make a proper play in the market.
BA – the ref didn’t make that last call, he called try. The replay clearly showed the touch. The player admitted touching it. It wasn’t or shouldn’t have been 50/50 for the video ref. The combined penalty/restart count told a different story. It was lopsided without a clear reason why.
Must extend Iongi asap before perth or png can offer contract
Louie, he’s a happy player at the Eels – I agree, let’s lock him in.
What a GREAT performance!!
This our DNA. Best top teams, then play differently against bottom teams and lose (or just win)
Next step: Ryles & team can help us turn up like this against every team and become relentless regardless of who our opponents are!
So great to see our team turn into an effort based team. Ryley smith, Iongi, Jack Williams, Moses, Lomax, Jnr paulo, and many many more…
Did us all very proud tonight 💙💛
Big hats off to Jnr & Ryley smith they are quiet achieving leaders to this team. Both absolutely crucial.
Muz, they definitely give the impression that pulling on the jersey means something special to them when the effort areas are high. As supporters, we want to see that as the foundation every year that you build upon.
One more praise for Jnr. It shows you how much this club means to him. He lost weight, and sound the clock back unlike I have seen in almost any ageing forward.
While so many other senior eels quit or didn’t commit themselves to Jason Ryles’s plans for parramatta.
Jnr paulo for me did the complete opposite to them and for me now solidifies himself as one of the all time great parramatta forwards, NOT just as a player..
But as a parramatta eel through and through. Jnr is 31. 99% of fans thought he was finished 2-3 seasons back, Brad & Baz also often made him a bench forward. I also thought Jnr was done / past it tbh. And I love Jnr.
Some will criticise. But if you have any football knowledge, you’ll know how remarkable this career resurrection has been from Jnr. To me it shows you how much parramatta means to him. To lose the weight and improve all season? It’s Absolutely nothing short of amazing at age 31 in today’s game.
100% Junior was above and beyond tonight.
I’ve been quite critical of Junior over the last few years Muz, but he’s been much better this season. He finally had a good break over the off season and got his body into a good state. He’s been very good this year.
Generally we play well when he thinks run first, pass/offload second. A bit like when Moses plays well, we are in the contest.
That pass from Junior was all class. But yes, he’s got the effort areas because of the level of fitness he possesses and what can you say about Ryley. Again it’s a fitness factor. For him it’s off the charts.
Perhaps we need to invite Gough to our pre season training for 2026. Then he can explain his interpretations of the ruck etc. and we can play to his style. Agree with Forty on the Hopgood look on the restart. I reckon he had to stand to the left of the ruck to satisfy the ref. It must have been embarrassing to have the Eels successfully challenge his decisions.
Other than that, enjoyed the effort. Loved Junior’s pass to Iongi for the try. Thought we were reasonably committed in defence. Also loved Tuilagi’s last pass for the try as well. There is upside to him if we can get his defence and discipline on song.
Happy with the way we are closing the season.
As an aside, my son’s better half is a Kiwi Warriors supporter. Apparently he is sleeping in the spare bedroom tonight 😂😂.
Thanks for the instant reaction, enjoyed your thoughts.
Cheers Namrebo. How many times did we have to challenge! Mitch obviously pitched a similar question after a successful challenge late in the game.
Indeed, and didn’t Gough get shirty about that!
Great show gents, there’s very little I could add to your opinions.
Impressive win against a 14 man team playing for a top 4 position on old boys day. Gough did his level best to keep the warriors in the game and despite their loss, he still deserves their best on field.
I’m so glad I’m not in charge of recruitment, at stages in the season I’ve wanted a strike centre, five eighth and strike middle. Now I’m not so sure.
We have money to spend with no clear position to fill. I agree, a top line middle wouldn’t hurt and I agree with your opinions, any top line player who is better than what we have.is great signing.
What a great position to be in but we can’t be bluffed into thinking our current squad is good enough to win a comp. I really like Ryle’s mind set, the future is now, no Parra fan is going to cop a five year plan after a 40 year drought. We are short of a couple of elite players, the players could be a back or a forward, the important thing is that the players are top level, Attitude, structure, game plans and intensity can only take you so far, ultimately, the cream always rises to the top and after 40 years, being competitive and wins against the odds doesn’t cut it.
I’m confident Ryles is aiming to be to the team that loses against the odds in 2026. I’m excited for next season, Ryles has put our club in a strong position in a short time.
I agree with the recruitment conundrum Joseph. Without going and building some all stars team, it’s hard to identify who to leave out. And that’s with Morretti, Kitouga and Tuaviti to come back and with De Belin coming in. The teams main issue is consistency, rather than capability.
