Hey Parra fans, welcome to the TCT Golden Point season review. There’s no analysis or rehashing of concepts that few people would naturally connect to rugby league this time — just some reflection, a little reminiscing, and a bit of context I pulled together last week before an unexpected health issue put this piece, and quite a few other things, on abrupt pause. On that note, I also want to give a big shout-out to my awesome and legendary sons, who helped me pull together this introductory paragraph, turned my graphic preparation notes into Canva images, and supported me to get this piece uploaded and published from my bedside, all while I’m apparently looking (and very much feeling) half-baked and completely cooked at the same time.
A SEASON OF F-WORDS, A LIFETIME OF BLUE AND GOLD
It started with a question, one that I nearly didn’t have the courage to answer. It was early February and I was on a late train home from the office, listening to The Tip Sheet discuss the Zac Lomax circus. I had been reading and listening to TCT for yonks, having first discovered the site in 2017 while looking for NRL content Dad and I could both enjoy as I sat by him during his cancer treatment. Dad was born in 1941 and barely had his head around phone banking, let alone the internet; and the chemo wasn’t kind to his vision, so his favourite pastime of reading the news became my honourable duty each afternoon. I found TCT because I never got to the newsagent in time to grab the paper — a contentious flaw — but it quickly became a pretty good middle ground for both of us. I liked the opinion pieces and the Parra focus; Dad liked Sixties’ old-school vocabulary and the fact the site didn’t feel like a scientific calculator with too many buttons to navigate.
Despite following TCT for years, I had never introduced myself, commented or otherwise made my presence known. I simply enjoyed reading the articles and listening to the banter. For context, my profession requires me to maintain a fairly low-key public profile, which honestly suits me just fine most of the time. I can hold a conversation and hold my own when required, but I am equally content to go unnoticed. Some people enter a room wanting everyone to know they’ve arrived; I prefer to make it to the other side without anyone noticing I was there.
But when TCT asked a question about the different types of court hearings and what they actually meant, I bit the bullet and stepped out of my comfort zone. There was an enormous amount of sensationalised and inaccurate commentary flying around, and the situation happened to intersect with an area of expertise that I understand better than my own two feet academically and professionally. So I wrote something in the hope that I might help fellow supporters make sense of what was in reality, a complicated and multifaceted case. I sent TCT a message on Instagram intending to explain the organised chaos unfolding across the various state and federal courts, translate what all those overly Latinised legal terms actually meant, and then happily retreat back into my cave to continue a life of predominantly voluntary obscurity. That singular intention became an intriguing conversation with Sixties about the club’s legal options, chances, risks and possibilities for remedy and, before I really knew what had happened, I was three articles in, had committed to a regular column and Golden Point was born.
On Father’s Day, my family and I were reminiscing about Dad. He has been gone for just over eight years now, and the conversation turned to what he would be most proud of in each of us if he were still here. It has been a pretty big few years for all of us, so there was some spirited debate, but we eventually agreed that in my case, he would probably be prouder of Golden Point than anything else I have achieved; including my double master’s degree. To dad, much like being a Parra fan, life wasn’t always about the big wins; it was about what made the rough-and-tumble road more enjoyable. He had also set his heart on me becoming the next Debbie Spillane in my teenage years and, in a way, I think he might have preferred that I hadn’t chosen such a conservative career path. When people asked him why Parramatta, his standard answer was simple: “It’s not just a club. It’s a community.” Hence my attachment to Parramatta is very much connected to my dad and has always extended well beyond eighty minutes of football. I love the club, the city, the people and the cultural history wrapped around all of it. I did a lot of my secondary schooling locally, Dad spent much of his last 30 years living in Dundas and Northmead, and both my maternal grandparents and their parents before them were locals too. So there is plenty of background and substance to my passion; it isn’t just blind loyalty; it’s nostalgia, familiarity and emotional comfort.
