Nobody is going to mistake this clash for an all time classic, but as a live experience that was one entertaining rollercoaster of a game. The Eels got themselves behind once again, and for the second week in a row the bench came on and said “not today”, taking the game by the scruff of the neck and dragging the Blue and Gold to a lead they desperately clung to in an intense (if rather scrappy) final 15 minutes.

In many ways the Eels got away with one, though it was of St. George-Illawarra’s own doing that they didn’t take the chocolates here. Not every team will be unable to capitalise on overlaps, but luckily for the Eels on Sunday afternoon the Dragons’ playmakers looked at a five on three time after time and said “we’re good, thanks”. That kind of sloppiness will be punished in weeks to come.

Even if they didn’t repel an elite attacking unit, it will be a confidence builder for the Eels that they held strong for both the period Charlie Guymer was sin binned and then the 15 minutes afterwards under some intense fatigue. There were moments of great scramble and solid reads that should feed confidence going forward, but the basic mistakes and low effort concessions need to be fixed. It’s one thing for a good line run to break through like Jaydn Su’A did, but Luciano Leilua ambling back against the run of play and crashing through is unacceptable.

I’d say it was pleasant to see the Eels were near perfect in their ruck discipline this week after winning the restart count 6-1, but the full penalty count was an even more lopsided 8-3 against them and included a couple that must have been for ruck infringements on the 19.99 metre line. Any improvement in defending repeat sets has to be qualified by the quality of the opposition here, but Parramatta continue to make it hard on themselves. Things like kick interference need to be tidied up, especially when the NRL has made it known they are cracking down on the issue. Still, it was nice to have six agains well down the list of talking points following this one, right where they should be.

Sunday was also the first test of the updated home game experience. With a stirring revival of rugby league pettiness taking place, highlighted by the Roosters “visiting team” drama and the Broncos taking Gorden Tallis’ name off a meeting room because he said mean things, I was hoping for Shane Flanagan to complain in the presser that the Eels had turned the hot water off in their sheds and watered down their Gatorade. Alas, our changes were made only to the on field presentation.

I’m good with it all for the most part, but not playing the team song at the end of the game is simply not on. I know “Click Go The Eels” is dorky, old fashioned and a bit silly, but it’s also one of the longest lines of history through the club. I love to belt the song out after a win, and it is one of the unique parts of the club that should be celebrated, not tossed aside. The post-match interviews and MC spiel can wait the 90 seconds it takes to play our ridiculous old victory song. I imagine that opposing fans hate to hear that silly song just as much as trash like “Eye of the Tigers” and the “Green Machine” and Rooster songs annoy me. Don’t get me started on Eagle Rock. Bring back the song! Now bring on the grades!

 

 

 

Despite being camped in the Eels’ red zone for longer than the wait to get out of the Leagues Club carpark after a game, the Dragons rarely tested Isaiah Iongi with attacking kicks that would stretch his positioning skills. Just add it to the list of attacking blunders made by the Red V on Sunday. Iongi didn’t quite gel in attack this week and made a meal of one high ball, but he was fairly decent under the rest of them and worked hard in yardage.

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A meat grinder of a game for Bailey, who led the Eels in carries and metres by some distance, toughing it out on a hot and steamy afternoon from mostly unfavourable field position. It’s always impressive for a winger to never see open space yet still crack an A grade, but No BS Bailey deserves it here.

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The six week injury to Samrani is gutting for Eels fans, and not just because they’ve looked at the depth chart and seen the next men up. Samrani is tough to handle with his hard running and sure, the try assist pass was forward, but the setup was sweet and frankly we were scoring there regardless. At least it wasn’t a worst case scenario at six weeks, but a fragile edge defence is about to get a whole lot worse in his absence.

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Tough but somewhat quiet day for Rusty, who I most noticed when Jonah Pezet threw him the kind of hospital pass usually delivered when you get behind on your mob loan repayments. With the right side defensive edge copping most of the attack he wasn’t challenged too often without the ball, either.

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Is there any better moment in the stands than cheering on a winger breaking free against the run of play? I was riding Addo-Carr home like I’d bet the mortgage money on him, and ain’t nobody coming to throw me hospital passes when the Fox is on his way to the house. He worked hard otherwise, going searching for tough runs, but I’m glad he got to stretch his legs to seal the contest.

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Nobody came out of defending the Dragons back rowers looking too good, Pezet included. It was a long afternoon on the edge for the Pez, who best get used to being targeted all season long. The penalty try was a lucky one for him to bank, the bunker official getting a bit excited with the definition of likely to score, but we’ll take it. Plenty of calls will go against you through the year, so I especially enjoy the ones that fall our way, and even more the undeserving ones.

