Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. The Survivor creed is being put to the test by the Parramatta Eels – particularly the whole outlast part. A heart-breaking loss to the Tigers has seen them lose Bailey Simonsson, Apa Twidle, Jonah Pezet and Sean Russell for varying lengths of time ranging from the season to a game or two. Just another four more bodies to pile into the burgeoning injury ward for the Eels. Who does Jason Ryles turn to? Does he even have 22 healthy players to name this week?
Sixties and Forty20 put on their finest PPE as they attempt to avoid injuries covering the week that was and the week that will be for the Blue & Gold. The boys break down a very broken down Team List Tuesday with Araz Nanva set to make his NRL debut…but could there be more rookies in the mix this week? The Weekend Wrap at least has some joy to be found in the lower grades as all four pathways squads qualified for the finals.
Stuff happened in the NRL, of that I am certain but it all feels a bit distant given the disastrous sequence of events plaguing the Eels. Still, the boys review Round 5 as the inconsistent results continue to fly in from all angles while the injury bug reaches some of Parramatta’s competitors.
As always, catch the Tuesday live stream from 7:30PM!
Nanva will be fine with the ball. Defence? Let’s wait and see.
Volkmann has the chance to be 5/8 moving forward as Pezets an average player and we aren’t capable of signing players of note , araz nanva will be a very handy player and will suprise a few
We have 10 first graders out but this team can absolutely still beat the titans. The scary thing about our situation now is Moses is on the edge of a major injury.
If we lose Moses we cannot sustain this injury toll it will expose us badly. I’ve personally never seen a toll this bad early on with so many players out and 3-4 more playing thru injury
I’m not really concerned about nanva at all coming in his actually quite solid. He does a lot of things well and deserves a debut his been good in nsw cup.
If we’re honestly worried about his defence we need to have a good look at about 10 other blokes in the team aswell because I’d argue there worse at times.
It’s particularly pleasing to see Ron Volkman get his chance in the ones. At 6 he’s been lined up behind a couple of blokes who, in my opinion, are not as strong all round as he is. We’ll see on Sunday.
Volkmann is a bloody decent player.
I have (many years ago) tried to referee games at schoolboy level. It was a complex, confusing, demanding job back then; with the pace of to-day’s game I can only guess how much tougher it’s become. I don’t believe referees to-day cheat; I think over the decades we had a couple who did, related to gambling or wanting to earn favour with the powerful. I try to be tolerant when a run of fifty fifty decisions go against us.
I can’t recall a game where so many decisions were just so blatantly wrong as happened last Monday. All of the errors favoured The Tigers.
I have nothing against The Tigers. I think the job that Richardson did and Benjie is doing is good for Rugby League. In a game between rivals so close in ability the refereeing ineptitude was more than enough to decide the result.
I see that Gough, the referee, has not been given an officiating job of any kind this week; I guess the opinion of officialdom of his efforts is plain enough.
Doesn’t help us. Nicer would be a guarantee that he won’t get close to a Parramatta game ever again
Hey Forty, I see a lot of people focusing on the off side call but for mine the big one is tacklegate
I would like Gough to define what constitutes a tackle, and then what constitutes a strip
That’s the one that I want answers for
Will Penisini on the news today confirming that he will be back. That is huge news! Gives me confidence that we will win. Nanva will be fine. He’s a big strong kid.
Many have been concerned about a perceived lack of depth in the roster. Given the nearly unbelievable injury toll this is a very strong team been put together.
Penisini can win it for us? Have I overlooked him, because i didn’t rate him when he was in peak health
Maybe you’re being sarcastic
We’ve got that war chest there, we should be combing reserve grade for a bolter or for any origin player that’s available
Maybe we just need to cup the refs nuts like the Tigers did for Gough.
Where does it say Penisini can win it for us?? He’s a veteran of 100 games and is far too often made a scapegoat. Whenever things are bad there’s always someone who has to be slammed. He had a rough patch with his hands last year but he is an nrl player. That is something that Nanva and Moey Alameddine have yet to do. Those 2 next to each other is the alternative if Will is out. With those 2 on an edge. BRIMSON’S edge. I could see us getting torn to pieces. But with Will there it makes me more confident that we can contain AJ and therefore win the game.
Make more sense? Or do I have to talk in sarcastic put down tones for you to get the message.
Can I choose the “sarcastic put down tones” please.
I think penisini is an absolute gun. If anything at times he can try too hard but if you asked any of the experts to rate our backline players Penisini would rank very highly. He was the only one of our players who looked capable of doing anything against the Storm in round 1.
Penisini had a rough start to the year in 2025 but ever since he came back from that suspension he came back playing very well.
Looked like he had a big off season and had gained a yard or two of pace after working with a sprint coach. Hopefully he has recovered from the groin injury and has a good game. Bit concerned about the form of AJ Brimson last week so hopefully Will can contain him.
In his first NRL year Penisini matched it and in many cases bettered proven top grade centres, I just can’t get that out of my mind, subsequently he got caught up in one of the worst defending systems in the competition, our inability to consistently defend speed and good hands out wider. In a sense he just became part of the problem. Hopgood is another, he got caught up with fading, lazy forwards. Both have been criticised for form and skill issues, but at the back of my mind there’s that old saying ‘ you don’t just lose ability’…there are always reasons. I’ve also had Simonsson in mind for membership of that group. The coach and the player have to work together to bring out the ability.
I would just like to have 2 centres that do a consistent job like Sean Russel normally does.
If we play a full game and Kelly and Penisini do not drop a ball, push a bad off load and miss a tackle or make a poor defensive read that will be a massive change to what those two have done in the past.
Consistency in performance is all I would love to see from those two.
Not Forty’s best podcast imo.
So Ryles should blast the referees? Presume Forty will pay the $20k fine!!
Moses should keep on touching refs!
And Lorenzo! Forty says “if we can’t pick him now then when?”
Ummm I’m not sure Forty maybe next season when he has a stronger body and more experience??
Have a look at his game against the dragons in nsw cup rd 3. The kid is not ready yet.
There is a reason clubs don’t throw the likes of Reed and Walsh at the dragons and manly are being held back.
This week I would put Walker at 6 and let him control one side of the field and JDB at lock or Junior.
If Lorenzo does not look ready in nsw cup this season I expect the eels to look at Jack Cole or even Api might get a look at 6 next season.
Drinkwater wants to come back to Sydney and could make a great attacking 6 but he would need a lot of work in defence or we will be where we are now with Pezet not being up to the defence needed from a nrl 6
I see that Blaize Talagai missed nine tackles against The Bulldogs last night. The step into the NRL is a big one; it’s defending over eighty minutes that’s the test.