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What a what to wrap up 2025! The Parramatta Eels have unloaded an almighty broadside on the Newcastle Knights to consign the Novocastrians to the dreaded wooden spoon following a 66-10 victory at CommBank Stadium. Mitchell Moses turned it on in front a raucous home crowd in a stunning individual showing but he was ably supported by his the full ensemble cast as players got off the nudie run list left, right and centre.
It was a bittersweet farewell for Dylan Brown too, made that much sweeter with a try and a conversion (after a cheeky mulligan) etched into the record books for the departing Eel and it was wonderful to see the crowd champion the departing play-maker.
Join Sixties and Forty20 from 8:00PM to celebrate all of the insanity from Parramatta’s season finale!
Parra are definitely on the rise and a force to be reckoned with from now on. A few tweaks with the roster (including replacing Penisini- a good clubman but not going to win a comp), and we are well on our way to premiership glory.
So proud of Ryles and the roster overhaul he has implemented. A fantastic leader – we have been crying out for many years for someone of his elite calibre.
Enjoy a few cold ones boys you deserve it!!
Josh – let Will enjoy his 100th. 😁 – plenty to look forward to, no doubt.
Have to say it’s the most connected the team and the club have looked in a long time. They look extremely happy and you can tell they are actually believing in what there doing.
Rookies have been unbelievable in smith and Iongi they are two of the biggest young talents in the game and both are spine players.
Still a long way to go but this squad are starting to really look dangerous and with a few more tweaks I think we can be right up there in the next couple of years. To pretty much completely flip a sqaud and virtually play with a 25 man roster all year ryles first year has shown us that he can coach and hopefully we can start 2026 will a full squad
1990 – full credit to the team of coaches alongside Ryles, they’ve all done a great job.
Eels are awesome. Great to see Dylan go out on a high too.
Lot of young high quality players here at parra.
Our kick chase, line speed, sliding defence, defensive grit = better than anything I’ve seen at Parra in as long as I can remember.
Current team lines up against our 2022 grand final team and holds its own, even without as many “star name players” in the 17
If you ask me next year will be a roller coaster again unless Mitchel Moses players a minimum of 75% of games in 2026
But the core group here is rock solid and Jason Ryles is doing a fantastic job with these young players
What’s remarkable is no Jason Ryles’s signed or upgraded players have “not shown up” like we have seen as part of our culture here over the years
Jason Ryles has evidently made the line in the sand here at parra and isn’t accepting that inconsistency of efforts which we suffered for years
I can’t name one player Jason Ryles has recruited or promoted in this team who doesn’t turn up and play at close to 100% every week for the blue & gold jersey
It’s a big contrast to the last 5 or so years where we only really turned up at 100% time we played Penrith and the odd game in between
I’m personally shocked at how quickly Jason Ryles has turned our culture around, and credit to our Snr players too like Jnr Paulo, Mitch Moses, Josh Ado Carr, Jack Williams, etc ….
These senior players really lead by example this season and in my view more than filled the hole left by guthersons departure
The players were told early on that reputations or contracts weren’t as important as the efforts that they displayed on the training track or in games. You know how much I rated BA as a coach. I still do. This year was a completely different approach to everything from conditioning to the complete stripping back of skills components. The players embraced it and stuck to the processes even after a rocky start. The pay off is starting.
Definitely think Brad did a good job especially getting us out of those hard times
Every coach and team has a used by date and bad cultures or bad attitudes, maybe even bad habits set in
I think that it’s club desperately required change and that a lot of the Snr players had become comfortable
Moses indicated this clean out / change of roster, and overall changes in the place is like nothing he has ever seen
It looks like all players are hungry and turning up to play for the jeresys and there’s plenty of examples laid out for them of Jason cutting players off who are not playing up to his new standard set at our club
I think this is what our club needed especially after 22 GF where we seemed to suffer both culturally and consistency wise following it
The positives happening now in my view remind me of early BA years – Jason seems to be the right fit for what our club needed right now
Much like Brad was what we needed in the early times of his tenure, navigating us from a hard place to regular finals
Let’s hope Jason’s tenure is also just as fortunate in that regard 🤝
I wasn’t able to join the live reaction last night but after the 3 and 2 I hope everyone else got a 1. It was a great team effort wrapping up what ended up being an important, and at the end enjoyable, season.
