Eels Blogs

Cameron Bamblett (19)

• 2025 Australian Schoolboy. Made his Jersey Flegg debut at 18 years old in 2025 and was very good in his games at fullback. Was very good in SG ball in 2025 in sweeping plays with his ability to find the right pass and slice the defensive line. Defensively came up with many try-savers.
• In the trials this year Bamblett has played five-eight which is also the position he played for St Pats. I believe his move to five-eight is also to accommodate Riley Davis at fullback and absence of Risati and Fletcher in the trials.
• I DO NOT like Bamblett at five-eight. I do not think it suits his attacking game at all since he is better out of the back of shape rather than setting up the play at first or second receiver. Secondly, he is not the best defender in the front line. In the Panthers trials, his edge got torn to shreds and I believe he is a big factor in that. He is slow to slide when defending shape and makes poor reads.  He also struggles with his tackle technique. It looks like he waits for the players to get in front of him before taking them out from behind which means the ball will be really fast (like a textbook cover tackle a fullback would make hence why I said he makes plenty of try savers at fullback). Perhaps a factor is his body. He is still quite skinny. I sound a bit too critical here, so I would give him a few games to see if this improves.
• Would be a strong candidate for the NSW u19 fullback jersey.

Samuela Sorovi (18)

• A winger and graduate from the 2025 HM team. Unfortunately only played 40min of the first game of the season in 2025 before injury ruled him out for the season. That 40min involved  try savers and an intercept try which is sometimes all you need to see to tell a player could be special. If that was not enough, I watched his highlights playing in the Warratahs academy team where he would literally score tries for fun. I hope he can be our next Semi Radradra. He is so athletic, strong, quick and good footwork.
• He did not play in any of the trial games. I am not sure why. I hope he is fit and I hope he manages to make the team because there is a lot of competition for the outside backs spot.

Cyrus Bloomfield (18)

• A disappointing season in HM in 2025 given the standout HM season he had in 2024. Moving from fullback to centre in 2025 due to a poor start, Bloomfield still failed to reach the heights. However, he moved to wing for his school and had a great schoolboy carnival. Also played in the U17blues team on the wing where had a great game in attack against Warrington Wolves U17 team. 
• He is a Waratah academy player and had an outstanding season in union. He tore teams to shreds and was even in the Australian schoolboy rugby union side. So hopefully he can maintain this form into eels colours for 2026. He had good moments in the air during the trials this year but was average for the rest.
• Physically he is very impressive with excellent strength, speed and footwork and has the confidence you like to see in players that have top end traits in these grades. I think wing is his position going forward but given is relatively new to him he still needs to round his game with footy nouse on keeping low as a winger and a lot of work needed on his defensive reads.

Christopher Moala (18)

• Had a strong season in HM in 2025 at centre. Was good in the air and showed plenty of ability as a strike centre. Reminds me a bit of Will Penisni coming through the grades. Not overly quick or tall but strong through contact. So similarly his pace can result in a couple of difficulties in defence.
• Played both trails on the left edge with Bloomfield where they would swap between wing and centre. Again will be in competition for an outside back spot. Howlett may be the front runner right now since he is incumbent but Moala has more potential.

Lorima Rokusuka (19)

• Continued his strong performances across his career as an eels junior. Unfortunately was injured and missed the SG ball final series. He is another Fijian winger at the club and blessed with good speed and footwork. He made his JF flegg debut in 2025 and played up until their elimination. However based on his performances in 2025 JF, it was clear that his defensive reads were very poor and required a lot of work so let's see how much he has improved after a pre-season.
• He showed great ability under the high ball in the trials so far. He definitely has one of the spots in the backline secured. 
• Has a drop in him which he needs to tidy up but also can create something out of nothing

Talen Risati (18)

• The graduate captain of the 2025 HM team and has an outstanding resume. Had a slow start to the HM 2025 season but got better as the competition went on. Playing at five-eight with a strong running game, silky footwork, short passes and big boot. Still has to build  into his frame and he is quite tall for a half. Loads of potential.
• His natural game is that of a running five eighth/playmaking fullback. It was obvious last year that the club were working on developing his game management  to round out his skill set as he was called on to be the more dominant general on field which i feel benefited him as his decision making in crucial times was excellent
• After just finishing school at the Kings College (so no league schoolboy footy), Risati played for the league U17blues and Australian union schoolboy team where he was amazing. Interestingly playing fullback in that u17blues team as well.
• He did not play in the trials. Not sure why. He will play five-eight or halfback depending on if Fletcher is in the team. Hopefully he is not injured.

