NRL Team List

Round 14 vs Canterbury Bulldogs, 4:05PM Monday, Accor Stadium

The King’s Birthday long weekend is upon us and the Parramatta Eels and Canterbury Bulldogs are set to meet on Monday once again. Both teams enter this week with 4-8 records and both teams come into Round 14 on the back of narrow losses – indeed both the Bulldogs and Eels went down by 6-points on the weekend. Neither team will much enjoy the eerie parallels between each other but there is an odd sense of unfortunate parity between the two Western Sydney franchises at present.

With both their campaigns sputtering along awkwardly at the midpoint of the season there is a tangible sense of desperation surrounding this contest. The winner will keep themselves within a reasonable distance of the Top 8 while the loser…well they will need to start dreaming of a long winning streak.

Alas, the Eels will be without Mitchell Moses for another game. Despite indications from the media and even Jason Ryles himself that Moses was likely to return in Round 14, he is entirely absent from the team sheet today. His return status has been designated as somewhere between Rounds 15 and 16. Whether he makes himself available for NSW selection for next week remains to be seen. Parramatta are set to face the Raiders next week and have a bye following that fixture.

It leaves the Eels with essentially an unchanged roster for the Monday public holiday. Sam Tuivaiti, naturally, has been officially included inside the main squad after his return on Saturday while Tallyn Da Silva has been named to start at dummy half…although there could very likely be a pregame switcheroo with Harrison Edwards.

Ryley Smith has been named to the reserves list where he is joined by Charlie Guymer and Araz Nanva.

Surprisingly, the Bulldogs have named Stephen Crichton to start in the centres despite reports of a recurrence of his shoulder injury. They do have multiple coverage options in their extended roster with the likes of Connor Tracey and Marcelo Montoya sitting in their reserves list. Perhaps though the Bulldogs will feel obliged to play Josh Curran out wide again given how successful the gambit was back in Round 7.

Injury Report

NSW Cup Team List

Round 14 vs Canterbury Bulldogs, 1:40PM Monday, Accor Stadium

The Eels sustained an ugly loss to the Knights on Saturday and will be looking for a major improvement across the park against the Bulldogs on Monday. Charlie Guymer has been named to start on the edge in the only significant change to the First XIII.

Jersey Flegg Cup Team List

Round 14 vs Canterbury Bulldogs, 7:00PM Friday, Belmore Sports Ground

Updated for Round 14.

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