We salute each and every fan that persevered through the painful conclusion to the 2026 season for the Parramatta Eels in a game where the Blue & Gold repeatedly and fundamentally showed a lack of Footy IQ. The Eels completely dropped their bundle in Round 27 as they let slip a 12-point lead in the second half to allow the Dragons to steal a victory in the final minutes despite having a man in the sin bin. The Tip Sheet is here for all to vent as the season wraps up on a particularly bitter note with the Eels serving up some of their worst footy in months.
Lazy, careless performance
#1 No pressure in defence. They let the Dragons run at them all day.
#2 Can we get rid of Tallyn DaSilva? He can’t pass from dummy half and he can’t tackle. Forget the opportunistic tries, he’s a liability.
#3 We won’t miss Sean Russell, he’s already gone.
#4 Jack Williams can’t catch. He needs to spend the next 5 months working on that.
#5 The penalty count was probably the difference but I’m not blaming the referee. Lack of discipline was embarrassing.
#6 We started brilliantly then switched to a negative attitude with the ball for the rest of the game.
Despite all this, I think I might buy a ticket to Las Vegas.
Call me a tragic.
You Tragic!
Well. That everything you expect.
Middles that just time after time after time lose the ruck defensively. I’m sure people will whinge about the ref, but actually watch our middles defend. They lose the ruck too often. TDS. He’s young, I can deal with it if there is growth. But Moretti. Enough already. JDB!… I’ll have more to say there.
Kautoga. With Kelma out Kautoga is the worst defensive backrower in the game. Constantly crashes in when he shouldn’t. And the one time he doesn’t today, it’s when his prop has to chase out on a fast fullback… He has learnt nothing. Can not be a first grader in a team with finals aspirations.
Other player observations:
Probably Walker’s best game in the second half of the year.
JAC went pretty well at fullback given he never plays there. Showed his physical endurance.
Moses and Volkman dropped off in the second half.
Ryles/coaching staff. So on what planet do you make an interchange (of a middle) when penalised on your own line?!
And playing JDB. I get giving a veteran a send off game. If it were Jnr, no problem. But Ryles played JDB (a 4 hit ups a game for 25-30m) 1 season, not even regularly picked despite all the injuries, player over blooding a rookie today. I like Ryles, but today had some poor decisions in it that lacked strategy and any sort of vision for 2027, which has been evident since we were no chance of winning the comp 2-3months ago. It was a really bad day for Ryles.
The Club needs fresh blood on and off the field to try and change the culture.
Another Eels podcaster thought there was real progression this year, not regression cause we won about the same number of games. “Winners” believe if you are not showing progression, then you are regressing. We regressed this year. Plain and simple. If someone thinks we are where we were 12 months ago and haven’t gone backward – Great. But that’s still regression. Samrani and Volkman are better players than they were 12 months ago. That’s it. That’s the list. Our roster is no better for 27, our coaches are still making rookie errors and back of house… well maybe it will be a case of addition by subtraction with the CEO going, but we’ll wait till we see who the replacement is.
The player they really missed is Ryley Smith. He would have harassed the kicker every time and his defense is so much better than TDS. I have to say Moses is no DCE or Cleary. That field goal attempt was pathetic. Why was he in the line and not deep behind the dummy half. At 22:10 they should iced that game. Then again how many times have the Eels lost to the team running last. They don’t have one ounce of a killer instinct. I am beginning to doubt Ryles can coach. And why would he pick a team on sentiment. Twiddle would have been so much better. Any was we are just the fans – what would we know. Sam, the Beak, tried really hard and KK took him out. I thought Dylan Walker was average today but better than Moses. Dropped balls!!!!
Here is the answer. Have them practice catching a bass all or cricket ball under pressure for hours until never dropped.
Baseball.
Sums up 2026, at least we have the best juniors coming through next year, replacing all the other great signings they purchased in the last year or two,
This is the Jason ryles era in a nutshell. I’m not one bit surprised at all at the performance we are simply not a good rugby league side or club.
There’s no focus or direction in the club and we look lost of a formula that consistently works. It filters thru all our grades you don’t know what you’re getting from any team. This ceo decision is absolutely massive in my opinion it’s going to be the difference in us doing anything in the near future because right now we look clueless at nearly every level.
