NRL Team List

Round 27, Sunday 4:05PM, CommBank Stadium

No, it isn’t a History channel special pitting a Roman officer against the young attendant of a chivalrous warrior – it is just Round 27 of the NRL! Will Penisini notches his 100th NRL cap in the same game that Dylan Brown farewells the Parramatta Eels…fittingly against his future employees as the play-maker becomes a Knight in 2026.

As we sort of suspected, Jason Ryles has given Dylan one final piece of grace as the shadows on his time as an Eel lengthen into the dusk. Brown reunites with Mitchell Moses in the halves for one last job as the storied duo plot to taken down the Novocastrians and lift the Blue & Gold to their 10th win of 2025 in the final game of the season. Joash Papalii drops out of the team as a result but obviously it is no reflection on the young talent given he has made strides at five-eighth in recent weeks.

Penisini celebrates a major milestone with a contract extension after the 23-year-old announced in a media call this week that he was staying with the Eels until the end of 2028. It squares away another piece of the roster puzzle for Ryles and hopefully leads to a big game for Will in a marquee match-up against Bradman Best. 

Otherwise the Eels are in set and forget mode with Ryles riding the 16 other players who have claimed the prized scalps of the Roosters and Warriors in recent weeks. Parramatta are hunting a third consecutive victory and the opportunity to claim double digit wins on the season on Sunday in what is hopefully a near capacity crowd at CommBank Stadium. They may not be playing finals footy this year but make no mistake the Eels are among the strongest finishers in the field in 2025 and have the chance to make a real statement heading into the preseason with a win over Newcastle.

NRL Injury Report

NRLW Team List

Round 10, Sunday 6:15PM, CommBank Stadium

Steve Georgallis has made several changes to his team this week as they host the Wests Tigers on Sunday night. Kiana Takairangi will start on the left wing in place of Zali Fay in a cool little slice of rugby league history. Kiana joins her father Louie Takairangi and brother Brad Takairangi as graded Eels marking the first such feat for a family at the club.

Rosemarie Beckett has finally cleared concussion protocols and returns to partner Rachael Pearson in the halves. Fleur Ginn pushes back out into the centres as a result which in turn sees Mia Middleton drop out of the team. Chloe Jackson has won back her starting berth in the backrow as Boss Kapua slips back to the interchange. Fontayne Tufuga sits in the seat of first reserve this week as she inches closer to a possible 2025 debut.

NRLW Injury Report

NSW Cup Team List

Qualifying Final, Saturday 6:00PM, Jubilee Stadium

The Eels didn’t so much tune-up for the finals last week as they got dusted up by the Bears in a pretty terrible result heading into the big money matches. Still, you reset and move on and the Eels have named a curious side this week in the Qualifying Final against the Dragons with Nathan Cayless dipping pretty heavily into the Jersey Flegg Cup stocks.

Apa Twidle, Araz Nanva, Lorenzo Talataina and Jezaiah Funa-Iuta has all essentially been fixtures in reserve grade for well over a month now so it isn’t too surprising that Cayless is calling on them all once again. However, he has called Will Lewis into his starting backrow while Ryda Talagi and Ieti Samuelu beef up his rotational forwards. Speaking of beef, Isaac Jim, a towering prop forward from the SG Ball, is set to make his NSW Cup debut in this cauldron of a game.

Wiremu Greig is almost certainly serving a suspension which enforces one of the changes but the Eels are handing their core of talented prospects the ultimate challenge this week as they are tasked to upset the Dragons.

Aiding them in that regard is the return of Ronald Volkman who slots in alongside Lorenzo as the senior play-maker. Volkman has been instrumental for the Eels this year and his inclusion is a key one. Intriguingly though, the have not selected Joash Papalii in any capacity for this game while they also elected not to qualify Dean Hawkins (7 games) for the 8 game threshold in the last two weeks for the finals.

Importantly though, this is not an elimination final. The winner progresses to face the New Zealand Warriors in the Major Semi-Final while the loser will meet the winner of the Jets and Raiders next week.

Harvey Normans Women’s Premiership Team List

Round 10, Sunday 12:00PM, Kellyville Park

Jersey Flegg Cup Team List

Elimination Final, Saturday 4:00PM, Jubilee Stadium

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