Ugly wins count just the same as the pretty ones and today the Parramatta Eels did enough to get home against the Dragons and improve to a 2-1 record on the season. Join Sixties and Forty20 as they break down the home opener for the Blue & Gold in a match that featured escorts and sin bins a plenty. How did the Eels manage to hold on during a perilous second half period with just 12-men? Who stood tall amidst the chaos? What and where can the Eels improve on ahead of a derby clash with the formidable Panthers?
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Reported Hopgood out for the season from the hip drop, ACL done. Devastating news! Did we see the formation of Da Silvas confidence finally pushing him into territory where he’s looking every bit the impact dummy half we signed him to be? I think so.. what a nice game from him.
Tbh the dragons really have it coming to them. A team full of large bodies. All “star” players are old for today’s game. Flanno has not adapted his roster & playing style to suit 2026’s game style – expect a potential sacking for flanno this year or next. He faces the same fate as BA for following a similar strategy which is not suited for today’s NRL fast game & 6 agains.
Is gutho past it? I believe his days are numbered as a fullback. He has no speed or X factor left in him. He looks 1/4 of the player he looked early in 2025. I wish him the best. But the Eels made a good decision employing a young fullback on faster legs.
I still think the Eels are out of form. We have not looked like we did in the back end of last season. This is NOT a bad thing though. The eels have NOT played maybe to even 70% of their abilities. We have won two games though which is a positive sign.
The eels may need to consider giving Joash Papalii a run at #6 if Pezet is unable to bolster his defence over the next few games. The eels will need to play FAR FAR better than today and last week if they are to stand a chance against panthers. The issue is Cleary will have his back rowers attacking Pezet repeatedly, I believe Joash is actually a better 5/8. The only strength Pezet has over Joash is his kicking game. Pezet is a game organising half back. At #6 he is a big step down from Dylan brown.
Joash did not look great today, although no one did in the cup team. Do you really think Joash will defend big back rowers running at him well?
He is very small.
Joash I believe played at 7 where he never has before
For reference look at his games for eels in 2025 starting at 6
Joash DID NOT avoid difficult tackles he is actually good defensively for a small man, miles above Pezet in defence, he even played hooker for us at times
If a player is out long term from an injury that occurred because of foul play the club is entitled to salary cap compensation.
Couchman might get a months holiday himself.
Once again our starts are ordinary , better effort to start well the second half but we hand over so much momentum early causing us so much fatigue.
We need a fast line speed to match it with the competitions finest with our compact pack so momentum against us causes all sorts.
The refereee decided he was going to decide possession at times so we have to really do better at our first contact, we hardly ever dominate the tackle and purge metres as a result.
Why Mitch isn’t starting the game by kicking deep on the third or fourth tackle is beyond me and he’d want to change that against a fast moving Panthers outfit.
Pretty sure when teams have players out for the season they can apply for the rest of their contract for the year to be exempt for the season.
Ok it might not be popular and is it my imagination but has Izzy Iongi form dipped away badly ?
Can’t catch a cold from a high ball and is always put of position from a kick behind the lines.
If Ryles is fair dinkum about form, Joash would be breathing down his neck.
Congrats to TDS , an excellent game from him.
Happy with the win but it was probably only due to Saints ineptitude.
We play like that against the Penny Panthers we will have 70 put on us.
Agreed – he is on playing well defensively and under high ball. I don’t think joash is better but iongi should not be complacent- twiddle is a good player
Meant Not rather than “on”
No, it’s very much your imagination. He caught every high ball except the last one, which was the easiest of the lot . His form has been great.
We’ll see how he goes next week – Reynolds and Walsh made him look like a rookie with his positional play last week. Cleary is even better at kicking than they are. It’ll be a challenge for the backline because Penrith score spot of scrappy tries from kicks and bat backs
I’m not saying there isn’t things he can improve in, but let’s remember he still has only played 25 NRL games. I’m not worried about positioning, he’s in our defensive line when defending our line for a reason. If the price is that we concede a few tries from kicks then so be it. He’ll learn when to be in the line and when to stay back. He’s the real deal and as good Apa Twidle looks in Cup, Iongi was even better at the Panthers.
And, that try from a kick was because Ilongi was defending on the front line with Guymer in the bin. I thought it was a good game. There are no esy games and while the saints have some big bodies they are not necessarily slow. Good win and again it came from behind. It’s teaching them to dig in and last it out.
What game are you watching. You must have been smoking too many vapes
It’s your imagination. I assume you missed all the great high balls he took today.