Lincoln Fletcher (19)

• The heir to Mitchel Moses if he is patient to bide his time. Sin binned the last couple of minutes in the SG ball grand final which led to a heart breaking loss on full time. Will be interested to see how many games of SG ball he plays this year. My prediction is he will play SG ball until the Jersey Flegg competition starts and then return to SG ball for the finals.
• Very interested to see how much he has progressed his game after this NRL preseason. The club rate him so highly. He did not play JF or NSW cup last year. To put that into perspective, every other player in the NRL pre-season has played NSW Cup before. So would have been very new but beneficial for Fletcher.
• He is a prototypical modern Melb system half that plays flat and fast on the advantage line using his athleticism to help create opportunities rather than pure ball playing. He has a solid kicking, running and passing game. He is actually pretty versatile as he played fullback and centre for the Australian Schoolboys in 2024. Unfortunately he was injured in the 2025 schoolboys competition so he could not be in the team 2 years in a row which is extremely rare. He will be the favourite for the u19 blues halfback jersey.

Ryda Talagi (19)

• Arguably the future of the eels forward pack. To play NSW Cup as a prop at just 18 years old shows how much potential he has. A big forward with good footwork at the line. Loves the physical contact and taking on the alphas in the opponent pack. He will not back down to anyone. Defensively got exposed a bit in NSW cup which was to be expected.  It was great to watch him transition into SG Ball then JF and then NSW Cup last year. He took a couple games to get used to each jump but then would look comfortable at that level. His year plan would be similar to Fletcher in terms of starting in Ball and returning for finals.
• Huge favourite to be in the u19 blues team.

Jirah-Trey Stewart (18)

• The dummy half graduate from HM in 2025. Provides good service and deference. However, Stewart's main strength is his running game from dummy half. Built low to the ground and nuggety. In the trials his running game and barge over from dummy half was very good.
• Contrast to the off the deck hookers Parra usually likes. Will excel behind this S-tier pack

Jackson Koina (19)

• The Australian schoolboy from QLD that we poached. He and his family are eels fans which is always good to see. Capable of playing prop or lock. Koina has really impressed me in the trials in both attack and defence. Leads the line speed in defence, good lateral movement and importantly provides that inside pressure when defending teams spreading the ball. In attack he has scored a couple of tries by just breaking tackles and barging over people. Do not be surprised if his career progression into NSW cup and NRL is as fast as Talagi’s.
• Excellent ball playing for a prop, often plays the middle link role. Prototypical Ryles forward. Excellent blend of size, skill, mobility.
• Will be a strong favourite to play for the QLD u19’s team.

Michael Nauer (18)

• A graduate from the HM 2024/25 team. A tall and barnstorming backrower. Made all the rep teams coming through. He played for NSW u17’s team with Risati and Bloomfield last year. Hes aggressive, runs strong lines, breaks tackles and is capable of a good offload. 
• Was excellent in trials and arguably the pick of our forwards along with some others scoring multiple tries and making constant impact.
• However, to me Nauer’s biggest weakness is his hands. Last year and during the trials this year he always drops the ball every game. Sometimes it's multiple times a game.

Christopher Petrus (19)

• Another Australian schoolboy from 2025 and a youngster that Paul Taylor  rates as much as anyone in the game. Petrus potential is very very high. His performance in the SG ball GF was superb and his performances in JF was great too. Petrus is capable of breaking tackles, contesting kicks, late offloads, dragging defenders for plenty of PCM and absolutely belting blokes in half in defence.
• To me Petrus has one weakness and it can be an easy fix. He has a habit of trying to create something with every hit up he takes. The old phrase “tries to bite off more than he can chew.” He can push the offload which causes an error or try to overpower a group of defenders which sometimes result in him being gang tackled and dragged back. It shows he has the attitude in the right place of wanting to fight for everything. It's now about developing the footy IQ and knowing when to try it. He needs to learn that sometimes it is better to just run straight and hard without trying anything special. A good old fashioned hit up and quick play the ball is all he is required to do sometimes.

Samuel Polley (18)

• As I have said many times …. Our own Cameron Murray. One of the most exciting prospects in our stable. Capable of playing backrow or lock at a very high level. He unfortunately had shoulder surgery over the off-season and will only return around round 4. Not sure how much it will affect him this year. 
• I expect him to solely play lock this year due to Petrus and Nauer being high potential backrowers.
• Back to back outstanding years in HM. Unlucky to not get picked in the Aus schoolboy team a year young.  Not big in size but is very athletic and hard working. Has an elite mix of balance, athleticism, footy IQ.  Capable of playing the full game despite making 2 hit ups a set and countless tackles. Can ball play, run a good line, chase a grubber, break tackles, generate quick play the balls, line speed, strong contact, etc. Can do everything. The only slight flaw is that he does have a mistake in his game (probably due to overworking) that often results in conceding tries.

