There is still one more round of NRL to be played but the Parramatta Eels signed off from their home finale at CommBank Stadium in some style as they piled the points on against the Cronulla Sharks and in doing so, consigned their opponents to a finish outside the Top 4. The Eels bookended the outcome today with a rapid start and a flurry of a finish but had to see of a genuine fightback from the opposition in the second half as Sixties and Forty20 debrief on the big Round 26 victory.
What a win. Great attacking first half, gritty in defence the 2nd half. Despite having all the ball and all the position the sharks were only able to score 2 tries. Incredible defensive display against a potential top 4 team.
Brilliant way to sign off from CommBank Stadium for the season, Ham. Obviously plenty of things to fix up and focus on heading into next year but for now we get to enjoy a cracking victory.
It was a great win but we are still short a high rep quality prop , a game changing fb , ive yet to see isaiah break the line and sprint away. Maybe joash cld work out there. One more centre with blinding speed. The one year pezet experiment was an abject failure and now we double down and double pay on Jerome when volkman and moses really working out together and volkman is a true x man player who will really benefit with an off season where he will be seen as serious contender compared to last off season. I wonder if some sessions under a sprint coach wld turn him into grease lightening.
I posted a note at half time – maybe now some of those responsible for the team will acknowledge that Ron Volkman can play a bit. Junior’s contribution, Ron’s, both capable of being signed by someone else to-morrow – I remember in the eighties believing that we were being run by people who wouldn’t know a footballer if they tripped over one in the foyer of the Parramatta Leagues Club. Are we back there again?
Pryke? He can play.
I replied to BA below who had strong equally strong thoughts on Volkman but there is no doubt that Ronald has won himself plenty of fans this year. His seemingly cool market in the wider NRL is interesting (although there is reported interest from Canterbury) and may ultimately play into Parra’s favour but there will be a real opportunity cost here given that the club is also selling a vision of a pathway to the NRL for next wave play-makers like Talataina and Fletcher.
Hard to say what the right answer is here and now. Some people understandably will favour the runs on the board in the NRL from Volkman while others would prefer to bet on the potential of the younger options. In a perfect world the club is able to have it both ways but given how halves hungry the market usually is that seems unlikely.
Hi Forty20. I can’t recall but I am curious what your thoughts were on the pursuit of Galvin back when. I thought that a 4 year deal was being touted and if so would that have not have had him in the # 6 role for 2027 & 28? wouldn’t it? He and Volkman are certainly different players and probably have different ceiling ability levels, but a Galvin signing would still equate to a block to pathway players on that basis.
I think Ronnie is showing encouraging improvement but remains a work in progress like some others in the team. IMO he is worth keeping for a couple of years if possible as based on the current roster I think the squad would be weakened by his departure.
We are nearly two years removed from our pursuit of Galvin which for mine, significantly changes the formula on potentially blocking pathways players. Galvin also profiled as an ideal foil to Moses as off-ball/secondary play-maker and also brings a frame/athleticism that will enable him to be an elite defender in the halves (91.6% tackle efficiency in 2026 vs 81.3% for Volkman).
I am not opposed to keeping Volkman but fans need to potentially reconcile themselves with the very real opportunity cost of losing a prospect like Fletcher if we do and I just don’t want to hear any moaning from the fan base should Lincoln end up a star at another club in that scenario.
Appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions Forty20.
We’re probably not starting the year with Fletcher and or Talataina in the halves (in all liklihood), so we need a foil for Moses. But I don’t think Volkman (if re-signed) would be the one blocking the path for the juniors – i think it would be Luai.
I get Luai comes with rings, but Volkman has had a better year than Luai, and Volkman, younger player, has improved through out the year, unlike Luai. And if signed on a 1 or 2 year deal, has the motivation to keep improving.
Luai has been poor on and off the field (the off field is presumed, but given the Tigers are paying him to leave..) and has no motivation what so ever to push him self in 27. If Talataina is pushing for seleciton next year, are they going to send Luai down to Cup? How would he react to that and what would be the revirbiration?
Signing Luai was a mistake.Given we will struggle to spend our cap for next year (as there is next to no one left on the market), and we apparently aid him close to the minimum,cut your losses and pay him not to come. I know they won’t do it, but they should (and Luai missing a year of footy would weaken the Chiefs as well).