That said, we need to think about a Junior replacement in the short term (next year or 2) as he starts to hit twilight years, even if he has a year or 2 more in the tank beyond that. The kids coming through aren’t going to have the extent of experience to replace Junior any time soon. After that is a Moses replacement in the medium to longer term (2029+). Other than that, it feels like we have the core team that will contend in the next 3-5 years.
Fair calls Mick.
Cheers Joseph. I gather that you’re suggesting that if a marquee player who would be a difference maker comes on the market, then the addition of that player might be about getting such a class player into the squad, not filling a specific position.
Next year keeps looking brighter these last few weeks. Personally if j’maine can get his ball playing back undercontrol over an off season with Walker I see him going back to that 13 jersey, abit more conservative and gets through the tough stuff before Walker comes on. Starting with Paulo and moretti who brings the intensity and mongrel with hopefully a moale signing coming off the bench. We get to a point where in a healthy side mataele comes off the bench in cup.
My Predicted (not in confidence) sides are:
1. Isiah Iongi
2. Zac Lomax
3. Will Penisini
4. Sean Russell
5. Josh Ado-carr
6. Joash Papalii
7. Mitchell Moses (C)
8. Luca Moretti
9. Ryley Smith
10. Junior Paulo
11. Kitione Kautoga
12. Jack Williams
13. J’maine Hopgood
14. Tallyn Da Silva
15. Dylan Walker
16. Davvy Moale*
17. Jack De Belin
18. Richard Pennisini
1. Apa Twidle
2. Bailey Simonson
3. Araz Nanva
4. Richard Pennisini
5. Haze Dunster
6. Ronald Volkman
7. Dean Hawkins (C)
8. Matt Doorey
9. Brendan Hands
10. Sam Tuivaiti
11. Kelma Tuilagi
12. Jordan Samrani
13. Charlie Guymer
14. Jack Hudson
15. Will Latu
16. Toni Mataele
17. Saxon Pryke
18. Jake Tago
And if the likes of Tuivaiti keep improving as they have I can see De belin only being here for a year.
I’m still not convinced by DaSilva.
Ryles will need to put a lot of work into him to make him a team player
I think I’ll give him until around round 5 next year to show signs of his elite ceiling. Next year he turns 21 im pretty sure which would still make him flegg aged. Give him a full preseason getting challenged by Smith, drilled about expectations from Moses and introduced properly into the ryles defensive systems before I give full judgement. He’s another signing that I think ryles is looking into the next 10 years rather then the next 1 or 2.
He needs a full preseason with the team. He’s not an ideal fit for us right now, but if we’re going to go the next level we’re gonna need a running threat out of dummy half. Ryley for all his great qualities isn’t that guy, TDS can be.
I asked in a submission a few weeks ago – are we convinced that, now, Da Silva is a better player than Lussick. With respect, there was a lot of irrelevance in responses. Some said Lussick has his limitation. No doubt. Some said Da Silva could develop into quality. Maybe. Doesn’t change the question – if we were running out with fifteen minutes to go in a Grand Final, scores locked, who would you prefer to be going out to replace Smith at 9? I know who my pick would be.
I suppose if we were playing in a Grand Final, we wouldn’t be having to throw in either a reserve grade player or a green rookie. That goes to show the amount of work and professionalism that needs to take place over the offseason and into the 2026 season. Ryles seems to be well aware of that and will get the players as ready as they can be from round 1.
TDS can be a quality player, but as others have said he isn’t quite fitting in just yet (don’t forget he had the last couple of preseasons at Wests, and we know they are a bit of a basket-case). That will change once the players return for the preseason and the pressure to deliver every week is removed.
Brett, they both bring different qualities. They can be complementary..
The preseason will assist TDS.
Thanks, Sebastian. Can’t see de Belin in the 17. Every one of your named NSW Cup pack ( except for 9) will be ahead of him. At least that’s what I hope. Building some real depth and terrific spirit.
Yeah honestly wouldn’t disagree with that could easily put tui and doorey above him next year
The preseason will determine how JDB slots in.
I wouldn’t be putting Sam Tuivaiti in reserve grade
Chiefy mostly concerned about his minutes and body, 2 big injuries in his rookie year and limited minutes, I’d like to see him getting consistent 50-60 minutes in cup for a season to help him develop as a future alpha of the pack.
Big Sam is a long way ahead of Davvy at the moment
Honestly wasn’t sure between those 2 I’d arguably even have tui over De belin for his impact running off the bench
Moale ??? Are we just naming players from other teams now ???
Being pushed out of the rabbitohs and its a 2 horse race between the eels and cows rn for his signature.
Cheers for the prediction Sebastian. I don’t think that Simonsson, Hands, or Dunster will be with the club in 2026.
Tks men. The Warriors ran hard, tackled hard and were also gifted field position by Gough, that’s a pretty solid bundle of momentum to manage, so it was a big effort to finish in front.
