Ladies and gentlemen, PARRAdise has a new resident and his name is Jack de Belin.
The appearance of de Belin means that every Eels player has fronted for training, and that includes Junior who is in rehab for his foot injury.
Of course, this staggered return has made things “interesting” for the coaching staff, and I’ll use JDB’s return as an example of how it’s been managed.
Heading out of the sheds
De Belin was kept in a group of five for most of this session. His group consisted of Josh Addo-Carr, Will Penisini, Isaiah Iongi and Gideon Kautoga. Essentially, these were the most recent returnees.
For them, the morning was a session of getting up to speed with what the rest of the squad has been covering.
This meant that after warm ups, they moved through basics such as catch and pass drills, individual defensive footwork, tackle and marker defence movement, and three on two “games”. At different times they would join the squad for positional specific skills, but they mostly worked aside from the others.
Just on de Belin, the first impression is that he’s maintained his conditioning during the break. He seems to be in very good shape.
JDB is in decent shape
As far as the bulk of the squad was concerned, the forwards and backs worked separately for much of the session.
The forwards commenced proceeding with bumpers up and fends into contact, to which linking with a support runner was added, and then groups of about five ran shapes of their choice.
When an active opposed line of defence was added, it looked like Sam Moa switched his focus to the functioning of each group of defenders.
Simultaneously, the backs worked on their running mechanics. As an aside, watching Joash fly over the low hurdles is a thing of beauty, and Sean Russell is no slouch.
A swap over then allowed the forwards to undertake running mechanics, whilst the backs ran a few basic shapes.
Forwards and backs undertake separate drills
It wasn’t long before the halves were practising a range of kicks with Wisey donning the dreaded turtle pad for the outside backs to take the ball AFL style. The assistant coach also had a footy hanging from the crossbar as an additional drill for grabbing the ball above the head.
Finally, the squad came together for extended skills and games. This included running plays against a staggered defence, 8 on 8 running shapes for one play, and 7 on 7 unstructured attack. These numbers being my approximate counts. There was some rotating of groups during this work.
A few quick observations. The younger players are incredibly confident in what they do. I rarely see any hesitation during “games” as they back themselves against the experienced fellas. Lincoln Fletcher is a prime example of this.
Kelma caught the eye with a couple of extraordinary takes of difficult passes, Joash and Lorenzo showcased their footwork and acceleration, whilst Teancum reminded observers that he has a passing game.
With temperatures set to soar even higher for Friday, the usual big finish for the week could be interesting.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Awesome
Thanks for this update
Cheers John
Love your work, Craig! Have we seen Pezet at training yet?
Yes Jules. Has been mostly in the gym, and lighter runs on the field this week. I will be mentioning him in today’s report.
Brilliant. Thanks again!
The eels reportedly in talks with Brian Kelly is a good potential outside back signing IMO and won’t be expensive.
Some of those Titans players under Ryles defensive systems and coaching would probably work better for them individually than what we’ve seen from them at titans where only attack ever seems to be where they are “Ok” …
For anyone who doubts it’s a good move, consider Ryles is trying to make us a club who doesn’t block pathways for elite Jnrs, Kelly is almost 30.
Richie Peninsi and a few others are likely to look elsewhere if we signed 1-2 top outside backs, we must consider that this clubs only chances of real success is if we keep building mostly our own players, and if our jnrs aren’t ready.. plug in stop gaps.
Look at how shallow we looked only before last season. Then all of the sudden all of these kids with no to little NRL experience are now the backbone of the Eels first grade team.
I’m of the belief Richie Pensini (if he remains healthy) could become a regular first grader in the next two seasons, his physicality in defence and toughness he possesses would be something Ryles would like, PLUS.. he’s a eels Jnr / Perfect for culture.
Regardless, I know Sixties mentioned Joash is training mostly with the spine. But if we get desperate for wing depth – Joash could also do a job there IMO if needed.
P.S Sean Russel is now our best centre. Who would have expected that in 2024?
My guess is that we might see some other surprises in 2026 where some underrated players like Sean grow as players under Ryles and become some of our most reliable players.
Joash, Ryley smith, Iongi and Sam Tuivaiti are the future of this club in my opinion, I won’t be surprised if any of them became our best player (besides Moses) inside the next 1-3 seasons.
Muz,
Interesting points and I can see the logic in the argument.
Personally, I wouldn’t take Kelly due to the defensive issues you raise, but take the point on our coaching staff working on improving that. After all, every player should be seeking continuous improvement on the field.
I guess the concept you put runs a fine line. How long do we wait for the younger player’s potential to be realised? What do we do if it’s not realised (after all there has been quite a few of those for the Eels over the last forty years or so)? Should we have invested in a slightly better player than a “Kelly”? How long do you sign a stop gap for?
In the end these are the calls the coaching staff and administration are paid to make. If they get it right your revisiting of this concept pays off. If not, more enduring misery for the fans.
I look forward to watching how it plays out. It would be great to see a generation of young players coming through together creating a team that is competitive year in, year out. Ryles and his philosophy so far gives me hope that what you put could happen. Of course only time will tell.
Cheers.
Nanva is a bit of a surprise packet this preseason. Let’s see what the next couple of months show.
Hooray! Every excited that we are looking at Brian Kelly!
Finally a bona fide professional centre.
Yes he’s getting on but he knows what he’s doing, where to stand and is still bloody quick.
AND as opposed to Sean Russell – he knows how to pass the damn ball !!
I’ve forgotten how many times JAC could have been released if Russell just knew how to pass the ball !!
Sean is tough and willing but Kelly is all over him regarding skill.
Great move by the club.
A bit harsh on Sean there Spark. But should we sign him, Kelly is potentially competition for spots, not just as a backup
I’ve been watching a few of our games from this last season, and i can tell you Russell gave JAC the last pass for a few tries, especially the latter part of the season. Dont forget, JAC was our leading try scorer (19), you dont get that many if you have a centre inside you that doesn’t pass. It annoys the hell out of me the negativity towards Russell, he has improved ten fold , Muz is right, he IS our best centre.
Mick, I thought that the partnership/combination of Russell and Foxx was a highlight of 2025.
This is the hard thing about filling your squad with depth quality first graders. You’re trying to convince a player who might be in the exact same position at another team to come over and do the exact same role at parramatta and those players are so hard to find. Kelly is one of those middle ground players who can probably fit that role.
We really need to create some pressure around Simmonsons spot he may get first shot but he is in no way a lock in for me. So Crucial to create pressure around positions especially for a player like Simmonson on his day his good but off his day his a massive target for the opposition
1990, some players arrive, totally knowing their role from a recruitment perspective but also backing themselves to make the best of any opportunity. Dean Hawkins being a prime example
yes I can’t understand the negative remarks towards Sean either, he has always been good and geting better though it has taken awhile since injuries which is understandable. They dont realise he is actually a thinker and doesn’t throw as many passes like the others as he only tries to pass when he has a high percentaage of throwing a good pass unlike the others that more often miss their target or hits the turf or going out. Thanks for the reports very enjoyable as a long time reader seldom responder. On a side not would like to know how Matto is performing at training, is his attatude good, his effort and any other comment would be appreciated. Thanks again and keepup the great work.