Dad taught me from a young age that intelligence was important, but that it was only truly useful in conjunction with survival skills and altruistic actions. When I was about eight, a teacher stopped him at school pick-up, concerned because I kept climbing trees at recess — mostly to pick fruit or extract foreign objects that had been projectiled into the branches through unruly play. Instead of immediately condemning my terrible discipline, Dad took one look at the size of the trees and asked me to explain how I had managed to get so far up without a boost. Then he wanted to make sure I was sharing any fruit I picked with my friends and giving the projectiles back to their owners. The teacher was considerably less impressed and made a disparaging comment about what my future held if I continued to prioritise my current skill set rather than improving my classwork. Dad could see her comments had upset me, so he reminded me on the way home that I could gut a fish better than anyone he had come across, and most people can live comfortably on fruit and fish; so if what she said came true, I wouldn’t be living under a bridge for long. Though he did make me promise to keep the tree climbing to weekends from there on in.
My point is, while I haven’t gutted a fish or climbed a tree for about 30 years, the crux of that life event has stuck with me to this day; and I reckon it is part of why I remain such a hopelessly committed Parramatta supporter. Even when a game, a season, or occasionally several consecutive seasons, leave me feeling like a metaphorical underachiever gutting fish under a bridge, there is something wonderfully imperfect about loving a club and a place that carries such a large and memorable piece of my family history and childhood. Much like picking fruit for your friends, it means being surrounded by a community that, at its best, is loyal, protective, passionate, and familiar.
2026 NRL and NRLW Summaries – A Year of Ups and Downs – written by the author, prompted by NRL match centre, enhanced by recollection and reflection – Created with Canva Premium
A Season of F-Words
There is really only one honest way to describe 2026 for mine: it has been a season of F-words; some printable, some probably best left in the grandstand. There has been football obviously, along with frustration, failure, fragility, questions of fairness, occasional fury and, every now and then, something resembling fortune. But underneath those have been the F-words that have mattered considerably more: fun, family, friendship, familiarity, fellowship, fortitude, faith and future.
Football clubs are strange beasts. They are businesses, employers, cross-industry health networks and community institutions all at once, yet as supporters we rarely see them through these factors beyond the team list and the scoreboard. Our experiences are influenced and intertwined through our family and friends, peers and colleagues, those who sat beside us at games thirty years ago and those who sit beside us now. Even the familiar strangers we walk past to and from the game whose names we may never learn somehow become part of the ecosystem of what supporting a club like Parra means.
Our experiences are shaped by places too; some obvious, some not. Stadiums, leagues clubs, car parks, train platforms, pubs and the particular patches of concrete where you always seem to bump into someone before a game. There is a familiarity in those rituals that is difficult to explain to someone who has never had a complex relationship with a sporting franchise. The colours, the routines, the walk towards the ground, the nervous optimism before kick-off; all of it accumulates over time until football becomes attached to memory in ways that have very little to do with the final score.
For me, Parramatta has been stitched through different versions of my life for as long as I can remember. It is partly football, partly family, partly habit, partly community and partly inheritance – though it may also, at times, involve a small amount of voluntary psychological disturbance. That is probably where the F-words become most relevant. Supporting Parra has involved frustration, periods that have felt distinctly forlorn, sporting fragility, unexpected failure and the occasional glorious burst of momentary fortune. Thankfully, there are more enduring F-words that make it all worthwhile: family, friendship, familiarity and fellowship. These are reflected in the people you go with, the people you meet there, the people you argue with and the people you somehow recognise instantly and greet with a smile even when you have never formally been introduced. There is also the strange sense of belonging amongst the thousands of people who may disagree about coaches, players, selections, administrators, tactics and almost everything else, yet still turn up wearing the same colours and wanting the same thing. There is also fortitude, which is perhaps essential for any long-term Parramatta supporter, and of course faith — not necessarily faith that next week will be better, because there are limits to recklessness, but faith that one day it might be.
There is another part of this year I hadn’t anticipated. Somewhere along the way, Golden Point became important to me in its own right. Writing for recreation has always been a big part of my life; almost as much as Parra. Having somewhere that allows those two things to collide has been an extraordinary privilege; though what has made the column meaningful is not simply the opportunity to publish my own thoughts, it has been the conversation that follows. Readers have agreed with me, disagreed with me, corrected me, added context, challenged assumptions, and sent me down rabbit-holes I had never considered; as some of the best ideas I have explored this year have come from comments underneath previous articles. That sense of fellowship matters to me because Golden Point was never intended to be a place where I declared myself indisputably correct. Rather it was always supposed to be somewhere where ideas and analysis could be presented for subjective consideration; a place where agreement is optional, critical thinking is welcomed and differences are respected. Because respectful curiosity is always much more interesting and entertaining than ripping one another to pieces for simply thinking differently.