Observations not excuses or conspiracy theory bleats:
– the very first penalty for marker not straight..Egan was aiming to catch out our 2nd marker who was not straight but knew it and faded back off the play. Our first marker was straight and simply moved with Egan who I reckon knew he got it wrong but got the call.
-Hopgood’s arm never hit anything above Harris-Tevita’s shoulder, and in fact he seemed to intentionally drop off the tackle to avoid head contact, he got pinged on suspicion.
-the very first replay of the disallowed try suggested the ball brushed the tip of the Warrior’s hand, the commentators opinions were laughable, although other angles weren’t as clear. Then the original angle in slow motion zoom lens proved up 100% and they still went on with their incorrect call.
-the bunker reversed 3 incorrect on field calls after Moses challenged, plus THE try.
-Hopgood again..pinged for holding down..the release wasn’t slow at all, it was a one on one, less than 3 seconds, faster than probably 75% of tackles all night.
Yep. 100%.
Agree 100%. As I said, ref should be embarrassed with the number of challenges we got right. No wonder he got shirty with Moses near the end.
I honestly don’t know how we won that game if you look at the comparative stats and the venom that they were running at our guys.
We won two stats – errors and kick metres. Against a more talented side we won on discipline (down to the coaching staff) and Mitch’s boot. Mitch swaps sides and we lose.
It was an awful collection of bad calls.
Tough gritty win. Building strong DNA in this club. Well done to Ryles and the team. I’ve said before these wins are the bonus and it’s all about next year and beyond!
The home team were given 6 six agains to 1. They were constantly walking off the mark. They were often not square and nothing done.
I saw the knock on all the studio commentry and the bunker saw the knock on. Alexander who played for Warriors 1995-1996! Kept denying the ball hit the fingers. Why do they keep having biased explayers commentate on their ex clubs?? I can’t stand the suck ups from biased ex players on Fox and 9..Alexander and Ennis hate Parra why do we have to have them on our games. I have to watch with no volume rather than listening to them dribble.
Well done to Ryles and the team.
Brandy and Warren Smith were diabolical in their calling. Smith is usually ok so I guess he was brainwashed by Brandy while they were sitting in the Fox studio calling the game off a TV screen (what a surprise!).
The biggest farce is hearing commentators say that the bunker “has to find conclusive evidence to overturn the on field decision.” Hang on, in this case the on field decision was clearly a guess (as are many others). Remember the bunker reviews all tries, so the bunker is the real arbiter of a try being given or not. The Warriors player in question in that “try” admitted on NZ Sky TV after the game “I did touch the ball”. Crucial five words, one would think. But still didn’t matter to those with their own agendas .
With the real possibility of finishing with four wins in a row, the season has been a triumph for the coaching team. I was intrigued through the off season by reports from this source of new training methods, appalled and filled with doubt after the first two matches. Ryles convincingly, has proven such doubters wrong. Can we strengthen the roster for next year? Davvy would be a major coup. Who, of our youngsters will develop as much as Sean Russell (who has become an elite defensive centre) has this year?
I think it entirely possible that, in years to come we’ll look back on 2025 as a watershed season.
Graz, that was the astounding part. The player makes the admission and certain media types still hype it up as a controversial call.
We need to buy a few elite players to contend but we are in the right track. Ryles is a good guy and a good coach. Hip hey hip hey hip hey!!
I don’t think we do need to go on a spending spree. We either believe in our young players or we don’t. Can’t say we’re a development club but then rely on recruitment. Any recruitment needs to be of the best 14-15 year olds and develop them internally. Sure you might grab a particular player for a particular purpose, but the backbone of a sustainable roster is internal development. If we don’t add another recruit I won’t be the least bit concerned. I think next year is about just getting these young players better.
100% agree. If we start bringing in big money recruits or block the pathway for the next generation they will be gone. It has happened to often over the past decade
Especially when you consider the improvement in them already this season.
It’s a balancing act no doubt and we need to get it right.
If we’re thinking about winning the comp we need two more elite players – elite now, not, maybe, in six years time. Not that they’re available, but give us Haas and Marky Mark and we are contenders.
He’s not an improvement on anything we currently have
Ok, but we’re not getting those guys, even if they were available.
Beating the Warriors at home is no mean feat, especially given they are top four for most part of year. It may sound strange but it has been a mostly enjoyable season seeing it all finally start to come together and the young players stepping up to show they are worthy of playing first grade.
A full pre-season now that the systems are in place will do wonders for Parra. You look at the other teams that will miss out on the finals and the future for Parra looks better than the rest.
Also, I’m sure Alexander would have raised it if the roles were reversed, There’s a fine line between jumping upwards for the ball and jumping straight at the catching point with your knee raised disrupting your opponent’s leap. You can see Iongi twisted sideways and losing his catching position. Replays indicated that he was kneed near his left hip and twisted. Probably a 50/50 but not mentioned. The correct outcome was eventually reached.