Maybe this team need to be written off in 2027 because coming into this year people had hope and they played like a side who started to believe there own hype.
I wrote about the attitude issue in The Spotlight article.
In that awful second half the boys seemed to me to be waiting for The Dragons to throw the game away rather than having a plan to win it that they were playing to. Da Silva had maybe the worst ten minutes of his career. Some of our oldest blokes tried hard to get us on the front foot.
Unpleasant way to end the season.
That was pathetic, I saw early on we weren’t respected the game and seemed like they had checked out.
Kautonga looked really reserve grade, is he ever going to come good?
I’m seriously pissed
The first 20 mins for me told the story – you run hard and straight; make your tackles. Saints did that harder than us. The ref was avg to say the least. Saints were off their line too quick and never got pinged….and we did this inside play too much….
I am glad the year is done tbh and not for parra but for the game itself.
The CEO appointment is too important and we need key acquisitions asap….
You look at the tough teams and their forwards all do the simple things well each week…we have a few inconsistent players and when you have key players not at their best avg results come. If we cannot land key players I feel for Ryles and the staff going forward, as he deserves a good shot.
How predictably disappointing!
Tallyn and the penalty count were both awful. Ryley needs to be in the 17. It doesn’t work very with Harrison playing dummy half.
Ryles talks about young players. I’ve got to say we have a coach with less than 50 games. And it shows on a number of levels.
Some guys were very good. BK, Jordan, the Fox, Mitch … there were probably others.
I expect Gol will be giving Tallyn an F this week. I for one will not be arguing.
I think if Ryles can’t improve the way & what he is leading by round 5 of 2027, there will be serious calls being made about his future.
11 penalties, 12 errors v 3 penalties, 10 errors…from memory every St G try came in the set after an error. 6 Agains, don’t know the count. Just poor discipline, not respecting possession.
Nothing to do with the result, but how obvious was the push in the back on JAC when he was chasing the ball back to our line, fortunately the push landed him on the ball but that was a clear penalty. I think the bunker cleared it as ‘both competing for the ball’.???
This team has regressed spectacularly, so I suppose congratulations are in order — we’ve somehow managed to get exactly what we deserve.
The roster is mediocre, our star half zero composure, we make dumb football decisions with remarkable consistency and our recruitment manager appears to have mistaken “rebuilding” for “doing absolutely bugger all.”
And the best part? It’s going to get worse.
By this time next year we’ll probably have an even weaker roster because we’ve recruited virtually nobody of significance, there is still no obvious long-term plan and Ryles will likely be watching the whole thing from somewhere other than the coaching box.
But don’t worry, I’m sure the solution will be another rookie coach or another former Storm assistant. Because that has worked so brilliantly for us so far.
Seriously, for the love of the game and this cursed football club, end the experiment.
We don’t need another inexperienced coach learning on the job, another bloke carrying the “Storm culture” fairy dust into the joint or another learn on the fly project that inevitably turns into four years of excuses.
We’ve tried the experiment.
It failed.
Then we tried it again.
It failed again.
Maybe, and this is a radical concept, we could actually hire people who have demonstrated they know what they’re doing.
Anyone have any idea on the status of whether the junior signings are top 30 next year in Pryke, Petrus and Ryda?
I have followed the Parramatta Rugby League Club for 70 years enduring heartaches and celebrations along the way. The late 1950s and early 1970s were difficult to endure. This 2026 season has been dreadful. Collectively for the club one of the worst in the past 50 years.We have finished 13 of 17 in the NRL, 12 of 14 in the NSW Cup, 7 out of 14 in the Jersey Flegg and our feeder Wentworthville team 8 of 10 in the Ron Massey Cup. Our loyal fans deserve much much better.
Phil, I’m invested in this mob even longer than you and it’s hard to cop the lack of footy nous displayed by the people who make the decisions. The Panthers don’t come from another planet but they are so far ahead of our club it’s staggering. We used to reign as club champions, where has all that pride through the grades gone? And Mitch Moses is nowhere near being an inspiring captain,but hey he gets paid the most so give him the job.
I am very concerned about the number of empty seats in round 26 at Com bank. In these times, so difficult for so many families we are not going to be club with a strong following for ever if we can’t achieve some sort of consistency of performance.