He can work on his positional play but today we were done to 12 men. Of course he is going to be standing in the line for us.
Mate that’s fair. It might just be a classic case of two people watching the same thing and seeing different.
I’m a big Izzy fan but I think he’s struggling a bit.
All good. Thats the beauty of the game. We all see it differently
Hence why there are so many different interruptions on the rules. He can definitely improve which is a good thing. 2 points on a Sunday makes the Monday morning grind a hell of a lot better!
Watching the game i was thinking he was doing well defensively and pretty well under the high ball, but i thought his involvement was down in attack, and probably down a smidge last week as well.
I’m not going to crucify him, he is still going pretty well. Maybe it is adjusting to working with Pezet.
When you watch the game back we didn’t have a lot of good ball, most of the time we were in yardage situations and he did his fair share. I also think we went to the short man most of the time yesterday not out the back. If I do have a criticism of him yesterday there were a number of opportunities when Junior, Doorey & Tuivaiti got their shoulders through the line and were looking for an offload and he wasn’t there, nor were Moses or Pezet. You can bet Gutho or Dylan Brown would’ve been. That’s an area he can definitely get better at. All that being said he still projects to be an elite fullback for us for a long time.
Agreed.
Yes that’s my biggest gripe yesterday…no one supporting the ball runner.
There will be some bruised bodies after that game for us, we got smashed in the first half
Moses tired the Saints with his kicking game, be good to see our errors worked on
Stoked with the win, I’m bullish on a win next week with TDS and Pezet starting to fire on all cylinders
Hooaah up the Eels
We were busted all right.
I didnt see the cup game.
I know we lost but did anyone show anything that they might be pushing for a start next week ?
Be great to see young Brown on the bench and I assume Brian Kelly will take Samranis spot.
How did JDB go ??
Moriati was good and not much else imo!
JdB should not be recalled after his performance. Joash was set up to fail in the 7.
Narva played well but Moey looked unfit.
Kelly is going to be a waste of money.
It was pretty embarrassing to watch to be fair
One of the games that the eels needed to win if they want to make the 8. It is scary though, samrani and Pennisini out for the next 3 weeks by the looks of it means 3 weeks of you’d assume Kelly at right centre.
Next week scary game against a panthers outfit that looks stronger then it’s ever been before conceding a total of 10 points in 3 games.
Personally this is my too early 19 for next week:
1. Isaiah Iongi
2. Bailey Simonson
3. Brian Kelly
4. Sean Russell
5. Josh Ado Carr
6. Jonah Pezet
7. Mitchell Moses (C)
8. Jack Williams
9. Ryley Smith
10. Junior Paulo
11. Kitione Kautoga
12. Kelma Tuilagi
13. Charlie Guymer
14. Dylan Walker
15. Matt Doorey
16. Sam Tuivaiti
17. Tallyn Da Silva
18. Luca Moretti
19. Joash Papalii
Disappointing Richie has seemingly dropped down the depth charts, he had some great defensive moments last year at right centre and this could’ve been his opportunity to step up and debut. Not sure if he’s injured but considering the club hasn’t announced it I’d assume he’s just not being selected in cup.
Maybe it’s harsh to say re: Richie but my patience is at an all time low with both penisini boys. We have needed young backline talent for a while and one is slow, defensively weak and has overall plateaued while the other is very very injury prone. There’s better talent out there in juniors and reserve grade of other clubs
Certainly wasn’t a Top 8 kind of performance, but i guess it doens’t have to be at this stage of the season.
Disapointed for Hopgood and guttered for Samrani. I think he would have kept Penisini out when Will was due back. The try he set up today doesn’t happen with Will whose first instinct is always to try and get to the outside, he never cuts in the way Samrani did.
Iongi was quiet in attack, Moses worked his way into the game. Paulo was better and it was good to see TDS (not Trump Derrangement Syndrome) have a good impact. Russell had a rare moment where he made a good quick decision (to send JAC away for the match winner). Was it a one off or growth?
Jack Williams switches off far too often for a starting NRL player, and our middles in general missed far too many tackles (with the exception of Junior).
Realisitcally, the Dragons were poor after a strong physical start. We scored a penalty try that wasn’t, a dive over from dummy half and a try from a turn over – we didn’t set the world on fire in attack. Defence was better, all be it we were challenged less.
Very worried for next week. We’re well off the pace the Panthers are setting and now need to find a centre that we don’t have.
