In typical TCT podcast form, the Eels waited till after our live Tuesday news episode to drop the massive announcement about Isaiah Iongi.

The gun young Eels fullback was already under lock and key for the next two years. But in a wonderful show of faith, he’s extended his contract to the end of 2030.

Parra currently boasts one of the most promising, if not one of the best, spines in the NRL. So the extension of the talented Iongi sends a clear message that he has faith in what Jason Ryles is building at the club.

Iongi

Iongi enjoyed a break out season in 2025, after moving from Penrith with only one NRL appearance on his resume.

Now in his second preseason at Parra, and with that first full season of NRL behind him, supporters should expect continued growth from the rising custodian. There was already a sense of excitement about what has unfolded in this preseason with the emerging young guns, not to mention the sense of anticipation about potential recruitment.

But of course, what goes hand in hand with recruitment is retention. And the Eels have absolutely nailed this one, and the news will no doubt be well received by Iongi’s team mates.

And so to Tuesday’s session.

What do professional coaches look for in their sessions, and in their programs?

Learning and development must take place. So whilst the work is scaffolded, so that one drill will build on what went before, the coaches will also look for mistakes being made. This tells them that what they have set for their charges is not too easy, and importantly it tells them that they have hit a coaching point.

This was a challenging session and there were definitely questions asked of execution and conditioning.

After warm ups, the morning commenced with defence. First up was the micro focus that takes place with individual footwork in two on two drills, and then in basic defence line movement.

Eventually this extended to the macro with nine or ten a side drilling some of the same shapes that they introduced in Monday’s session, though the pace of the work increased.

This created those aforementioned coaching points as variations introduced to the shapes, and fast defence lines, brought about errors. There were expansive attacking shapes in addition to sets coming out of their own red zone.

Next, Joash Papalii and Ronald Volkman were taken from the main squad to practise their attacking kicks in the quarter as well as their 40/20s.

Both Pezet and Moses were also working separately from the squad, who were split into three groups of eight, and whilst two groups were involved in opposed drills, the third was undertaking conditioning runs. The groups were rotated so that all participated as attackers, defenders or doing fitness.

Though this rotation was taking place on the “bush side” field, meaning it was furthest from our vantage point, it was impossible not to notice a moment that involved a big charge and evasive step from Ryda Talagi.

From there, further splits of the group led to more simultaneous and  relentless work with the footy in hand. The sessions are looking more and more like last season where significant conditioning takes place in games scenarios. In this instance there were games of seven on seven touch, and micro drills of 4 vs 2 vs 2, and 3 vs 3.

I’ve noted this before, but it’s worth repeating that Sean Russell possesses vastly underrated pace and this showed up in both attack and defence in the seven on seven games. And as a reminder, he is wearing the green shirt this week for a reason.

The squad was then split into forwards and backs. Both groups were taking the ball into contact, with evasive steps, fends, and bumpers up being executed.

That said, the methodology was slightly different for each group. I won’t go into the specifics, but it was to my eye position related.

The Foxx was very vocal with his group. “Run to hurt,” was his instruction about how hard he wanted to see his team mates take the ball into contact.

Multiple, simultaneous drills

An interesting and challenging outside backs drill with Scott Wisemantel followed. It was four on three, the play was unstructured, and it encompassed visual and auditory cues and distractions.

Rather than describing how it worked, I’ll present what appeared to be the overall goal. The players had to function in attack (primarily), and also defence, in the type of chaotic situation that they could find themselves in during a match.

It was not an easy drill for the players, but the pleasing thing for Wisemantel must have been the evidence of the skills work from the first few weeks in how the players executed. Footwork, communication and even the big dive finishes – all were in action.

With the outside backs involved in that drill, the remainder of the squad worked on fast, explosive play through the ruck.

Matt Jay’s circuit run followed. As a reminder it involves a run to tackle bags, with repeated tackles, a jog to the next station to run a shape that the coach calls, a jog to the next station where they have to “sprint” for a short distance, then a jog back to the start for the next lap.

The circuit in action

Simultaneous games of eight on five and seven on four touch were played between the sets of circuit runs. I noted some big defensive chases and efforts from Charlie Guymer and Sean Russell. Maybe it was the different shirts that caused me to notice them, but they are wearing those shirts for a reason, and to my way of thinking, I reckon wearing the shirts would further motivate them.

Ronald Volkman’s improvised passing also deserves a mention. In games where everyone finds unconventional passes, his somehow catch the eye.

That said, it was suggested to me that the more important task is actually catching the awkward or unexpected pass. Kelma Tuilagi has excelled in that regard and I’ll be looking to acknowledge others.

The morning concluded with tackle bag drills, ensuring that defence bookended the session.

We are still undefeated on the table. What a great time of the year!

Bring on Thursday.

Eels forever!

Sixties

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