NRL Team List
Round 2, Thursday 8:00PM, Suncorp Stadium
In Round 1 the Parramatta Eels met last year’s runners-up in the Melbourne Storm and as we all know that went absolutely brilliantly for the Blue & Gold. Much has been written and said about the humiliating loss and with the sting of those rebukes still not even fading, the Eels must now turn to face the other party in the big dance of 2025 as they travel to Brisbane to take on the Broncos. Indeed, it is a Grand Finalists Redux for Parramatta as they look to navigate one of their trickier scheduling gauntlets this season.
Like the Eels, Brisbane made a despondent start to the season and while they may have won the most minor of victories in not conceding 50-points, they were manhandled and ultimately shutout by the Penrith Panthers to the tune to 26-0. It sets the scene for an extremely odd Round 2 encounter between the reigning premiers and a team in the Eels who would see themselves as on the rise. Which side can find their ignition point on Thursday night?
Jason Ryles has made two changes to his side this week. One was telegraphed by a rather overzealous charge from the Match Review Committee which saw J’maine Hopgood stood down for a game for a high tackle. Ryles has bumped Jack Williams from the right edge and into the front-row as a result with Kelma Tuilagi getting a promotion into the starting back-row to round out the series of moves to replace Hopgood. The second comes in the form of good news, something of a scarcity in the last week, as Josh Addo-Carr looks to return ahead of schedule from a broken thumb.
Otherwise the Eels are as per the program from last week…which is much what I expected to be honest. Coaches generally don’t make knee-jerk selection reactions to Round 1 losses – as ugly as they can be in the case of last week – and you have to imagine Ryles sees the first up loss as an aberration. He will charge his team with the more manageable primary mandate of cutting down on the horrifically unnecessary errors and the far more whimsical mandate of somehow drawing less ire from the officials as they look to unseat the Broncos.
Brisbane have made one notable change this week as Ezra Mam returns to his usual role as starting five-eighth. I am not exactly sure what scheme Michael Maguire hatched up in benching Mam last week but it didn’t exactly work out and the Broncos return to their usual configuration this week as a result.
Like last week, Sixties and myself will be hosting a watch party at Parramatta Leagues Club in our usual home at Sterlos on Thursday night. While the game itself leaned considerably into the scale of miserable viewing, the turnout and atmosphere in Round 1 was top notch and for that we thank everyone that attended! There was plenty of swag given away as well and there will be more of that on the cards this week so be sure to get out to Sterlos to see our lads surely upset the Broncos in Round 2!
| Parramatta Eels | Brisbane Broncos | |
| Isaiah Iongi | 1 | Reece Walsh |
| Bailey Simonsson | 2 | Josiah Karapani |
| Will Penisini | 3 | Kotoni Staggs |
| Sean Russell | 4 | Gehamat Shibasaki |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 5 | Deine Mariner |
| Jonah Pezet | 6 | Ezra Mam |
| Mitchell Moses | 7 | Adam Reynolds |
| Jack Williams | 8 | Corey Jensen |
| Ryley Smith | 9 | Cory Paix |
| Junior Paulo | 10 | Payne Haas |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 11 | Jack Gosiewski |
| Kitione Kautoga | 12 | Jordan Riki |
| Jack De Belin | 13 | Patrick Carrigan |
| Interchange | ||
| Dylan Walker | 14 | Ben Hunt |
| Sam Tuivaiti | 15 | Xavier Willison |
| Matt Doorey | 16 | Ben Talty |
| Tallyn Da Silva | 17 | Aublix Tawha |
| Charlie Guymer | 18 | Grant Anderson |
| Joash Papalii | 19 | Jaiyden Hunt |
| Reserves | ||
| Jordan Samrani | 20 | Blake Mozer |
| Brian Kelly | 21 | Delouise Hoeter |
| Luca Moretti | 22 | Thomas Duffy |
Injury Report
| Player | Injury | Return Date |
| Ronald Volkman | Quadriceps Strain | Rd 4 |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 2
BYE
Jersey Flegg Cup Team List
Round 2
BYE
Brisbane were really bad last week. But defensively they were actually decent when you consider a) – the free passes Penrith got down the field, and b) three tries came from intercepts and bombs that Brisbane just failed to extinguish. Walsh did absolutely nothing, so i am a little worried he will terrorise our edges in a bounce back.
It’s just Hopgood missing, but now having watched what we watched last week, that forward pack is looking pretty soft. Williams should at least be well rested after watching the game last week, and so help me if JDB turns up another offering like last week, after a pretty poor trial, when he has presumably been brought in to provide a brick wall in the middle of the field, then surely we have to start looking to other options soon!
I hope JAC is good to go. A one handed JAC is better than a 2 handed Brian Kelly, but i just hope he is fully mended and good to go.
Was hoping to see Moretti get a run this week, I worry with both Dorrey and Kelma in the team, hopefully they are not on the field at the same time, they can both lack effort defensively.
If TDS does not improve, then I fail to see why we are carrying him on the bench. He was quite poor last week, along with many others, but I would rather see an extra forward have a run given how badly our middle was torn apart last week.
‘There’s always next year.’
Comparing those two teams player by player, you would select the entire Brisbane Team bar Moses and maybe the fox.
Hard to believe we both have the same salary cap.
God help us Friday.
I believe it’s Thursday. The boys hurt themselves with panic football. In fact they played better when missing one in the sin bin. The second half they were run ragged and the Storm would have beaten any other team on the day. While Parra didn’t play well they were not helped by the referee. Why do referees allow certain teams to move forward off the tackle mark that place the markers offside. A number of times Parra copted a penalty or six again against them for that. The Storm and Penrith work that really well. How many times did we lose the ball in the attack zone. Just about every time. Brisbane will be seeking redemption but then again so will the Eels. Let’s approach the game with a little bit of confidence.
Player stepping to the side and getting the marker penalised for not being square is one of my bugbears. As you sat Panthers and Storm are masters. And if there’s no penalty players like Grant then use the extra space.
Goes with the plethora of forward passes from dummy half. Some of those blokes dead set think they’re NFL QBs.
Or the ref calls the defender ‘too slow’ or ‘release him’ when the ball carrier has walked forward and contributed to the longer contact. The defender’s instinct is to hold his ground, which technically is the mark.
Are we all satisfied that Samrani for Mitch Barnett would be a value swap?
I’d be fast tracking our young props, Ryda, Big Sam, Teancum etc. If their good enough , their old enough. We have enough oldies. You don’t lose quality young blokes like Samrani and Russell