There have also been weeks this year when writing this column has been my sanity. No matter how meaningful our intentions are when we make voluntary commitments like Golden Point, life has a way of intervening. Sometimes our families need us, people we love are sick or struggling, and everything else has to be put on pause for a while. Yet finding the time to keep writing has become an important part of finding a healthy balance beyond the constant cycle of work and everyday responsibilities. Golden Point has become a cathartic outlet and a welcome escape when everything around me feels particularly heavy.
All things considered there has been something unexpectedly grounding in that comfort; and perhaps that is where fortune belongs in this story. However this column came about, I feel incredibly fortunate that it did. It has become a place to question, learn, occasionally vent, have fun and write about the football club I love. So, to everyone who has read an article this year — whether you agreed with every word, disagreed with most of them, left a comment, shared an idea or simply quietly followed along — thank you.
One Fans Irrelevant & Subjective Reflection 💙💛 – written by the author, prompted by NRL match centre, enhanced by recollection and reflection – Created with Canva Premium
The Golden Point: A Lifetime of Blue & Gold
So, I didn’t set out to become a regular contributor, and I certainly didn’t anticipate voluntarily spending quite so much of 2026 disappearing down rabbit holes involving governance, regulation, recruitment, workplace systems, player welfare, organisational behaviour and just about every other complicated subject that could conceivably be connected to a rugby league club or the code. But I guess Debbie Spillane was always in there somewhere, waiting to be set free. Life can be funny like that; sending you gifts you didn’t know you needed, challenging your fears, giving the cyclone that is work-life balance a tad more life and somehow filling a hole you didn’t even know was there. At the beginning of the season, I introduced myself by saying that if it were scientifically possible, I would bleed blue and gold. After a year spent questioning assumptions and repeatedly trying to separate evidence from emotion, I have still found absolutely nothing that disproves the hypothesis.
Yes, 2026 may well have been a season defined by a highly subjective collection of mostly conservative F-words; and yes, on game day, that F-word—and its many variations—also made regular appearances in my vocabulary whether I was at the game or watching elsewhere. But through all of them remain the things that have always mattered most: the past, the people and the places. For mine, rugby league clubs have a remarkable way of connecting those things — through friends, siblings, children, parents, grandparents and the many others who shape our lives; through memories of people who are no longer with us; and through places that helped shape those memories, some still standing and others surviving only in our hearts and in the stories we continue to share. That is why supporting Parra has always been about far more than eighty minutes of football to me.
The 2026 season gave us reasons to celebrate, swear, question, hope, despair and occasionally wonder why we put ourselves through this. Still, in 2027 we will return with fresh hope and anticipation, and 2026 will become another season in our history — one where the ladder tells only a very small part of the story. Emerging players will excite us and give us something to dream about, new coaches will provide hope that improvement is on the horizon, and new leadership will continue strengthening the club beyond the football field. Another batch of bright-eyed supporters and future stars will begin their own Parramatta stories in backyards, lounge-rooms and watching on in the stands — backing the badge, inheriting the pride and embracing the history while learning to shoulder the pressure and completely unreasonable expectations that come with supporting a club that hasn’t won the lollies since Halley’s Comet last graced the Earth’s skies.
Bring on 2027! 💙💛
Roly-Poly
Thank you Roly Poly . Spot on, love the emotional connection with Parra and your synopsis of each round is hilarious. I somehow managed to pick all the worst games to attend, with much swearing, but also managed to choose to attend Eels v Sharks. That game made up for all the horrors.
I live in the country but am a Hornsby girl by origin so not too far from Parra. I have only fairly recently fallen in love with Parramatta and cherish the life experiences supporting the club brings . Good and bad. Thank you once again
Thank you so much, Gabby. There have been so many write-ups focusing on what I know was a pretty abysmal year in many respects, so I thought I’d lean into nostalgia and self-deprecating humour to mix things up a little.
