After a few close, tough contests, it was nice to walk away from an Eels match with that winning feeling, even if the game never reached any great heights. There were stages this year where leaking 26 points in a half would be an improvement, so surrendering that over 160 minutes of football is notable, even when achieved against two of the most anaemic attacks you’ll see. We do that once more and our average against this year will creep under 30.

The goalline defence was very pleasing, as was the Eels’ ability to force errors from the Canberra attack in the form of wayward passes or drops under defensive pressure. The Raiders didn’t test the Parramatta edge reads very often, a baffling failure of either gameplanning or execution, but the defensive shifts were up to the limited challenges presented all night long.

It was all the more impressive because the Eels overcame their own shortcomings with the ball. There were far too many errors but the Parramatta middle held their own, limiting yardage and significantly improving their tackle efficiency. That the Eels overcame a 5-0 set restart count is perhaps the most pleasant surprise of all. Canberra didn’t throw a lot at them, but usually those kinds of numbers meant the opposition didn’t need to throw much to break them. Things are on the improve.

Not everything that ails the Eels has been fixed, but we’re starting to scrap together a slab that could be built upon in the second half of the season. I’m wary that we built strong foundations in the second half of last year that didn’t survive contact with an off-season, but if Peter V’landys can go one year without dramatic rule changes then maybe we can carry over some late season gains into the future.

While the volume of Parramatta recruitment can be very fairly criticised, as well as the shelves they continue to pick from, the form of Brian Kelly and Harrison Edwards shows that we remain masters of fishing the bargain bin for treasures. Edwards and fellow recruit Jack de Belin lead the way in defensive performance, while Kelly has embraced the role of the modern winger and thrived in it, eating metres for fun in exit sets while keeping his attacking X-factor.

The emergence of Jordan Samrani and continued growth of Kitione Kautoga are two more bright spots, and Isaiah Iongi continues to develop well as a playmaker and this week was as strong without the ball as he was with it. There are gaps to fill, no doubt, but a fully fit Eels side is going to be a lot better than people are giving them credit for.

We’re going into the bye happy, so let’s get to grades and a bit of old fashion basking in a win.

 

 

 

Double I was in everything for the Eels, responsible for all Parramatta line break assists and try assists on the night while being solid as a rock under the high ball and strong in the yardage game. The attacking numbers are great but his defensive efforts were the highlight for me: a few tough takes and a ripping effort to deny Jed Stuart in the corner.

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BK was again a yardage machine, churning through tough metres out of our own half on his way to cracking the 200 metres yet again. That work is impressive, but his best moment for me was the massive wind up and arse slap he gave Jordan Samrani after his try, the kind of old fashioned team bonding moment that would make Richie Benaud proud. He didn’t need to come in on what eventuated as the Timoko try, but that trust will eventually come. I hope.

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The powerful, opportunistic dive over for the first try was a nice moment for Samrani, even if his reward included Brian Kelly’s handprint on his heinie for the rest of the night. His barely 50% tackle efficiency is cause for concern, even if it didn’t end up costing much in this game, but it is out of character for a man who is normally solid without the ball.

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Rusty picked up his workrate in this one, but his main moment was an absolute bone-rattler on Seb Kris that jolted the ball free. You don’t get a lot of one-on-one smashings like that in the modern game, and that is up there with the freak try against Brisbane for all time Sean Russell highlights for me.

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The Fox didn’t find himself in space on set plays too often here, but he did his best to find ways into the game. Joash chipped for him on the inside which ended up creating the play that saw Ethan Sanders sin binned, while he saved a try with his intercept even if he ended it with a WWE style springboard kick and a penalty with the ball. He’s in the side for those moments (the intercept, not the chin kick) and found a way to make things happen here.

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Very solid from Joash, who was limited to a distributor role by the Raiders defence and held his own without being a gamebreaker. Canberra ran at him all night and botched the few chances generated by the tactic, and that defensive effort is the most pleasing aspect of his performance for mine.

