NRL Team List
Round 10 vs North Queensland Cowboys, Friday 8:00PM, QLD Country Bank Stadium
The Pile, Parramatta’s endless growing mass of injured players, was evidently not content with the vast array of footy resources it has voraciously consumed this season with Ryley Smith and Will Penisini now finding themselves sidelined for Round 10 and beyond.
[Updated after the injury report finally dropped]
Smith is set to miss at least a week or two but will benefit from Parramatta’s Round 12 bye and could feature as part of a massive wave of returning talent against the Knights. The outlook on Penisini…is not so bright. Slapped with the dreaded TBC, Will has been designated with osteitis pubis and that has a wide range of potential recovery windows. We can only hope it doesn’t fall to the serious end of the spectrum but given how everything else has panned out thus far in 2026 we probably shouldn’t be expecting good news.
Jordan Samrani is back in first grade to take over for Will, fresh off his own lengthy stint in rehab and having now escaped The Pile. He does bring one game of sizzling NSW Cup form to the table after starring on the weekend against the Warriors. It sucks to see Will put on ice for the second time this year but he was clearly hobbled late in the battle against the Warriors.
Naturally, Tallyn Da Silva will start at dummy-half in Round 10. It figures that Jason Ryles will have some contingencies built into the bench in some capacity but as the team has been selected it appears that Da Silva will be leaned on for close, if not, 80-minutes on Friday night.
It is a huge test for 21-year-old rake and his ability to correctly pace himself in the brutal tropical conditions of Townsville will be one of the decisive factors for the Eels.
Toni Mataele appears to have won a recall on the back of his thunderous shift in Cup on the weekend while Apa Twidle figures on the bench as the back line utility and maybe even emergency dummy-half.
There are a few Eels that should probably count themselves fortunate the axe wasn’t swung this week. Obviously injuries have forced the hands of the coaches to a pretty hefty extent but with the selection restrictions on second tier contracted players easing up at the conclusion of this round there could and should be serious upwards pressure getting applied to the team lists moving forwards.
| Parramatta Eels | North Queensland Cowboys | |
| Joash Papalii | 1 | Scott Drinkwater |
| Brian Kelly | 2 | Braidon Burns |
| Jordan Samrani | 3 | Jaxon Purdue |
| Sean Russell | 4 | Tom Chester |
| Josh Addo-Carr | 5 | Zac Laybutt |
| Ronald Volkman | 6 | Jake Clifford |
| Mitchell Moses | 7 | Tom Dearden |
| Luca Moretti | 8 | Coen Hess |
| Tallyn Da Silva | 9 | Reed Mahoney |
| Junior Paulo | 10 | Jason Taumalolo |
| Kelma Tuilagi | 11 | Heilum Luki |
| Jack Williams | 12 | Sam McIntyre |
| Jack De Belin | 13 | Reuben Cotter |
| Interchange | ||
| Dylan Walker | 14 | Soni Luke |
| Saxon Pryke | 15 | Griffin Neame |
| Toni Mataele | 16 | Thomas Mikaele |
| Charlie Guymer | 17 | Matthew Lodge |
| Apa Twidle | 18 | Xavier Kerrisk |
| Teancum Brown | 19 | Mason Barber |
| Reserves | ||
| Jezaiah Funa-Iuta | 20 | Kai O’Donnell |
| Araz Nanva | 21 | Kaiden Lahrs |
| Lorenzo Talataina | 22 | Robert Darby |
Injury Report
| Lincoln Fletcher | Hamstring | Rd 12 |
| Ryley Smith | Sternum | Rd 11-12 |
| Isaiah Iongi | Syndesmosis | Rd 13 |
| Kitione Kautoga | MCL | Rd 13 |
| Sam Tuivaiti | Shoulder | Rd 13 |
| Will Penisini | Osteitis Pubis | TBC |
| J’maine Hopgood | ACL Tear | Season |
| Matt Doorey | ACL Tear | Season |
| Bailey Simonsson | Ankle | Season |
| Ryan Matterson | Concussion | Indefinite |
NSW Cup Team List
Round 10 vs North Sydney Bears, Saturday 4:00PM, James Hardie Centre of Excellence
Plenty of forced changes this week with injuries again shaping Parramatta’s senior grades. Jake Tago looks to have picked up an injury from the high tackle that knocked him out of the game on the weekend. As part of a pretty hefty back line retrofit, Mohammed Alameddine and Jordan Hill come into the team while Richard Penisini is back after missing the win over the Warriors.