Stirling Faumui (19)

• The new recruit signed from West Tigers. He is very versatile and can play half and lock. He played the trial games at halfback but obviously Risati and Fletcher did not play those games. Interested to see if he gets the 14 role to start the year or just not make the 17 all together. Lot depends on the availability of Fletcher and Risati too.
• His kicking game in the trials was solid and had a couple of good moments. But personally, I think the club needs to develop him as a utility based on those trials but I could be wrong since it was only a couple games. Big body with ball playing ability. Not sure he has the speed both in the feet and decision making to create enough opportunities as 7. He did take the line on a lot in the trials but looked more like hit ups than attacking weaknesses in the defensive line or creating half breaks. Small sample size so cant be too critical 

Wesley Pakoti (19)

• Returning to SG ball after playing the 14. Primarily a lock forward that can cover the dummy half role. He was very impressive in the trials with his ball playing and running at lock. Also saw him barking a lot to the forwards getting them into position which is great.  Whilst Polley is injured to start the year, I expect him to start games at lock whilst also spending time at dummy half when Stewart needs a rest. He is not big in size at all so is very mobile.

Steven Nunn (18)

• A graduate from the HM 2025 team and was the lead enforcer in that pack. He wears a pink helmet. He will either start or come off the bench depending on Talagi being in the team. Him and Kotarac are quite similar players however Nunn is slightly smaller. Both are hard running forwards that leave defenders on the floor including the kick off.
• There is an obvious archetype that we are valuing in our forward pack this year. Gone are the big north south bash RCG, Issac Jim style players. Nunn, Kotarc, Ong, Koina all share traits such as mobility, balance through contact, ability to get off the deck quickly, ball playing and line running

Nicholas Kotarac (18)

• Brought over from North Sydney Bears HM side. He wears the red headgear and is a big boy prop with good footwork and speed. Only ever seen him play in the trials this year and he provided great impact off the bench and broke plenty of tackles. His kick off returns leave defenders on the floor and one included a full line break. Him and Nunn should be coming off the bench if Talagi plays SG ball. That is a pair of forwards that will roll every team when they come on the field. I will be interested to watch him this year especially in defence to see if he has the overall  game for the  eventual open age footy as we know many big forwards get caught out when their size becomes irrelevant.
• Played for the Waratahs too and has a lot of skill, was by far the best player for Norths last year if you watch his highlights he did it all and will be a lot like Koina in he could easily play the enforcer or the link man. He is nearly as big as Isaac Jim but he seems a much well rounded player.

Riley Davis (18)

• He did not start the 2025 HM season. However, after the team's poor start, he was brought into the team at fullback which pushed Bloomfield into the outside backs. He was also fullback for St Pats when they lost the national school boy finals with Bamblett playing five-eight.
• Davis reminds me so much of Reece Walsh. Always wants his hands on the ball whether its sweeping out the back of shape or trying to take a quick scoot behind the ruck. Davis is lighting quick off the mark and still has a pretty good top speed. Has the Walsh like X-factor on games with blistering line breaks or miraculous passes. This also means he has Walsh-like weaknesses such as being rag dolled, pushing the passes and simple errors. He often makes half breaks but looses balance through contact due to his size, if he can build some more strength through his hips as he ages he will be electric. 
• He is the modern NRL fullback where its all about speed and skill. 

Cobi McCloseky (18)

• Graduate from the HM 2025 team. He is probably down the pecking order this year for the winger spot but I thought to mention his name after his season in 2025. He was great at finishing but even better in  defence. His reads and try saving tackles were his highlights. I would say his ceiling is not very high but he provides plenty of effort and importantly defensive IQ which is not common in outside backs at this young age.

Dru Faletolu (19)

• He is the kid from New Zealand that we signed from the prestigious Wellington College. He is a big boy and had some strong carries in the trials. I do not know too much else about him. At full strength I think he will struggle to make the team given the plethora of forwards eels have. But with Polley injured for the first few rounds and Talagi no guarantee to stay in SG ball, he will definitely get an opportunity throughout the season.

Maison Ong (19)

• Very much in the Max Popo mold. Big, mobile, athletic, explosive prop.
• Got injured round 1 last year but was damaging against the Knights. Trialed very well and was punching holes when taking carries. I haven't seen the ball playing ability of other forwards but as a momentum building bash prop he is excellent.
• I am excited to see how he does in this pack, will prob come off the bench given lack of game time but could be a Spencer Leniu type impact player for us

Nathan Howlett (19)

• Well rounded outside back that can play anywhere is the backline. Spent some time at FB and was good without being spectacular. Reminds me of a Nick Meaney type player in he has good IQ and decent athleticism. Not top tier, however he makes up for that with his smarts and reliability
• Played CHS
• I think he deserves a look at one of the centre positions