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There were a few moments of Moses magic, notably his last tackle run that ended in Samrani putting Da Silva over, but this was another game where Moses made his most sizeable contribution with the long kicking game that negated some of the Dragons yardage advantage, and with some key defensive plays on that shaky right edge. He’ll be washing his mouth out with soap for the language he dropped when Hopgood got injured.

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J’maine man was shaping up for a high impact performance before it was cruelly cut short by injury. Not much more to say about it other than it sucks, but at least he’ll get a bit of pre-season next year to hit the ground running in 2027. Get well soon mate.

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Another solid day for Ryley, who got caught out early in another one of those “gee, that looked bad” tries that the Eels are making a specialty but was otherwise a terrier in defence. Put in a good kick early (more of those please) that relieved some pressure, but he was outshone by his partner in this one.

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Junior busting free into open space was a pleasant sight for about two seconds, then he forced the issue and attempted an unnecessary offload to predictable results. It sums up Junior in 2026, a bit too much of the fancy stuff and not enough of the hard stuff.

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The specials K as nobody calls our back row were thoroughly outperformed by their Red V counterparts in the attacking game. Tuilagi couldn’t recreate his magic from last week and frankly needs to get through more work than 8 runs for 67 metres if he is going to play 75 minutes. His kicking license is also under review following that shocker of a banana kick. We do need more structured attack that gets both specials K (I’m making it a thing) into space. If Dan Atkinson and Kyle Flanagan managed it all afternoon, it can’t be that hard.

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Kautoga had a few nice attacking touches, registering a try assist for the penalty try then getting a meaty of his own thanks to Tallyn Da Silva. All of that great attack won’t mean anything though if he can’t clean up the errors in his game and stop ending up on the highlight reels for defensive misreads leading to basic opposition tries.

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Speaking of ending up in highlight reels for the wrong reasons, Jack Williams had a few moments like that in 2025 and notched up his first for 2026 on Luciano Leilua’s try. It was an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise solid day, Williams making 50 tackles and playing middle for 63 steamy minutes. I’d expect Hopgood’s injury will see him join that middle rotation on a permanent basis.

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While Dylan Walker still passed a few forwards into near and actual breaks, his performance this week was more about the hard yards he made through the middle. The threat of that pass will always mean seams are available for him, and today we needed every one of the 129 metres he cracked through the centre of the park. According to NRL Stats he also threw more dummies (9) than the entire Dragons side (6), which I’m sure means something good for our team.

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We can credit the turnaround in this match to Sam Tuivaiti and Tallyn Da Silva offering the Eels version of thunder and lightning from the interchange. Sammy Thunder comfortably led Eels forwards in metres and runs, and for the second week in a row Parramatta’s first change middles turned the contest.

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Loving the hard running from Matt Doorey, who might lead the NRL in half breaks for how many times he nearly gets through the line. An increased role with Hopgood out would be well deserved.

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You won’t find much more action in a 20 minute stint than what TDS delivered on Sunday. Two tries plus an assist to Kautoga in a stretch that saw him arrive 14-6 down and leading 24-14 when he limped off after nearing crossing for his third try. Doesn’t seem like he was hurt there, and thank goodness because if he continues the form of the last two weeks he’s going to be critical to Parramatta’s chances going forward. He’s another guy who would have me scrubbing prior grades remarks for criticisms had I any self respect left.

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Charlie Guymer: makeshift centre could have gone a lot worse, as we’ve seen previously when Kelma Tuilagi and Ron Volkman have filled in out there. Luckily the quality of the opposition wasn’t up to the task of exploiting that Eels edge and Chuckie got away with it. Guymer was somewhat hard done by on the sin binning (between the tap being taken off the mark and Moses being denied a challenge it was a schemozzle) but also it was the kind of unnecessary play that is one of the few “automatic” bins in the game, and he needs to know better.

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Next week shapes up as a tough one, going from a team that couldn’t exploit a weakness if it had a giant red arrow floating in the sky above it to the best exponents of it in the competition. Watching Penrith rip the defensive frailty of Mark Nawaqanitawase and Junior Pauga apart on Friday night set off every alarm bell from Cabramatta to Rouse Hill. The dogs are still barking.

The Panthers have been perfect in 2026, so they’re surely due for an off week. We’ll need that and some improvements in our own performance to spring the upset, especially with whatever paddlepop sticks and clag right side defence we can put together. Still, this kind of giant slaying is what rugby league fans live for.

Until then, we get to enjoy another win and a 2-1 start to the season. Like Jason Ryles said, if you’d been offered 2-1 to start 2026, you’d have taken it in a heartbeat. Things are far from perfect, but it has been a fair recovery from the disaster of round 1. Here’s hoping the upward trend continues next weekend.

Until then, stay slippery, Eels fans.

Gol

Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media