I’m so glad you picked the Sharks game and not the other light-blue team that beat us by 50! In terms of atmosphere and game quality, that was definitely one of the highlights of the season.
Thanks for sharing your Parra origins too. I think that’s one of the great things about the tribalism of sport — whether you inherit it or find it later, somehow the good, the bad and the completely ridiculous all become part of the experience.
Thanks again for reading and for supporting TCT.
I hope your health issues are behind you.
My synopsis of the Eels season can be captured pretty succinctly.(which would be unusual for me, so lets see how we go)
NRL 13th out of 17 – No Finals
NRLW 8th out of 12 – No Finals
NSW Cup 12th out of 14 – No FInals
NSW – Women’s Premiership 6th out of 12 – No Finals
NSW Jersey Flegg 7th out of 14 – No FInals.
No Finals football at any level.
Every club below us on the NRL ladder (Bris/Tigers/Dragons and G-Coast) managed at least one team in the Finals.
I don’t know when (if ever) the Eels have performed so poorly across the board. Even in dark years when we stunk in first grade, we had lower grades to give us some hope.
The results aren’t all ref’s and it isn’t all injuries. It’s system failure that starts with the back office. I don’t know how that can be refuted by a club with arguably the best facilitites and among the most resources in rugby league in this country/the world.
Why and what part of that system is broken, who knows. Does it matter? Ultimately the people who put those systems (or lack their of) in place over the last few years, have to be held accountable. We know all their names. Some seem decent people. Sacking peolpe is real life stuff, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
But the results will crush this club for years and action is needed – and needed before the well intentioned but completly unqualified, high profile former players start bashing down doors… again…
Completely agree there’s no glass half full reviews when the results that were dished out this year were completely incompetent at times. It’s been 3-4 years now of complete mediocrity as a organisation with next to no accountability for anyone at the club. Certain players have been consistently beyond average, back room staff have made significant consistent poor decisions, coaches and strength and conditioning staff have struggled to improve players. The cons well and truly out way the pro’s right now. The new CEO has never been as important as it is right now. 2027 as it stands we look underdone already and are simply preying for an injury free season and miraculous recruits. The proper rebuild starts now rip the bandaid off and do it right there are some foundations there but with clueless heavy hitters we’re just going round in circles
Hi Newy eel,
My intention wasn’t to provide a glass half full review, but rather talk about something else for those wanting to momentarily escape the droves of articles rehashing the sad realities of what has obviously been one of the most disappointing seasons all-round in many years.
I hear you and understand and respect your and all points of view within reason. Where I probably differ slightly is on the timing of the “rip the bandaid off” approach. I absolutely think meaningful change is required, but I’d rather the new CEO independently determine what is genuinely broken, what is salvageable and who should ultimately be accountable than inherit a restructure designed before they arrive.
The foundations are there in facilities, resources and supporter strength. The challenge now is making sure the football and administrative systems are capable of turning those advantages into results. Otherwise, as you say, we just keep going around in circles.
Roly
Thanks BA, I have been pretty unwell but I am on the mend now thankfully.
That across-the-board no finals record is pretty confronting when you lay it out like that. I wasn’t trying to ignore the chaos but rather talk about something else; a bit of reprieve essentially from the thousands of articles focusing on the chaos.
I agree the bigger question has to be about the system rather than searching for one convenient explanation or scapegoat. Injuries, officiating and individual performances all matter, but when every pathway misses finals, it is reasonable to ask what is happening structurally and where accountability sits.
I do believe there will be a significant administrative restructure; however, I don’t think it will happen imminently. The intricate process of appointing the right CEO will likely be the club’s core focus over the next couple of months.
For the new CEO to have the greatest impact, I think it is important they are given the opportunity to assess the organisation largely as it currently operates before major structural decisions are made on their behalf. Most successful leaders begin with a period of listening, observation and diagnosis. Regardless of experience, making sweeping changes before understanding the internal culture, operational data and underlying issues firsthand can create further ineffective decisions and damage trust.