Speaking of empty seats….ticketed members auto renewal is down for Oct 17th so it’s looking like another blind leap of faith to recommit not knowing what the squad will look like. If that date is necessary to lock in the members packs then I’d happy wait for another ill fitting cap so that that date can be pushed back to see what potential value we are getting in terms of squad signings. The club only seems concerned about $’s so a decline in memberships might get some traction.
I agree, this year is one of our worst, I have contacted the membership team, and advised them i wont be renewing my membership, im sorry but 40 years of disappointment and excuses ( without solutions) is enough for me, I’ve been a fan for 50 years , enough is enough , im done.
Johnno, the only reply I’d make is to think again about this. I did the same towards the end of the Brian Smith era, except back then it was a season ticket. I was frustrated with his long tenure and repeated release of star players. I still attended games. So when I started membership again in 2010, I regretted my decision and now instead of 40+ years of continual membership, I sit at just 17. Furthermore, if you have great seats at CommBank it would be a shame to surrender those.
Seth you have contrasted Parramatta with the Panthers. Well this season they are minor premiers in both NRL and NSW Cup and finished second on the Flegg ladder. How come they get it so right and us so wrong.
Mate, go on to Google and check out the people and their qualifications on the Parra Rugby League board and then tell me if they will pick the right person to be CEO to run our footy operations. This is where it all starts.
We have a lot of dumb players. Rudderless in so much of what we do. No accountability and to be honest, very troubling for 2027.
Compare our roster to other squads! Even if we recruit well, I feel we are doomed.
Kautoga is the worst defensive backrower in the game. Iongi is not a superstar but over hyped. Our back row lacks punch and our centres are reserve grade standard.
We wish and hope! Have a nice break.
There should be huge pressure in the club and players in pre season and next year. Club went backwards this year and the last game is a reminder of how off the pace the nrl side is. Recruits needed asap for 27 – and not fringies.
I seriously don’t understand the point of this year. Went into season with incomplete roster and lack of quality. Crashed and burned early. Debuted a few players who were okay but nothing amazing. Same problems persists for next year. It is a malaise of mediocrity. Where is the urgency???
4 or 5 quality recruits needed – esp middle and centres. IMO we should Move on moretti, doorey, Joash. Kautoga is a reserve grader, as is Guymer, Edwards etc. backline is putrid. Iongi overrated and now injury prone. Can Bamblett step up to second string fullback?
That final statement by Ryles re Jim was odd but is an example of this club atm – so much lip service and so little substance
Rumours are we have signed Christian tuipolotu. Far out, talk about adding insult to injury. Another dragons discard who is slow and can’t catch. Seems to be the special requirement for our recruitment. Might aswell sign Morgan Harper and Zac cini again.
Signing Topoluto? That is without doubt the best footy laugh I’ve had all year- an inept show boater from a dud club….don’t understand the fixation we have with St George discards!
After 44 years of Seaon Ticket membership, I called and cancelled auto renewal and told them I will,not return until the HOF and List Manager are replaced. My daughter and her husband are doing the same.
Since Bernie Gurr moved on and somehow selected tho people tasked with running the football side, we have continually played moneyball, signing reserve grade standard players to replace anyone leaving, The 2026 team was the weakest since the GF and what we have seen is why those players signed were available. If you’re playing Cup at around 22 , then you have issues, and we see them weekly.
Somehow they spend the cap each year, as they are mandated to, but losing players like Stefano , Sanders, Dylbro etc and not replacing them with similar talent has killed performance still costing plenty .
The amateur hour in replacing 2 players when Saints were about to run at the defence 15 metres out was gob smacking hopeless. JDB given 20 minutes ahead of a junior, messing with the team that won the previous week. Edwards , Katonga, even Williams are just not up to playing error free each week, and they have too many mates to name.
If they fail to sign at least 4/5 somewhat elite players, expect more of the same. Roosters, Storm and Penrith can play juniors and get them Improving as they play alongside talent .Enough already, get the CEO in place and start the rebuild, no more excuses , it’s gone on too long with below par staffing in recruitment and development, we are getting older, crankier and running out of any patience .
Mate, im feeling your pain, I called them yesterday to cancel my 2027 membership. Its got to stage where its ” just not good enough” the lack of attitude, playing for the jersey and professionalism, by the players, coaching staff and head office is astonishing. Absolutely disgraceful 😤