The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
Ah, that time of year when trials mean nothing or everything! Where do Sixties and Forty20 fall on that famous preseason spectrum after the Parramatta Eels annihilated the Cronulla Sharks 40-6 on Sunday night? The Tip Sheet delves into the opening hitout of the year as Jason Ryles made full use of a 28-man roster. What areas impressed the boys the most? Who enhanced their stock? Did we see enough from the young outside backs to move the needle on depth in the unit?
Join the boys as they wrap all of the action from Parramatta’s explosive win!
Loved the defence, commentary seemed to be making out we started our first-grade squad against nobodies when sharks starting pack had more first-grade experience than ours.
After the first 30, when it was all the young blokes for most of the game, defending really well against an older team is what impressed me the most and anytime we got into any sort of attacking territory, we scored.
Being stuck in our own end most of the second half didn’t help, but I think Lorenzo showed some good confidence both off and on the ball.
Apa is a real player, hopefully we can find a spot for him somehow
It was the defensive effort in the second half from the kids that was most impressive they really put in in spite of a very poor second half refereeing performance the first half was a cameo performance from many of the first graders so the young kids really dig in defensively.
This club has really changed under Ryles and co. When have we ever seen so many players defend their try like this, slide left and right, and work endlessly on every effort area?
Some Truly impressive players we have coming up in the lower grades, lots of good young forwards, they’ll be pressing for NRL games within 2-3 seasons about 5-6 of them.
The most impressive players (besides our already proven experienced NRL players were guys like: T Brown, Moey Alamadine, Apa Twiddle, list goes on.
In regards to NRL players it’s clear Sam Tuivaiti, Sean Russel, Ryley Smith, Iongi, and Doorey are going to be the backbone of the younger players in 2026.
Matt Doorey and Ryley smith made a massive difference in today’s game and you can really see them multiplying their player values in just 2 off seasons under Jason Ryles, it’s quite literally remarkable, no other word today it, Sean Russel also not far behind in terms of improvement. Go Parra.
Hoping that level of organisation and effort can carry through into the weekly grind of NRL. We had Moses, Paulo, DeBelin,Walker, JAC,Williams, Hopgood , Kelly off the park and I read a journo calling us ‘full strength’.
After years of boring myself stupid through commenting on our glaring inability to defend well executed wide shifts, I watched closely to see if the improvement shown as last year unfolded was a fluke, accident or mirage. It looks like it’s real, but right across the park we look much better defensively and if that holds, we will improve in general.
Moretti will be on the bench as well
Solid outing. Goal line defence was probably the highlight, all be it the opposition didn’t throw a tonne at us. Edge defence in particular was pretty good. Ball control was the low point probably.
Russell looked ok.
Pezet and Ryley Smith looked very solid.
Iongi didn’t have to do much, but was good.
NSW Cup squad in the second half looked very good.
Biggest concern Kelma Tualagi. He still can not tackle
Da Silva… eh. Would have liked to see him try do something to flip the field in the second half. He is a back up 9 still.
If Will Penisini is still the starting centre come the last week of the season, we won’t be a contending side. Maybe we see a Steve/Mark Waugh situation with Richie taking his place.
Feels like we will be a season away from really contending, so you can see why Ryles wants Pezet now to buy these other young guys another year. That said, I am booked for a family holiday in Sept/Oct in Canada, so that almost guarantees they will be there on GF day.
Yep just like round 1 last year, Kelma has probably played himself out of the team with his defence
It is impossible that we could have looked any better yesterday. If we have even an average year with injuries we’ll certainly be in contention for the finals.
Noel, nice thought but, the boys can do a lot better especially with ball security. For instance, Saxon lost the ball three times. True it was just a trial and while Parra looked impressive the Sharks looked terrible. We have snared a good coach who has taken the lads into a different direction that will give the young ones incentive to improve and stay. Let’s sit back and enjoy the ride I believe we are in for a good year.
Thanks for the podcast fellas, really good listen.
Given I live interstate it was good to put faces to some of the younger chaps you have been talking about.
Enjoyed the game and, while only a trial against an average Sharks side, thought we put together a few good things. Will give the coaching staff something to work with – for example your discussion around what could be said to Saxon. Liked what I saw from T Brown and Apa. Maybe Apa could put in a bit of muscle to help.
Thought Pezet was solid in a new team where he is building playing relationships. In close up he was doing a lot of talking which is what you want from your halves.
While we are still short in the outside backs if a few of the young chaps can go towards realising their potential we may be ok. Only time will tell us that though.
Eels very impressive, but, I think we have to keep an eye on the refs. We were so dominant yet we were almost penalised 2 to 1. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but before the Lomax situation the refs rarely gave us the 50/50s, now that the eels are exposing the NRL and Storm I fear ramifications on the field. Silly? I hope so.
Mate its hard not to get excited about this. From mid last season to now Ryles has turned this club around in every aspect. Our defence is now awesome and it will take a team doing something really good with the ball to get through. No more terrible edge defence – Waqa Blake and Sivo etc.
But wow with the ball we are always a chance now. The way we move the ball is next level. And the young blokes coming through is so promising. I am excited for this season.
Thanks for the reports and commentary. Really enjoyable
Let’s be clear, the Sharks were missing the entire first choice spine, and their best middle, and the Eels probably had more to prove than the Sharks, but I liked what I saw. There seemed to be a clear plan on how they wanted to play, all the way down the depth chart. Pezet underplayed his hand nicely, Iongi looked sharp, Doorey has worked on his short passing clearly, Russell definitely looked like he’s added a yard or so of speed, Tuivaiti seems to have added a bit of mongrel, Guymer looks more and more like our future 13, all in all we got everything we could’ve wanted out of it.
It was great to see the players we have heard so much about, and they didn’t let me down. If Kelly takes the left centre position, I think Russell is a certainty to be our right winger. His last 12mths has been nothing but exceptional. There is no better defensive back in the comp. His reads in D are second to none. I pity Ryles in picking our forward pack, Doorey and Guymer deserve to be there, I think one will make it, and I’ll be feeling sorry for the other. I said it before, and I’ll say it again, put your hard earned on Parra to beat Melbourne round 1, gamble responsibly.