Unless there is an urgent financial or operational crisis requiring immediate intervention, a considered approach makes more sense to me: appoint the right CEO, allow them to independently diagnose where the system is failing, and then make a focused series of evidence-based changes over time.
That doesn’t remove the need for accountability — if anything, it should make that accountability more meaningful, and the changes more intentional, because the decisions are based on what is actually broken rather than assumptions, noise or panic.
Roly
Roly-Poly, what a wonderful read! Debbie Spillane would be proud of your writing skills. Parra used to be known as the Fruit-Pickers, so I guess it’s in your genes. LOL. Thanks again for your contributions Roly and hope to read much more next year. I also hope your health issues are behind you.
Cheers,
Gil
Thanks so much Gil, the Debbie Spillane comparison is far too generous, but I’ll happily take it and I am sure my dad would agree. I also completely forgot about the old Fruit-Pickers nickname when reminiscing although I am familiar with it and you’re right it must be in my genes lol.
Health-wise, I’m back home now and taking things a little easier for the moment, which is a relief. Thanks again for reading, for the kind words and for supporting my contributions this year. Hopefully there’ll be plenty more blue-and-gold rambling to share next season.
Roly
My name is ELLISON.
My family have had a significant input into the construction of Parramatta, Penrith. Emu and district since arrival in 1790.
I am now 76.My Father was a life member of Parra. I left Parra in 1968 and was posted all over the country but always followed & supported Parra – even thru the formation of the Panthers.
We have been in BrizVegarse now for a while but still very, very keen supporters of our Girls.
The “revolt” by Members & Fans is completely understandable. The Review was inevitable considering the gross mismanagement of both playing rosters of the boys but particularly of the Girls. 2 heads definitely have to roll at the end of the season. One NOW, to be totally replaced by Kate Mullaly & the other (M O’N) soon after.
The legal implications of a “Duty of Care” even in a contact sport, MUST weigh heavily on the Club & its officers. Particularly in the care of immature players expected to clash with representative international standard players 4 -5 yrs their senior.
Our recommendations have been forwarded and MUST not be ignored.
Thank you for your thoughts Ellison. That is an extraordinary family connection to Parramatta and the wider district, and adds another perspective how deeply the club can become intricately woven through generations of a family’s history in different ways.
I can certainly understand the strength of feeling around the review, particularly where roster management, development pathways and player welfare are concerned. Whatever changes ultimately follow, I agree the club has to take those issues seriously and ensure its decisions are based on evidence, accountability and a genuine duty of care to the players coming through the system.
Thank you as well for supporting TCT for continuing to support the club from BrizVegas after all these years. I lived in Melbourne for about 7 years in the twenty-tens and I understand it is so much harder to feel connected and remain committed from so far away when you only get to see the team once a year unless you are able to travel.
Roly
Roly,
Another enjoyable read thanks very much. I look forward to your future contributions.
A few years back quite a few of us posted how we ended up being Eels supporters (you probably read them). Many different ways but most, as with you, were through some familial connection. Why else would we put ourselves through it? I’ve done it to my son who is now in his twenties and still waits to see a premiership. And yet there is no thought of turning as a famous woman once said. However, it is the trials and tribulations that keep us coming back because it is just like family. Wayne Bennett once commented that he didn’t realise how tribal rugby league was in Sydney until he moved there. This is also what makes us stick.
How many posts arrive here angry, frustrated and calling for change. Yet the originators are still about and supporting the club. It gets in the blood and no amount of leeching can get it out. We’re stuck with it for better, for worse, in sickness and in health. So despite the pain and even if I’m telling my son and anyone else who will listen to my dribble that everyone should be sacked, I’ll always be an Eels supporter.
Thanks for all your posts during 2026. I’ve really enjoyed them and appreciate they consider rugby league from a different perspective. That can only be a positive thing.
Hope the health issues have/are clearing up.
Cheers,
Thanks so much, Namrebo. I think you’ve captured it perfectly — once Parramatta gets into the blood, there really is no sensible escape route. We can complain, threaten mass sackings and swear we’ve had enough, then somehow find ourselves right back there the following week. It really is a bit like family.
