Oh boy, where do I begin?
Disappointment, frustration, or wondering what direction the rest of the season is bound for.
The Eels lost 50-12 to the Gold Coast Titans in Round 3; meanwhile, the Warriors won 42-4 over the North Queensland Cowboys.
Teams are having their best games against the Eels; that’s not the Blue and Gold side the fans want to see, let alone what we know they are truly capable of when they are playing to the best of their ability.
In contrast, the Warriors are playing with confidence, putting each other in position to showcase their speed, support play and maximise their opportunities in possession.
Can the Eels find a way to contain the in-form New Zealand Warriors, or will we see a similar result once again?
Game Info
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2026
Kick-off: 12:00 PM AEST
Venue: Eric Tweedale Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Rochelle Tamarua
Broadcast: Foxtel and Nine Gem
Live Stream: Kayo & Nine Now
Team Lists
Parramatta Eels
1. Abbi Church 2. Zali Fay 3. Rory Owen 4. Lindsay Tui 5. Martha Mataele 6. Rosemarie Beckett 7. Rachael Pearson 8. Elsie Albert 9. Taneka Todhunter 10. Ryvrr-Lee Alo 11. Fontayne Tufuga 12. Mahalia Murphy 13. Keilee Joseph 14. Rueben Cherrington 15. Tess McWilliams 16. Boss Kapua 17. Khyliah Gray 18. Jasmin Morrissey 19. Jayde Herdegen 20. Kiana Takairangi 21. Kate Fallon
The biggest off-season signing for the Eels finally makes her club debut. Keilee Joseph returns from injury and will provide needed experience and grit in a side that is struggling to perform.
Keilee Joseph
Khyliah Gray moves back to the bench; Rosemarie Beckett will start in the five-eighth position after Cassey Tohi-Hiku was given a two-match ban for a hip drop on Titans half Teagan Levi.
The Eels five eighth will miss the Warriors clash and the trip to Wagga Wagga to play the Newcastle Knights and will return in Round 6 against the Sydney Roosters.
Rysh’e Fa’amausili will also miss the Warriors match following a head knock.
Steve Georgeallis seems to have made a tactical adjustment, with Taneka Todhunter starting at dummy-half and Rueben Cherrington starting the game on the bench.
New Zealand Warriors
1. Apii Nicholls 2. Payton Takimoana 3. Tysha Ikenasio 4. Stacey Waaka 5. Ocean Tierney 6. Emmanita Paki 20 Gayle Broughton 8. May Hill-Moana 9. Jasmin Huriwai 10. Metanoia Fetalaiga 11. Christabelle Onesemo-Tuilaepa 12. Shakira Baker 13. Kaiyah Atai 7. Patricia Maliepo 15. Harata Butler 16. Ivana Lauitiiti 17. Annetta Nuuausala 22. Maarire Puketapu 14. Capri Paekau
Warriors winger Payton Takimoana makes a return from a shoulder injury earlier than expected, replacing Lavinia Tauhalaliku.
Mya Hill-Moana will start in the front row, shuffling Kaiyah Atai into lock.
Annetta Nuuausala will join the bench, and Metanoia Fetalaiga slots in the other starting front row spot.
In a late change, Gayle Broughton returns at halfback with Maliepo reverting to the bench.
The Game
Strangely, the Eels completed at a high percentage (84%) yet they barely ran 837 metres against the Titans.
Their sets were slow and low-value, with lots of one-out hit-ups going nowhere, rather than genuine go-forward or attack that asked questions.
Parramatta failed to win the ruck to get quick play-the-balls, so consequently Rachael Pearson struggled to engineer the attack. Perhaps the inclusion of Keilee Joseph and Boss Kapua will ignite some punch through the middle this week.
Boss Kapua
In comparison, the Warriors completed at a lower percentage to the Eels last week (81%), but made far better use of the possession in their match, gaining 9.5 metres per carry and 663 post-contact metres against the Cowboys.
That’s the real battleground. The Warriors pack is built to keep asserting their ball-carrying dominance.
Kaiyah Atai offers ball-playing ability should they need a secondary creative outlet beyond the halves.
Where the Warriors will be dangerous on Sunday is on their right edge with Stacey Waaka at centre combining with Ocean Tierney. Parramatta’s edge defence will need tighten up or it could get ugly.
The Eels’ issue isn’t just ball in hand, it’s a defensive system that conceded 13 line breaks against the Titans.
Defenders are getting isolated, with the middle folding under repeat pressure, which exposes their edges.
The winner?
The fate of this game will begin with ruck speed and middle-forward collision, then edge-execution second.
I expect the Warriors’ superior physicality and ability to play expansive footy to test the Eels defence. Once their structured and unstructured attack hits top gear, the line breaks will follow.
The Eels will need to communicate and scramble in defence for 70 minutes to apply pressure on the field and on the scoreboard. Better discipline, better use of possession and better field position will also be essential.
We’ve seen no evidence of that so far this season, but we can hope to see it this week. Actually, we need to see it.
Prediction: Warriors by 12
Player of the Game: Gayle Broughton
I don’t know what the problem is, they are way off the pace of the game. We desperately need a decent 7, the one we have is way too slow, I had to put the TV in fast forward just to see if she was moving.
Steve, I think that Layne Morgan was going to be on option at half until her injury. As it is, she is likely to be out for at least another three weeks.
We have 4 genuine NRLW players, Church,Owen, Albert and Joseph.
The rest are kids and others that are either massively overrated or have played way too long.
Sorry but Mahalia Murphy is way too unfit to play at this level and is about 15 kgs overweight.
She is ineffective in tackle and cannot get back to marker leaving gaps.