That would give Ronny a huge vote of confidence as well and get him off and running on the right foot in the preseason.
Just my opinion.
Or better yet, if we are paying Luai $350k, pay the Dogs $100k to take him off of our hands and keep Volkman.
De Silva is a future representative player.
Congratulations to him for breaking a record. Shame the media coverage didn’t give him the respect and recognition he deserved.
If that was grub hairy Grant or his mentor and king of the grubs
Cameron Smith, the game would’ve been stopped and Albo would have come running to lick their balls.
To put into perspective, Smith played a million games and never came close to Da Silva’s record.
Well done young man, you’re journey has just begun.
At least we got a legendary failed celebration from TDS to remember the iconic moment with!
Levity aside I do agree that a higher profile dummy half would have been feted more publicly by the media but Tallyn has plenty of time to carve out that kind of profile for himself.
Very commendable win.
Volkman outstanding again. Seriously AGAIN. Said it before, i will say it again – his entire season performance has been better than Luai. The one year only Luai singing remains utterly ridiculous.
Jnr wound the clock back offensively – showed he still has plenty to offer – especially considering our lack of talent.
TDS coming along well. Still the odd bone head decision (there was a burrowing attempt from 5 out that wasn’t on but meh) and his defense is average. But i can live with that from a youngester if they are progressing in a year we were never going to play Finals.
Good for Ryda to get a hit out. Wasn’t amazing – too flat footed in defence several times, but again, only way he learns how fast the NRL is to be in the NRL.
We got lucky with the Sharks playing poorly, and ignoring our weakness up the middle. That AFB “no try” highlighted a couple of key forwards (Williams and Moretti) who struggle with goal line defence.
But all in all a hat tip to the 17 that went out there today and the fans who got their $5 worth for a reserved ticket (the argument that our CEO is leaving us in a better position than when he took over as CEO, if he has devalued the ticket price like that, is an argument for another day).
As always, some salient points BA.
Volkman played very well. I think there are still some holes in his game but I can understand why there would be a preference among fans to have chosen him over Luai.
Agree with all your points up until the defensive issues on the goal line – which is not something I disagree with but rather an important point to highlight as it remains perhaps the single biggest flaw of the team. There has been some growth on defence but the brittleness on the goal line has to be a huge priority in the preseason.
As to the “Volkmann can’t be signed, he might stand in the way of our juniors” argument, Taylor’s best position coming through was lock; we already had John Quayle and Ray Price. Ultimately Jack Gibson and Ron Massey found a way to use him. Meanwhile, Blaize Talagai once was described by Brad Arthur as the future of Parramatta; he’s now number three 6 at The Panthers.
Talent like Volkmann does not come along all that often. If we lose him I have no doubt but, barring him suffering serious injury we’ll live to regret it.
Volk is having a very good season Noel but I think we can probably cool the jets on the hype just a little. The Roosters, Warriors and Dragons all let him walk and I am glad he has established himself at Parramatta this year after putting in some hard foundational work in reggies last year.
However, he has been a free agent for the entire season and no other club has seen fit to prioritise him for their 2027 plans which I think speaks again to some of the holes presently in his game. Hopefully that plays out in Parramatta’s favour since he absolutely would be an asset to keep but if he pursues greener pastures elsewhere I can live with it.
Agreed, He’s certainly improving rapidly, but at the moment is not a first choice half for a top side. I reckon Parra will want to keep their choices open for the future and no doubt Fletcher and Talitaina will get a run with either Luai or Moses next year to see what they can bring to an NRL game. It’s so critical to get this right, hence why Luai was recruited to fill out another year without throwing someone in the deep end. That happened this year due to injury and poor form of this year’s recruit, but we don’t want a repeat of that.
Well with Luai off playing golf in PNG with his future sponsors instead of rehabing an injury with his current club for one last chance to represent them, maybe our guys will get plenty of chances to play.
Quite likely. I don’t see Ryles building next years team around Luai anyway. He’ll play him the first dozen games and then look to introduce the juniors. That gives plenty of options where before we were really limited.
The Volkman issue is an interesting one. He has improved a lot this season but still, as you say, has holes in his game which still require a fair bit of work. I wouldn’t count Saints in his list of clubs, they dudded him over the medical.