Agreed re jack williams – if you recall start of last year, he was at a lot of scenes of crimes when teams would stroll through our middle for a try. He is very suspect defensively in middle once tired. No wonder Ryles moved him onto edge for a bit. I worry if he continues to start at prop but we don’t have much choice unless we bring back jdb to start and tackle anything that moves for first 15 mins before Williams and Walker come on
Our current top 3 issues stopping us from keeping teams at LOW scores:
1). No young leg specialist props in middle / no aggression to match contact
2). Slow starts from middles – refer to point 1
3). TOO many low IQ moments giving away possession EARLY every game just like today, escorts, etc
Fix this 3 points and parramatta will start keeping teams below 20 points and be winning games a lot easier
There’s no excuse for our LOW IQ decisions early in every match, and lack of balls to throw in a young middle to assist Paulo in the opening exchanges
I want to see Moretti, Tuivaiti, or Doorey start with Paulo – the only way they’ll learn is by experience
1). No large specialist props with aggression to start the game*
We currently only have Paulo who’s a specialist experienced middle and 5 seasons past his prime
Morreti, doorey, or Tuivaiti offer aggression and fast legs
Williams is a long minutes forward and not specialist middle
If NOTHING changes – we are going to get stream rolled first half EVERY single game and be playing catch up’s
Panthers strategy next week (I BET you) will be:
Try and blow the eels off the park in the first 20 minutes while their middles are slow
Really hope our coaches realise this, panthers usually win games very easily if they can charge down the middle
Muz, you underestimate the culture between the two teams. Parra as badly as they have done over the past few seasons were the only team capable of matching the Panthers. You are selling our history short.
Low IQ moments. Yep. This is something I keep saying to myself. I feel like we don’t have a lot of footy smarts out there.
I’m well and truely on record as saying I think Russell is a low footy iq player. His physical performance is better this year and his defence has improved, so maybe he is getting there.
Kautonga. I don’t know his age and footy background. The escort penalty he gave away was just dumb on so many levels.
JAC I think has good footy iq, Walker can think quick, but not long vision. While Williams seems dense from a footy iq perspective, and even Peter, by halves standards, still has plenty to learn while Ryley does a solid job, but relative to the good hookers, he doesnt take control, just does his job.
What footballer has a high iq? We might as well dump the whole team. The game is so fast it has become a game of instincts. And, by the way Moses made a few errors yesterday. Should we get rid of him? This the third game and we have won two. Let’s see what unfolds as the season progresses before writing individuals off.
Big Sam is not young fast legs? Really?
The game has become too quick – and I think we need to understand this; less penalties and it has become touch football. To me the game is not right and is way too fast…..I would like to know the average winning margin compared to two years ago.
Happy with the win and we have a lot of players who are in their 2-3 season of NRL.
We do need another middle; and centre and the club knows this.
Penrith next week…..and they are looking too good to be true.
Who are the coaches again on the rules committee? Are these teams doing ok?
The game and 6 agains etc has made it not only too exhausting
It’s become dangerous and too easily influenced by refs imo
The only positive about it is it favours our mobile team over the full 80 mins
But we get stream rolled during the first 20-30 mins
These rules DO NOT favour big body teams like roosters, Dragons, etc
No one other than PVL and the broadcasters likes the way the game is being asked to play. But it is what we have, and it’s not unique to Rugby League, look at virtually every other professional sport in the world, virtually every rule change is geared towards making the games faster and highlight friendly.. the AFL, NFL, NBA, baseball, cricket, soccer etc they are all being geared to faster more frantic speeds for the “Sports Center” crowd.
Brett, the telling comment in Ryles press conference should be played by each RL show this week; the players are getting too fatigued and these hip drop tackles will occur. To me the game in the first few rounds has been a major concern and I think we will see more 30 plus scorelines…It is another big change in a season.
Games you just have to win and they did dig really deep at the back end.
Brown and morretti surely have to start being considered they are both genuine front rowers who are big men. Team looks 40% better when big Sam comes on and starts punching holes thru the middle with walker. We go sideways in the first 25 till Sam comes on
I absolutely love walker but it hurts our bench sometimes he just needs to play 80 or Paulo play a small role there to relieve him for 15 minutes. Id love us to have another genuine middle on the bench
I reckon Iongi got played out of our attacking game by the number of times we botched a set, particularly in the first half. Tuivati makes a noticeable difference, and Simmonsen was very strong. Moses’ kicking was a big factor. Sean Russell goes West just when we see his best.