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The Raiders picked on Ronald Volkman all night long and while he missed a lot of tackles, too many tackles, the chances created from those misses were minimal. Volk was asked to lead the team around the park, take on all the kicking duties and had to attempt as many tackles as most of his forwards, so even without a lot of moments on the post game highlight reel, this was still a good effort from the halfback.

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It wasn’t a bad performance at all from Luca Moretti, there just wasn’t much of it. Again he was limited to a single stint and while he didn’t miss a tackle and the middle held their own early (a big improvement for the Eels this year, to be fair), he barely made a run of impact either. He’s doing his job, I’m sure, but it feels like we could be asking more out of our starting prop.

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Dropping your second touch isn’t great, especially when it’s picking the ball up from dummy half inside our own 30. TDS recovered from that moment to have a reasonable game; solid defensively but fairly limited in his attacking involvements, but on this occasion first impressions last.

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Great defensive efficiency from the stand-in captain, who made 42 tackles and missed just 1, a rare stat line from an Eels middle this year. He still played big minutes and given some of the performances in the pack around him, he was notable for his consistency. Two errors is two too many for a middle, but given I can’t remember exactly what they were, let’s give him a bit of a pass for those.

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Tuilagi worked himself to a standstill, literally; from my vantage point in the terrace he spent a lot of our second half sets walking back onside. He didn’t let fatigue affect his defensive performance too much, making 41 tackles with 4 misses, but crucially he was where he needed to be in the line for most of the match. He probably bounced that try, but I enjoy the close calls that go our way more than any other, because if you don’t then all you have is the anger when they go against you, and you shouldn’t live angry.

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Special K ran a sweet line for his try, just reward for a great month of attacking football. This was probably his quietest game of that period, but when 140 metres, a try, two offloads and 30 tackles is a quiet game, you are on a good stretch.

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A rare second stint for Jack de Belin, as Jason Ryles appeared to put on his defensive lineup late to protect the Eels’ lead. On that front de Belin de livered, while he was also more involved in the attacking game, distributing around the middle in a way we haven’t seen too often this year. Credit to Jason Ryles for a much better use of JDB here.

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This wasn’t Dylan Walker’s most impactful game in Blue and Gold, but he didn’t deliver to the high expectations we have of the man that changes things when he’s on the field. His discipline wasn’t the best but he wasn’t bad by any means, this was just a quieter game.

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Harrison Edwards got that second stint we’d been asking for and he delivered everything asked of him. He was sound defensively, solid running the ball and good with his distribution in the opening stages. Whether it is Smith or Da Silva as his partner, the hooking rotation of the Eels has to include Edwards on current form.

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Sam is another who didn’t have a bad game, but didn’t make as much impact as I hoped. I feel like I’m waiting for a world shaking “I’m here” game from Sam, but instead he’s just delivering solid first grade performances. It is expecting a lot from a kid who hasn’t even cracked 20 first grade games yet, but what is a Parramatta fan if not a bag full of unreasonable expectations for young players?

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Big time second game syndrome for Teancum Brown, who didn’t have a happy evening. His time on the field coincided with a Raiders revival, but he was caught short on a try and only ran three times, dropping the ball on one of them. You’ll get games like this from young players, there’ll be better days ahead for the big man.

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Where the last bye was a much needed rest for Eels fans, this one can be enjoyed as we finally get back into the winners circle. I’m not expecting one win to lead to an unlikely finals charge, but I am hoping the worst is behind us for 2026.

Next on the docket is South Sydney, who surely we are due to turn up against after years of being the Bunnies bunnies. Barring State of Origin nastiness, Mitch Moses will finally be back, hopefully with a series win notched in his belt.

Enjoy the week off. I might watch some of this other football, see what the fuss is about. There surely can’t be any more diving than we saw from the Bulldogs and Raiders.

Until then, stay slippery, Eels fans.

Gol

Stats and images provided by NRL / Eels media