Another point around no club making an offer is that the majority of clubs, I would argue, are relatively settled in their halves at present. I went through the list of clubs today and identified players already there at most that will be there again in 2027. A lot more settled than I thought. A few outliers, Saints obviously and they went for Metcalfe. Bears – who knows. Bunnies – unsure what Wayne’s thinking. Dogs – supposedly interested. But the rest to me seem settled.
Like some I’ve come aroun to thinking having Ron at 6 may be better than Luai. Luai’s form since signing with the Chiefs has been very ordinary. Hopeful it is better next year or we won’t get value for money, even at the discounted rate.
Anyway, just a thought.
Agree re the luai has been quite average but a firing Moses and Luai well that is nearly as an elite as a halves pairing you can get.
Ron has been a massive improver and I genuinely think he has a lot of value as a 14 next year but he still has a fair way to go before being classed as a star. I’d love him to stay but it has to be at the right price. As 40/20 said we can’t stack a squad with mid/lower tier level players it’s our exact issue now we only have to look at the dolphins the week before they beat us with ease just on talent.
I think if we do sign volkman aswell we’ll have to be resigned to the fact that Lorenzo might look at that as bit of a roadblock.
We lose him and I think we’ve made a massive mistake
Agree with all of that.
Parra1990 that’s if Mitch plays more than he has in the last 3 seasons, if Mitch is away then Volkman would come in handy and also Luai could get injured
I don’t see keeping Volkman means he’s a roadblock, Luia is just here for a year(so stupid but most of us said that at the time) and I can see Mitch and Volkman alternating with Lorenzo in ‘28
Evaluation of talent is very subject, but as a club it’s not an area of expertise, most watching the grades would look at extensions and not understand the rush to extend the injury prone Simmonson and the plateauing Guymer and leaving Twidle and Volkman unsigned given they do have the potential to make the step higher.
Perhaps those decisions go some way to explaining how they manage tho spend 97.5% of the cap as mandated on a pretty average looking roster.
The need to sign those 3/4 elite type players to forge the basis of experience for our juniors coming through is so important . Let’s hope whoever ends up in those positions in the front office gets those signings done, and not all for 2028, next season needs an injection of better than average signings to aim at the top 8.
Moses won us that game with his long kicks, conversions and running game
He he doesn’t play we don’t win, which is why we need him to prioritize the club next year
Hey Big Bob, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The Parra biased side of me agrees with you. The other side of me says that Moses shouldn’t be forced to stand down from rep honours simply because he’s our only elite rep player. It’s not his fault that he’s the only one in our roster. Remember, his rep recognition has come late in his career. It’s not like he’s played Origin for ten years and has done it all. I think he’s entitled to take the NSW jersey whenever he wants it.
Mr Sixties, you are correct, Moses should not be forced to stand down. He wants a premiership and he is not going to get it playing Rep football. He has missed too much through injuries from Rep football. Moses should volunteer to stand down and focus on the club that pays him a million bucks a year. That way we no his true intentions and it is easier for him to make that decision in the absence of regret.
By the way someone wrote Parra was lucky to strike the Sharks and win. Let me tell you Hynes is nothing without Trindall. If I was a betting man which I am not my money would have been on a Parra upset.
This win prompts the question – where has this team been all year?
Agree with you Zero 58. Not lucky to win but the Eels played good football.
Completion 85%, Kick metres 160 metres more and the Eels had 10 errors to the Sharks 19. If you add to that the lack of discipline by the Sharks, 7 penalties to Eels 1. That sort of discipline will win a lot of games.
My view – Leadership is blameless in the Luai signing. At the time of the signing (and that.
, in my view, is the salient points) he was not long off scoring three tries in a half and winning a game for The Tigers virtually by himself. He remains an elite talent. At the money we are reported to be paying him he’ll take home (from us) less than half what he’ll get in New Guinea. I would expect him to be in the conversation for State of Origin next year. He strikes me as a versatile type who could do a number of jobs for us. We are a stronger club next year for having him.
If we make the right next year because of his contribution, he will have been an invaluable asset.
Next year matters.
Of course we should re-sign Volkmann if we can if for no other reason that through his efforts this season he’s earned it. That matters, that effort is rewarded. I have no trouble suggesting a team in a team in which Moses, Volkmann and Luai all play.