When Leilua sailed through the middle, back on the angle and scored under the posts…what happened with Ryley Smith? (not knocking him). at first I thought Klein had called him out of the play, his reaction was like the whistle had gone.
The Channel 9 lads seemed reluctant to call the forward pass to S’ua, and the blatant hip drop on Hopgood. The microphone actually caught an Eel calling the hip drop, can’t be repeated.
A display more about guts than class. Our boys dug deep and showed a tonne of character. That will win them more games.
Who’s gonna replace Samrani?
Kelly is not good enough in defence. What else can we do there. Pezet and Kelly would = 30 points leaked just around those two players. Absolutely bogged down average in defence it seems.
Some kudos should be thrown Guymers way. Thrown into a foreign position he did probably as good as could be expected, sin bin excepted. Dragons should have targeted him more. I know we moved players around in the defensive line but Guymer was still out there in the centres a bit. Next man up!
Feel sorry for Ibis, hope it is nothing major. For a chap I thought would be better off in the forwards I was happy enough with his play last week and this. The bloke puts in effort.
Hopgood season ending injury is just so unfair. While his form has been up and down there is no lack of effort and you see how upset he is with himself when he makes a mistake. I truly hope he can make a successful comeback in 2027. I guess Couchman will get three weeks while J’maine is operated on and in rehab the rest of the year. The absurdity of it all, and against the Dragons, who pretty much crashed Dunster’s career too.
Sort of wins we need looking forward to game against Tigers as next week is a guaranteed loss
Where’s poppa? I want my apology. You said how we are toast without Lomax.
You doubted on a previous comment of mine when lomax left, saying more or less we are screwed without lomax and have no replacement.
Bailey Simonsson has quietly build himself into a nice pace of form this year. He hasn’t tried to kill himself every game, but he has still managed to run very significant run meters, and defend pretty well.
You could argue baileys defence has been better than Zac lomax’s so far..??
Whilst we lost a kicker and a strong player in lomax. As I suspected when he left, he won’t be a huge loss for us, a loss, but not a team destroying loss.
All the da Silva haters too (who are too short sighted)…
Both Da Silva and Bailey Simmonson are the ONLY eels selected in the best players to make the team of the round
Lomax was a gun in some areas but let’s be honest his defence was average, even his conversions become average, Bailey is on significantly less money, and does a job for now
The eels main issue atm is form – they will build nicely into the season, but currently their form and lack of defence from our new 5/8’ is the main concern
Big congrats to Da Silva and Bailey S on making the team of the week, great performances from both men
Sorry Muz, but to coin a phrase “one swallow, does not a summer make”
I suppose you are going to tell me we are playing well, just as a matter of interest, Bailey is a better centre than a winger, defensively the outside backs really didn’t have a lot to do in that game…..take JAC’s try as an aside, I don’t think a winger actually made a break……Saints main attack was at the dynamic defence of our 5/8 dynamo, who is so slow you don’t have to run through, just around him, that way its not a missed tackle.
With regard to Lomax being a dud, how many games for Origin and Australia?, I am unlucky in that judgement I only had the Melb Storm Coach on my side and his opinion doesn’t rate with yours, does it Muz?
Stick to the waffle old son, at least you maybe able to turn it into something to eat in the future…..
I agree with this. Wasn’t too concerned to lose Lomax in the scheme of things. Defensively he is and was a concern. People were highly critical of Sivo when he was at the club for his defence yet I reckon he was arguably a better defensive winger than Lomax.
No doubt Lomax took the tough carries from the back but Simmonson is equally good in this area. He hasn’t got the finishing class of Lomax but he isn’t awful in this area either.
At the moment our attacking shapes seem to be more directed to putting our powerful backrowers into space rather than putting our wingers away
I’m not keen on Kelly at centre to replace Samrani he’s a turnstile at the moment. Is there any chance Apa Twidle could step up?
They might move Bailey to centre and Kelly to wing? Or someone else to wing? Depth is very skinny
Going by some comments you’d think we lost that game yesterday. Dragons play a tough, grinding style. They aren’t going to score 30 or 40 points but scoring against them is going to be tough. They have big backs who are capable of big metres and most of their forwards are mobile who cover their middle well. Despite being 0-3 I don’t believe they’ll be down in that part of the ladder all year.
There are certainly things we need to improve on throughout the year and I would much rather bank these wins early when things aren’t going right than lose and have to fight harder to make the 8 each week once we’ve worked things out.
Enjoy the win everyone.