In such a sweeping reset to see the team harmonious and happy and playing good footy is a testament to Ryles and his staff. There is still work to be done but this team had a solid foundation for a winning season in 2026. The anticipation for 2026 will make it a long pre-season.
You are correct mate, the whole team deserved points. That was reflected in the spread of votes in the live chat room.
Good end to what was a tough season to watch on the whole.
I’m optimistic about 2026+.
Hard to name a player that didn’t have a great game tonight. But credit to Moses who absolutely carved them up. Reminded me a bit of the CommBank opening round against the training cones.
Recruitment is going to be a very fine balancing act. I’d hate to see a disruption to the culture that seems to be building amongst the group. Going full tilt at Tino as our long term replacement for Junior seems to to be the only key buy we need for the time being. Other than that, we maybe need some back up outside backs to cover for injuries.
Fair calls Mick. It is a fine balancing act given the emerging players. But a middle and an outside back or two is probably a fair call for recruitment.
Really enjoyed the game. A bit of hooting and hollering throughout the game which I’m sure the neighbours heard.
What I really liked was that Newcastle were there to be put to the sword. Their season has been done for a while. We did just that, a small differential would have been disappointing given the trajectory the Eels have been on the last little while. However, with the exception of a little lull when TDS first came on we kept the pressure on and maintained effort and discipline.
Games like that give hope for next season. Of course we need to build on this year and improve again otherwise we still finish somewhere 9-12. As others have mentioned recruitment over the off season will be interesting and a fine balance is needed to fill spots where we know we’re a little thin and encouraging the younger ranks to keep coming through.
Looking forward to seeing who gets the recognition on Ken Thornett Medal night but if Ryley Smith doesn’t get some sort of award there is something amiss. It is the consistent effort and pressure he displays during a game that has quickly made him one of my favourites this year.
Thanks to Forty and Sixties for all your efforts during the regular season. I look forward to your reports over what is left of the competition in all grades and into pre season. Rugba league, the gift that just keeps on giving.
When I sit down to watch the Eels play I always imagine us winning handsomely, usually by a score line of something like 46-12, knowing that in all likelihood that it won’t be like that. Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I sat down and watched them play where I wasn’t chewing my nails back to the bone !!! I could just relax, watch them run up a cricket score in absolute confidence they were going to win.
Great way to end the season. They have built throughout the year which is pleasing to see. It won’t mean much if we start next season like strangers again. Something I’m confident we won’t do.
Recruitment is interesting. I definitely don’t want us buying squad fillers just for the purpose of filling the top 30. We have too much talent just below the surface that we don’t want to scare away, particularly in the forwards. The signing needs to be a certain top 17 player at a minimum. A back up outside back wouldn’t hurt.
AMS, Tago and Pryke weren’t on the departing players list. They were all on dev deals this year. It would be interesting to know what type of contract they all have next year. As there are players like Talagi, Nanva, Petrus, Apa, Brown who all probably have a case to nab one of the last 3 dev spots we have left.
First of all, congrats to the Eels for yesterdays performance. The green shoots have well and truly broken through and are sprouting nicely. The growth in the team from round 1 to now has been nothing short of exceptional. It was always going to take time, and the buy-in from the players has, in my opinion, accelerated the process. Great effort!
What next season brings is purely conjecture, but we all dream and hope. I agree, we need a middle and perhaps another outside back, and for me, the 5/8 position is still up in the air. Time will tell who we land and how the junior development goes. Either way, I will support and continue to applaud Rylesy and his brains trust.
Thank you also to Dylan Brown for your contribution, as sad as it is to see him go, I get it. Although the question I have is whether the extra cash is worth the chance of giving up a premiership ring. Again, I don’t know; so good luck and thank you for your service.
And to Craig and everyone involved at TCT, thank you. I am grateful for the work and effort you all put in to keeping us informed, and am looking forward to reading the pre-season training reports in a couple of months.
Have a great off-season everyone, I’ll be watching the Ashes and enjoying the beach and surf to keep me occupied until the 2026 season kicks off.
Great comment, if we can jag a centre with fast feet ( imagine AJ Brimson or even Bradman Best) as an addition , and yep a good level prop is a sort of minimum to take the next step.