Sorry to be negative but it’s truly frustrating the eels start to throw the ball around and play freely once the season is over yet again
We play overly predictable structured footy during the season when it matters, and look robotic and easy to shut down
Now just like last season, it’s over, so now we see guys like Paulo pulling off highlight reel try assists every week
I know it’s easy to dunk on our team and only see the flaws
But there’s a common theme here emerging – every time a coach comes to parra and is overly structured and what not, we simply do not play good
Even last season when we flogged the knights and won some impressive games towards the end of season we had a lot of razzle dazzle eels style flowing and it worked
I’m not buying the cope that it’s only pressure being off them because we are not in the finals, it’s also the fact the players are not playing as rigid, there’s ball movement, fluidity, some X factor
The parramatta eels have never made grand finals or won premierships in history playing that hyper structured style like the storm or panthers
The hyper structured systems based type game plans only really work when you’ve got about 4 representative level players on your team
When you don’t have the best players in your team, the more simple you make it the easier it can work for them, the more complex it is the worse average players will play
Even at the storm now since they lost a few good players and had injuries, that structured play is not even working for them
The eels make grand finals when they offload, there’s ball movement, and some razzle dazzle
At some points in the season we simply didn’t offload and it made it sooo easy for defenders they never even had to have 3 players in the tackle all the time to stop the offload
When the offload threat is there you see a player run in behind the player who’s standing up in a tackle to block the offload, that threat alone keeps extra defenders from running back quickly to set in the defensive line
So many small details like this – but basically the eels have been over coached, we need a new assistant coach like Jason Taylor who’s NRL attack coaching is proven to help a team
And he needs to let them play like parramatta eels, not bootleg Melbourne storm or wannabe Penrith panthers
The eels have their own DNA as rugby league players, and when it’s working historically, we are one of the most deadly attacking teams in the comp
Look at 22’ GF or 09’, or the comps we won in the 80’s.. that’s EELS footy
Don’t tell me “but we lost” in 09 or 22. Because we lost to literal cheaters in 2009. And likely the greatest NRL team in history by a mile in 2022
I wanna see our boys play like parramatta eels all season, not just at the years end when they are allowed to free flow because the season is over
Muz the hyper structured style of Panther Ball I believe is the reason that up until this year Cleary has not been successful at SOO. Mitch has a better winning record at SOO than Cleary. Cleary won this year’s SOO decidIng game playing alongside Mitch..
John, the hyper structured thing only works when it’s done correctly and you’ve got the elite players who can execute it
It’s like saying programming or coding is a high paying job that makes millionaires if you build software
Then placing painters by trade behind the screen and wondering why it doesn’t work
The actual players, the leaders, the head coach designing those systems
It all has to be dialled in near perfect or it simply doesn’t yield above average results
Look at the chooks and warriors this year they are not playing with much different systems
Just a few better players, and the outcomes are dramatically different
Parramattas issue is we have too much over coaching going on, we have a largely basic roster
And our DNA is not panthers or storm there’s never been a successful parramatta eels season in history where we didn’t play closely to our DNA
I agree Cleary would not have won without Moses next to him
I don’t think overly structured is an our problem. Our problem is a lack of talent. Structure helps the lack of talent try remain competitive for parts of a game. We do better at the end of year because other teams take us more lightly and we have pressure off knowing we are no hope for finals. This game style isn’t viable when it actually counts and pressure is on – too many errors and missed tackles. We need to get more quality into the team first and foremost
It’s all well and good to smash teams in the September sun with the season already over and our tails up at Commbank. We did the same thing last year to the knights. But in order to be a genuine contender we need to be capable of beating the sharks on a drizzly Saturday night in July at Shark Park or whatever they call it these days. A halves pairing of Luai and Moses – both still relatively in the prime of their career – gives us the best chance of that next year.
We also thrashed the Tigers in 2024 as our last game.
Should we thrash the Saints then we are looking at an end of season custom.
The question still remains where has this team been all year. Muz has some answers. Let’s not forget some referees have contributed to lost games.
Should we win on the weekend we haven’t gone backwards but then again we haven’t improved.
Where do we start for 2027? Moses should retire from Rep football.