Apa Twidle partners Lorenzo Talataina in the halves but that could be subject to change pending what happens in the NRL the night before.
| 1 | Brad Avery |
| 2 | Mohammed Alameddine |
| 3 | Araz Nanva |
| 4 | Richard Penisini |
| 5 | Jordan Hill |
| 6 | Lorenzo Talataina |
| 7 | Apa Twidle |
| 8 | Teancum Brown |
| 9 | Kruz Niutili-Schmidt |
| 10 | Zack Visconti |
| 11 | Jezaiah Funa-Iuta |
| 12 | Trace Beattie |
| 13 | Tyrese Lokeni |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Jack Hudson |
| 15 | Christoper Petrus |
| 16 | Ryda Talagi |
| 17 | Max Tupou |
Jersey Flegg Cup Team List
Round 10 vs Fiji Silktails, Saturday 2:00PM, James Hardie Centre of Excellence
Updated for Round 10.
| 1 | Cameon Bamblett |
| 2 | Jeshua Maa-Nelson |
| 3 | Corey Leigh |
| 4 | Nathan Howlett |
| 5 | Druzel Taula |
| 6 | Ioane Lui |
| 7 | Kade Moujalli |
| 8 | Beau Lucien |
| 9 | Lachlan Coinakis |
| 19 | Jordan Miller |
| 11 | Stirling Faumui |
| 12 | Callum McMenemy |
| 13 | Jackson Koina |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Wesley Tongamoa |
| 15 | Steven Nunn |
| 16 | Max Fuimaono Popo |
| 17 | Markkuz Ofanoa |
| 18
21 |
Billy Fanene
Maison Ong |
Where’s Jonah???
Exactly what I’m here to ask. Not named, not on the injury list. Off to Brissie early, freeing up space for Su’a? One can only hope…
I believe he picked up a 1-game suspension in the NSW Cup.
Cheers.
Where is Pezet? Great to see Samrani back. I feel he would have replaced Will anyway who has been well below his best of late. The mistakes over the past 2 weeks have been diabolical, even school boyish by many in the team. Kelly seems to have at least two shockers every game. And while his red zone efforts in taking the ball up I don’t think he should be persevered with. Roll on rd 13 and while I’m a glass half full sort of supporter and don’t see much cause for optimism over the next two weeks.
There was a rumour doing the rounds that a couple of clubs had mentioned him in potential player swaps for the rest of the year.
Could be one to watch.
Do we take it that Pezet is injured again?
Jordan Hill has battled his way to reserves.
Not surprised by Penisini’s injury. His game v the Dogs was power-plus, v Manly his post contact metres shrunk, I thought they had targeted him after the Dogs, then v Warriors his contact looked half-throttle compared to Dogs game. We are really in a mess, no prizes for that opinion.
Warm conditions face the boys this week. Unfortunately hard to see our team, forwards in particular, having the stamina to go with the Cowboys.
Glad to see Samrani back. Deserves a good couple of months in first grade to prove he belongs and more worthy than Kelly and Will
I’m excited to see Jordan Hill get a run in Reggie’s kud has potential if he stays injury free.
Hard to see TDS playing 80, especially in Townsville conditions and against a big Cowboys pack.
Our top 30 only containing 2 hookers when we use a 2 hooker rotation on game day is madness. On what metric could MON possibly be deemed competent in his role, he’s been a disaster his entire tenure.