Some decent fast kids in the Matt’s and Ball but need a year of 2 to mature, wonder how Galvins manager and father feel as the story was they wanted him at the Eels. he is a 5/8 and nowhere near a 7. Yet another player falling for the Dogs and Gould, yep thinking Mahoney and Sexton .
A decent break except for those selected for the Kangaroo tour and the younger and less experienced players getting a full preseason will be invaluable.
Perfect ending to an interesting and enjoyable year. The second half of the season has been excellent with some really standout performances, most notably the victory over Easts.
Fabulous performance against Newcastle, even allowing for how dire the Knights were. Moses was stunningly good in the first half: the pace for his first try; the left hand pick up for his second; the anticipation for his third. As for the Fox, it wasn’t just his three tries but the space he created. They were all good. A little bit loosey-goose for twenty minutes in the second half but so what. A few passes didn’t stick and we lost momentum for a while. Got it back in the end.
Thanks to all the team at The Cumberland Throw. You’re the best. So much fun in this web site.
Go Eels.
The win against the Roosters was great but never as good as the win against the Broncos.
A good way to finish the year. We all know 60 points in your last game against the team getting the spoon doesn’t matter, but it was good reward for Ryles if nothing else.
He should probably get the MVP this year for the development he has don with some of the players.
Russell has improved in defence (still low IQ and execution poor in attack). Penisini is better than where he was 23-24. I thin k we can only afford to carry one of them and it is probably the latter.
Obviously the growth of Iongi has been exceptional and Ryley has been pretty good. Still plenty for both to learn and improve on which is a good thing.
Mitch is Mitch and Jnr while a little patchy has been strong now the last month or so.
Hopgood has definitely slowly got better as the season has gone on.
Tulagi and Doorey have improved as well. I think in a winning club they are fringe bench players/back ups at best. so going into 2026 our forward depth is not going to be great (by the look of it).
I read we are saaying farewell to Dunster and Greig. I wish them well and while injury has plagued both of them (Dunster more so), they are not two that i ever thought would make a impactful mark. Greig his fitness and Dunster his size, seemed to be against them. I get why the club signed them originally, but its time.
And it was actually sad to see Brown go. When Mitch is with him he is such a much better player, and i do wonder what his season would have been like if he never had the get out clause, and was contracted here long term. I know the majority of the year he has been average or worse, but we are worse off without him starting next year.
I now see the point about da Silva – he has potentially an elite running game. His passing left to right still needs work which is surprising given the amount of football he’s already played; something to receive attention in the off season. We’ll see the results next year.
Lots of other questions for next year. Among them, will Toni Mataelle make the top 27? Will Rida Talagai and Isaac Jim find themselves the starting prop combination at some stage in Cup? Will Dean Hawkins get a fun at hooker in Cup aimed at creating a high quality 14 in NRL? Dean was one of our elite contributors in 2025.
The result yesterday will do no harm whatever to any recruitment discussions that are going on. Who would interest us? It depends a bit on what Bayley Simonssen decided to do – if he moves on we certainly need another experienced three quarters; I’m a Tommy Talau admirer. Dane Laurie certainly is a very good footballer but could we fit him in? Is he worth trying at centre? Davvy Moale and Jack Hetherington both are experienced props and no-one pushes them around; I seem to be a fan club of one for Jack and I realise that being left out of a side that just got thrashed by fifth points and won the spoon is not a great look; I still believe that, with the right leadership he has a lot to offer.
I can’t remember anticipating a new season more. We are very fortunate to have the work of the folk at TCT to inform us and facilitate our exchanged.
I agree that Hawkins may be worth training at hooker in the off-season to accommodate Lorenzo and Volkman in the halves. His defence might not be up to it but I definitely think it’s worth a thought, especially if Hands isn’t returning.
I’d like to thank 40s and 60s for the non stop coverage it’s so well covered and you can’t help to notice the always enthusiastic love you blokes have for all parramatta information. Also big wraps for ryles and his staff to turn things around especially after that 1st game. Seriously the best I’ve seen parra play for years. Sad to see brown go as someone said he could be missing out on a premiership pretty soon .I’d have him back
Great way to finish year shame won’t be playing finals as I think we are top 8 in terms of form. Like to see add 1 or 2 middles , strike centre and of course a 6 .
Next March can’t come quick enough