I also love that you’ve passed it on to your son. My oldest son has followed me into Eels fandom in a big way too. There’s something both wonderful and slightly cruel about handing down the blue-and-gold inheritance but the more family we have to carry the load the better the supporter experience is good and bad I reckon.
I didn’t force it on either of my boys, although I did have one steadfast rule: no Manly or Melbourne supporters were going to live in my house. They did a huge chunk of their schooling in Melbourne, so for a while I had the genuine fear they might choose the Storm — or worse, decide they preferred AFL. Thankfully that didn’t happen. The worst outcome was my younger son becoming a Souths supporter, which I have learned to live with.
Thank you as well for the kind words about my posts this year. I’ve really enjoyed looking at the game from a slightly different angle, so I’m glad that has resonated.
Health-wise, I’m out of hospital now and look to be on the mend, though I will need to take things fairly easy for the next month or so.
Thanks again for reading and for all your support throughout 2026.
Roly
Well said Roly. I’ve had a few ‘distractions’ lately and feel guilty I’ve haven’t read Parts 2 & 3 of your last article. In life those that put in genuine effort should be rewarded, i was pleased to read you feel like the big winner from releasing your inner Debbie Spillane. Also the connection thing, i always just shake my head a little when i read or hear people sharing their ‘non-connected’ opinions on Rugby League. Rugby League absorbed me into the Wild West when I started at my 6th school in 4th class Primary. I grew up with true Rugby League people, all sorts, and I’ve never forgotten the good or the bad, as your father suggested..you learn from everyone, not just the cream of the crop. Thanks for your effort.
This is warm and very you. I’d only tighten the middle slightly so the family story stays funny without running too long:
Thanks so much, Namrebo. I think you’ve captured it perfectly — once Parramatta gets into the blood, there really is no sensible escape route. We can complain, threaten mass sackings and swear we’ve had enough, then somehow find ourselves right back there the following week. It really is a bit like family.
I also love that you’ve passed it on to your son. My oldest son has followed me into Eels fandom in a big way too. There’s something both wonderful and slightly cruel about handing down the blue-and-gold inheritance but the more family we have to carry the load the better the supporter experience is good and bad I reckon.
I didn’t force it on either of my boys, although I did have one steadfast rule: no Manly or Melbourne supporters were going to live in my house. They did a huge chunk of their schooling in Melbourne, so for a while I had the genuine fear they might choose the Storm — or worse, decide they preferred AFL. Thankfully that didn’t happen. The worst outcome was my younger son becoming a Souths supporter, which I have learned to live with.
Thank you as well for the kind words about my posts this year. I’ve really enjoyed looking at the game from a slightly different angle, so I’m glad that has resonated.
Health-wise, I’m out of hospital now and look to be on the mend, though I will need to take things fairly easy for the next month or so.
Thanks again for reading and for all your support throughout 2026.
Roly
I’m proud that Roly writes for TCT. Actually I’m proud of all of our authors. In my opinion Roly is one of the very best p supporter authors in rugby league. Nobody writes like her. Her addition to our team of content creators has lifted the standard of our website,
Shit Sixties, I don’t know whether I’m quite that high on the fan pecking order, but I really appreciate the wrap.
I’m very grateful for all the faith and support you and John have placed in me, my writing and, more broadly, my family. Having the opportunity to write for TCT after the way I first became a “friend of the Throw” when dad was unwell and after reading the site for so many years, has been pretty special.
And I was completely genuine in what I said about Dad — if he were still alive, I honestly think he’d be prouder of Golden Point than anything I’ve done in my studies and profession.
Thank you again.
What an amazing read, thanks!
Thanks so much Senada. I’m really glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate your support.
Roly
Thanks Roly Poly and I hope you are feeling better soon
Even Haleys Comet is due back in 2061 so there’s hope for Parra yet. I myslelf will be 91 but it will be worth staying alive for.
Thanks for all your writing
Kind regards Robert
Thanks so much Robert. I really appreciate you taking the time to read my ramblings. I’m thankfully on the mend.
If Parra haven’t delivered by the time Halley’s Comet comes back, I think we’ll be entitled to lodge a formal complaint with the universe.
Hopefully we don’t have to wait quite that long, but I admire your commitment to the cause!
Thanks again,
Roly