Several of us share frustration at some disappointments in our current roster and find some decisions – the recruitment of Jonah Pezet for example – hard to understand. The nature of the Dylan Brown contract is another puzzle to some. To be fair to Mark O’,Neal he has been in his role since before the start of the 2019 season and saw us make some outstanding recruitments to see us realistic challengers for the title in 2021 and 2022; the inflation in the player market caused by the arrival of The Dolphins seems to have taken us by surprise. We were showing very encouraging signs by the end of last season though it.must be admitted that reinstated ,Dylan Brown, already committed to The Knights was a significant part of that success.
Our greatest failure has been in retention. There are lots of players succeeding to an elite level in the NRL – some who were Parramatta juniors, some recruited into the club while young – who were available to us but either were not recognised for the potential they had (I think for example of Jaemon Salmon) or for some reason were prepared to be listed elsewhere. You could put together a very impressive team made up of players who once were available to us
That’s the past and also in fairness to current leadership, except for two games we’ve put a team on the field every week determined to fight out the result despite a truly remarkable injury toll.
The job now is to recognise the talent we have in the district, nurture it and make sure that all of our talented young men are determined to stay and contribute to the accomplishment of excellence.
I’d attribute a large portion of the composition of the 2022 squad to Bernie Gurr who oversaw the majority of signings and extensions through to that period.
Gurr stood down at the conclusion of 2019 with the squad for 2020,21 and 22 largely locked in. Extensions in 2020 were also easier to achieve with players eager to re-sign across the league with current clubs for certainty during COVID.
Since Gurr’s departure recruitment and retention has been amateur and is why we find ourselves having not played finals since the current front office were left unsupervised.
I agree with your points on juniors and believe Ryles is driving this throughout the club.
100% BP.
Hi Noel,
I agree with BP regarding Bernie Gurr, but also on your points around our pathways players.
The Eels played in the 2022 Grand Final. They did so in large part because of our spine and forwards – our 3/4 line was pretty weak… or at least inconsistent.
From the Grand Final, so the last game of 2022, to the current day, less than 4 years later, there are 5 players from the 17 who took the field that day, still on the roster. In fact, i will go one step further, from the 30 man roster that year, there are just 7 players still on our roster (and that includes Matto who basically hasn’t played), Will and Bailey who have been injured or ordinary pretty much since 2022, and Mitch and Jnr.
So from a GF forward pack that included RCG, Jnr, Reed, Lane, Papali’i, Brown, Niukore, Matto and Kaufusi, we still basically have just Jnr – who is running out of gas.
And more to the point we have replaced these guys with the likes of: Josh Hodgson, Hopgood, Kautoga, Kelma, Jack Williams… Really?! That is a fail in volume, it is a fail in quality and it is a fail in like skill sets.
Our biggest problem is that we seem stuck in thinking of 20 years ago.
Surely surely .. it was time to debut Lorenzo to see if he has what it takes ???
We had the opening there when Pezet got injured and no.. we decided that it’s far too risky to debut him lest the poor soul be traumatized for life.
Gotta wake up and get with the modern era.
The only reason Blaize Talagi got a debut in our rag tag team was because we were trying to convince him to stay. Same as what we did with Saunders and Stefano and ……
If Blaize was still with us , he would just be breaking into Cup with coaches running around trying to shield him with cotton wool from the big bad footy world but the kid said .. bugger this and now stands out in the best NRL team in the world.
Volkmann isn’t a bad player but he’s not the future !
Take some bloody risks !!!!
Fortune favours the brave and we have nothing to lose.
Very aptly named “The Pile Edition” because we have a team that is looking like a steaming pile.
Regardless of injuries now, even at full strength, as we saw in round one, this team does not have the cattle to compete.
Having Lomax and Brown leave and replacing them with the turnstile and transit lounge Pezet, old players unwanted by their own clubs in Debellin and Kelly is not a recipe for success.
Our R&R has been rubbish for years now, and how we are spending 95% of the salary cap is truly astounding considering the amount of reserve-grade quality players we have.
As Jack Gibson said, “Winning starts in the front office”. Time for change MON.