The very fact that she is captain of the club shows the level we are at.
It’s been generally acknowledged that she’s been the worst player on the field in each of the 3 games this year but she still gets picked.
I know it’s not going to be politically popular but the coach just has to show some fortitude here and remove her otherwise he won’t be coaching for too much longer.
Rachael Pearson was a decent player back in the day but that sunset was two seasons ago.
How she scored another contract defies belief.
Cassie Toki Hiku is a basic catch and pass. Limited speed and offers nothing.
She is amongst a number of our playera who we rate way way beyond their abilities.
I dont know who is responsible for their aerobic fitness but whoever it is they need to be shown the door ASAP.
Yet again, the excuses roll out about injuries.
Poor ol Keilee Joseph must wonder what the hell she has rolled into as the gulf in professionalism between the Broncos and the Eels is immeasurable.
At the end of the day, if the club isnt serious about this team, then they need to fold it and give back the licence.
The girls are trying their best but that’s not the point.
The lack of recruitment, (where have we heard that before ?) and the low standards are degrading the club.
We are having a hard enough time holding onto supporters in our men’s program without the women’s program making us look like a joke.
If the titans had kicked their goals they would have put 70 on us.
When we play the Roosters or the Broncos we may be the first NRLW to conceed 100.
That will be a record to be proud of !
Spark, what I’m puzzled by (and a few others have mentioned this) is that last year this team was normally competitive and if anything being bolstered by one or two quality signings would push them into finals contention, maybe not top 4 but take the next step up the ladder. Your summary offers plenty of causes for concern, but the fall from grace is significant. I still don’t get it.
What do they say .. opinion are like assholes, everyone has one ?
It’s just my opinion.
1. The decline of Murphy and Pearson wasn’t an overnight thing. They were both on a steep steep decline last year. Shouldnt have been kept.
Murphy was an excellent player but that was many years ago.
Moving forward Joseph is a no brainer for Captain. NOW.
2. Yet again, the inability to see the limitations of our so called wonder kids. Toki Huku is one. When was the last time she honestly beat a player one on one?
It’s just not her and you can scan the whole team and see there are so called wonder players that we talked up that are completely stagnant but as a crucial spine player she has to find her voice and start creating something.
Just passing and doing the occasional kick does nothing for us.
Ive been to a couple of matches live and Toki Huku is as quiet as a mouse on the field.
You need your spine players to direct the team across the park.
3. Coaching. It appears Steve has them playing one out football because he’s trying to absolutely simplify the process. 5 one outs then a Pearson kick.
It’s getting us killed.
Rory Owen is an absolute killer but she just catches a cold out there, especially when attacking the opposition line.
Incidentally Qld did the same thing. Qld played 95% of their attack on the right and Rory and her outside winger were left to come in and look for runs off the line.
Either play some football or give it away.
4. Fitness.
You may not have the most talented group of players and you probably can’t control that but you CAN be the fittest players in the competition.
This is where we have fallen off a cliff.
We have opposition players running one out and being tackled (a loose term there ) by sometimes 3 of our players and they cannot put the player to the ground, resulting in an offload.
This isn’t halfway through the game, this is also in the first couple of minutes !!!!
We are getting cut to pieces because our girls lack either the strength, technique or fitness to compete.
I have no idea what’s happened to our strength and conditioning department throughout the club but in our review we need to recognise this and bring in an old fashioned hard arsed fitness coach to kick these girls ( and blokes ) up the backside.
Stupid tik toks are cute but if they want you be serious, they need to get serious otherwise most people will just write them off as a joke.
Get them into the gym to do some hard arsed wrestling because that’s what the other teams are doing !!
Strength and Fitness is our No 1 problem at the moment and it permeates all through the club.
( Notice that the men only look fit at the end of the season ??)
Tks Spark. It’s starting to sink in, appreciate the additional thoughts. The energy, fitness, strength and agility aspect showed up clearly in the final minutes today, I could only tune in for the last 10 minutes where the game was there to be won and the number of possession plays that were ineffective because of slowness including lack of agility was noticeable, I’d say 2 or 3 plays per set. Our 3 central spine players (exclude the 1) need to be much more energetic, fast and agile. Also noted we had little energy for backing up the ball runner. I didn’t see the first 60 minutes so we must have improved in many areas to be a winning chance, and we almost did on the bell. That very last play included a clear inside 10 by a Warriors forward near the ruck, she actually stopped moving forward in a dead giveaway and I’m pretty sure our dummy half had to adjust her pass to avoid hitting her. So, a bit unlucky, we missed out on a try and a possible 2 pointer and extra time.
Just back from the game.
Keilee Joseph is a freak, even on one leg.
Church was great.
Fitness is still a huge problem.
We needed some leadership at the end there but alas, Keilee can’t do it all.
Murphy playing on an edge stayed next to her winger and wouldn’t come in for a run or to provide direction. Others lined up to help out.
Pearson was slow and although she found her voice, just can’t compete at this level any more.
Again Joseph was the one tackling, running and telling the girls where to run and how to attack. She’s phenomenal.
The girls hung around, Rory seemed ok but I suppose we lose her for next week as well.
The girls had a decent dig so well done but the problems remain.
Didn’t see this before posting above. I posted on the Joseph signing a few weeks back, how she has all the right footballing instincts and abilities, but added ‘hope I don’t put the mock on her’…and she obliged by copping a bad injury.
They were better today at least playing with some attitude to start the game.
No Jackson, Cherington, Tui, Hiku does not help.
Agree with the fitness issues, it’s too late for this season but hopefully good learnings about what an off season needs to be fitness wise to compete at nrlw level.