Good win but we were lucky the clock drained when it did because we were fading on effort in the last 10 mins
Kelmer is playing some surprisingly good footy of late
Forty, any signing news? Any Pain Haas news yet?
Q.why are both 40s and Craig very obesity and only have head for the radio and bad looking
Grow up, you spineless cretin.
Q.why are both 40s and Craig very obesity and only have head for the radio and bad looking
YOU are on the wrong site!!
Don’t talk garbage!
Agree. Sixties and Forty/Twenty are great. There must be a suitable site somewhere for the above “gentleman”. Maybe one for illiterates.
Why?
If Its ok for both Sixty and forty to both make jokes on the podcasts about one of the Parramatta players appearance, then it should be ok to say both have a head for the radio and both are obesity.
That’s fact
For God’s sake what a dribbler
Folks – peace! Let’s move on, remembering our convention of positivity and respect.
That is the third recent incident where they have overturned a try that would have snatched a last minute defeat from the jaws of victory. Actually four if you count the first half against the Roosters. Is that some sort of record? They played well but still missed a lot of tackles and their error rate was well contained. Promising sign for the future.
Great win for the team pretty much we’re up against it the whole game with warriors having an absurd amount of field position but they showed real fight.
Saw jersey Flegg run the cleaners thru the top team some serious talent running around our ranks at the moment. A lot of good young forwards coming thru I think if we can pick up an elite centre this team could be a real premiership threat by 2027.
The dragons looked awful last night
Gutho is there and his sides third last after finishing 11th last year and almost finishing in the 8
What strikes me in regards to our improvement is you see sides like the dragons, FULL of very experienced and large size players
Look absolutely clueless at times when a side attacks them
The parramatta eels for months now, has rarely looked “clueless” and our sliding defence for example and a bunch of kids with under 30 NRL games look more systematically in sync than both the dragons and teams line manly or a few other sides like manly who are above us, particularly in defence and staying in the fight
I actually think Jason Ryles and Ricky Stuart have exposed how & why we “fell off a cliff” this last few years up until now…
In today’s game it seems like good coaching and a youthful roster is far superior than trying to out muscle teams with size or trying to use too many veterans and leaning on experience too much
Even the roosters roster style in recent times has become outdated – they are still running a huge pack and a lot of power players
Even with unlimited / seemingly non existent salary cap they can no longer buy premierships or even name the top 8
The current meta of the game has swung in the opposite direction, the teams who are the best are largely made up of players who are not individual super stars
In obviously an eels fan for life – but I was truly happy to see Raiders get a minor premiership (rather than panthers or storm)…
And hopefully with our club following a similar path, investing heavily into youth, surrounding them with a few highly experienced players to lead them around, we can also be high up in the top 8 over the following seasons
I predicted a 6th-12th place finish this season, it looks like we should land within that range
My prediction for next season is we make it into the top 6 if Moses plays 80% of games, and minimum top 9 if Moses is out for large parts of the season
We are truly on the right path – NO other sides are improving at the rate we are as the season progresses (as far as I’m concerned?)
It also seems that Jason Ryles knows how to make the boys finish the season coming into finals strong, which is another surprising feature
We do not have as much to play for as the roosters, warriors, Brisbane, etc
Yet we toppled them as under dogs and truly out classed them
Very, very good indicators that our youth based squad and coaching staff are going to work for our club moving forwards
Kids like Ryley smith, Iongi, Papalii will be the future of this club, i have not seen any of these players “not turn up” for Jason Ryles
It honestly looks like Jason’s slowly removed all the players from BA’s error who had that habit, no Jason Ryles players are “didn’t turn up” players …
There’s a lesson there – and it looks like Jason’s approach doesn’t make room for hot and cold players when it comes to effort
He obviously has set a standard and making hard choices has set the message at our club now that if you don’t turn up or put in 100% effort consistently
You eventually find yourself in NSW cup, playing in super league, or looking for another club
Very impressive end to season for the eels – makes you wonder:
Did we make the 8 if Moses played every game this season? 🤔
In 60 days time Junior Paulo becomes a free agent for 2027. Is anyone aware of any efforts to tie him up?
Id be wrapping up Iongi’s contract before thinking about anything else .
The way he’s going, he could be the next million dollar player and im sure the club would be in talks, or i really hope so
You’re allowed to talk to more than one player at a time.
Interesting, it looks like Jack DeBelin will not spend time off for the hip drop charge. If you Google it, you will be confused by the news from 2 years ago when he was suspended for 4 weeks in the corresponding match, but he doesn’t even appear in the nrl charge sheet. It would be great to start 2026 with a full crew.