So this apparently is a thorn in the contract negotiations and is leading to some bitterness between the parties.
Begs the question. If his knee is chronic, is us even giving him $650k for one season even worth it. The value we see with Junz is experience. But that experience we want on the field too. We have a lot of good young middles, Junz is valuable to them. But as well when on the field he is.
How many more games does Junz miss with this issue? Added to that is the fact he is already rested and looked after, he will not only come back to pre-season later, but he might not do much pre-season at all due to his knee and managing it.
Also, no club can actually force a player to sit out of rep duties. Can they recommend it or say they don't want them playing? Of course, but the player ultimately decides to play or not. So not much we can really do there other than simply pulling the contract and he is left to either go to SL or Perth.
Should Paulo be picky? I mean that's human nature sometimes, I don't blame him getting beat deal possible. But also at the same time, he his mucking us around as well. Both parties have not done well with this.
PS: no AI needed to write this blog.
Replies
Offer him a good contract under the conditions he retires from rep footy. If it's a no, he can move on & we won't feel bad about that.
It's over
It's Wiedler reporting this issue, so who knows what degree of truth there is to it. Regardless, even if 100% true, what's the issue? Are the Eels medical team seeing a looming knee problem? If 'yes', it would make sense for them to be precuationary.
Quick stats, using the official Parra stats, also show not only declining output in 2026 (comparatively) but also 2026 as a big drop off year, and that might explain both the contract renewal stalling (over value) and the effect of a chronic knee injury?
Since 2019 - Paulo was mostly an interchange prop 2013-2016 before going to Raiders for 2016-2018 - Paulo has had six seasons where he has only missed 4 or fewer games per season. Paulo has had two seasons where has missed 8 games (2024) and this season 2026 where he missed 7 games. IF there is a chronic knee issue then it is something the medical team saw this season?
Now we go to attacking output. Paulo's offloads have been dropping since 2019, from 50's (2019-2020) to 40's (2021-2023). Then, in 2024 Paulo missed 8 games due to a Lisfranc foot injury and had 32 offloads in 16 games, but that is a 2 pg average still. Recovering in 2025 he had 41 offloads in 24 games in 2025 at 1.7 pg. In 2026 we see a big drop off: 13 offloads in 17 games in 2026 at 0.7pg.
Paulo's rate of offloads declined drastically in 2026. It doesn't take a genius to think if he has chronic knee pain that might explain the drastic decline in offloads: reluctance to pivot on the knee in tackles. Paulo's average run metres per game also hit an historic low (for him) in 2026, as did his average tackle efficiency and his total post-contact metres and total run metres.
I think Paulo is great on his day, and his expereince and presence both on and off the field is valuable for the Eels' band of rookie props. BUt those numbers don't lie, and probably explain both why medical staff might be advising fully rehabbing the knee and why the club might have a contract celing in mind.
My gut feel was he had a pretty good year this year, maybe it was playing injured that upsets those stats, of course stats don't lie or do they ????
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
-
6
of 6 Next