The Eels host the Sea Eagles tonight at CommBank in what’s shaping up to be a wet, potentially scrappy and grinding affair — fitting for Junior Paulo’s 250th milestone. Both sides are coming off impressive wins, but consistency in this competition has been as rare as dry turf in Sydney lately.
Manly roll in as warm favourites, but history leans Eels at home. They’ve taken the last three-straight at home against the Eagles, and haven’t lost to them here in four years - since 2021. Still, with inuries and key Origin stars missing on both sides — Moses, Lomax, Cherry-Evans, Jake Trbojevic — this is anyone’s guess.
It’s Junz's 250th — and the Eels need more than just cake.
Team Lists
Friday, 23 May 2025, CommBank Stadium, 8pm AEST
Weather: Wet, Cloudy, around 17˚C (probably not reach dew point at 12˚C), 9-22km/h winds (could be gust), around 75% humidity
Ground: Could be interesting
Sportsbet: $2.74 Eels, Tigers $1.47 Eagles
Referees: Liam Kennedy (on-field), Phil Henderson (touch judge), Grant Atkins (senior review official, the bunker’s buzz in the ref’s ear).
Eels:
1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Sean Russell 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Jordan Samrani 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dylan Brown 7. Dean Hawkins 8. Jack Williams 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 12. Kitione Kautoga 15. Luca Moretti 13. J’maine Hopgood
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker 11. Kelma Tuilagi 16. Ryan Matterson 18. Joash Papali’i
18th Man: 17. Matt Doorey
Cut: 19. Joey Lussick 20. Toni Mataele 21. Ronald Volkman 22. Samuel Loizou
Head Coach: Jason Ryles
Sea Eagles:
1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jason Saab 3. Tolutau Koula 4. Reuben Garrick 5. Lehi Hopoate 6. Luke Brooks 7. Jakob Arthur 8. Ethan Bullemor 9. Jake Simpkin 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Haumole Olakau’atu 15. Corey Waddell 13. Jazz Tevaga
Bench: 14. Lachlan Croker 16. Nathan Brown 17. Matthew Lodge 22. Caleb Navale
18th Man: 18. Clayton Faulalo
Cut: 12. Ben Trbojevic 19. Brandon Wakeham 20. Tommy Talau 21. Michael Chee Kam
Head Coach: Anthony Seibold
Key Ins and Outs.
Eels. Ins - Papali’i debuts, Hawkins, Samrani, Tuilagi. Outs - Moses, Lomax and Mataele
Manly. Ins - Arthur, Waddell. Outs - Ben Trbojevic, Daly Cherry-Evans, Jake Trbojevic
Stats
The Eels have only taken 4 of the last 10 against Manly — but they’ve won 5 of their last 6 against them at CommBank.
Wingers love this turf.
- Reuben Garrick: 13 tries in 13 vs Eels
- Jason Saab: 4 tries in last 4 at CommBank
- Josh Addo-Carr: 7 in 7 here — can the Fox feast again?
Can the Fox keep up his try-scoring feast tonight up against fellow speedsters in the wet?
By the numbers
| Attack | ppg | Defence | ppg | |
| 1 | Storm (4) | 33.8 | Bulldogs (1) | 15.8 |
| 2 | Raiders (3) | 28.9 | Sharks (5) | 18.7 |
| 3 | Bulldogs (1) | 26.8 | Warriors (2) | 20.0 |
| 4 | Broncos (9) | 26.2 | Knights (15) | 20.2 |
| 5 | Sharks (5) | 25.1 | Storm (4) | 20.3 |
| 6 | Manly (6) | 24.8 | Manly (6) | 21.0 |
| 7 | Panthers (13) | 24.4 | Souths (7) | 21.2 |
| 9 | Dragons (10) | 22.8 | Dolphins (14) | 22.2 |
| 8 | Cowboys (8) | 22.8 | Broncos (9) | 22.4 |
| 10 | Dolphins (14) | 22.7 | Raiders (3) | 23.1 |
| 11 | Roosters (11) | 22.4 | Dragons (10) | 23.9 |
| 12 | Titans (17) | 21.0 | Panthers (13) | 24.6 |
| 13 | Tigers (12) | 20.5 | Tigers (12) | 25.5 |
| 14 | Warriors (2) | 20.5 | Cowboys (8) | 26.0 |
| 15 | Eels (16) | 17.9 | Roosters (11) | 27.0 |
| 16 | Souths (7) | 16.5 | Eels (16) | 27.8 |
| 17 | Knights (15) | 12.8 | Titans (17) | 31.0 |
Statistically, Manly should take this. But footy isn’t played on spreadsheets, and the Eels seem to be improving.
The Hunt for Resilience and Consistency
As Ryles begins to reshape the club and harden its culture, a key focus has been shoring up the team's soft underbelly—a weakness that defined much of the Arthur era. That period was marked by maddening Jekyll-and-Hyde inconsistency, swinging wildly from promise to collapse, often week-to-week. The fall actually began post-2020, defensively, and by mid-2023 the decline was in freefall, and 2024 saw biblical second-half implosions that became the stuff of nightmares.
Now, there's a flicker of hope. The eye test hints at progress—slow, gritty, but real. Still, time will tell if the foundation is truly solid or just another false dawn.
| R1-2 | LL | Blowouts | Concede 44.0 ppg |
| R3-5 | LLW | Signs of Life | Concede 22.3 ppg |
| R6 | L | Blowout at Darwin | Concede 50 |
| R7-11 | WBLLW | Stabilizing | Concede 19 ppg |
So, will we see a fall this week or continued resilience? If the recent defensive trend holds, 19 points per game is not just respectable—it’s top-four defence standard in this topsy-turvy competition. But don’t exhale yet. We've seen this movie before.
Last week, Jack Williams made some power-packed runs: quality over quantity. More of that, please.
Final Word
Who will adapt best?
Execution, pack dominance, ball control and the errors will be everything. It could become a battle of blunders. The Eels have made more errors than their opponent in every game this year, bar three. Manly matched their 15 errors last week. Commbank's lights also makes it challenging when it comes to defusing high balls. Should we expect chaos?
Who's spine and playmakers will rise? The Eels have won only 4 of 21 games without Moses — but 3 of those 4 were at CommBank. They rise at home more often. Similarly, Manly are 3 from 8 without DCE in the last five seasons - but 2 of those 3 wins were at home at 4Pines. They rarely go to war without him.
It’s Paulo’s night, but he won’t want fanfare — just two points. .
Manly want to consolidate their position in the top eight. The Eels want redemption, against the odds. Who wants it more in the mud? Who can keep their head more?
The Eels celebrate after last week's big 26-6 win over the Knights at Newcastle. Can they make it two-straight for the first time this year and do it for Junz?
Replies
When the players work together they all look good. When one makes an error in this climate it hurts that player so much more. Thats the attitude you want.
Hope Galvin was watching the game and saw the young players in the team, how they enjoyed playing with and for each other.
Hope that it will have a positive impact on his decision.
At the same time tonight also showed that if Galvin goes to the Dogs, it's not the end of the world. We showed one thing that we haven't showed for years tonight... Depth.
Hawkins looked great, Iongi keeps improving and Joash showed he first grade quality. Galvin will be a great addition to our team if he signs, but tonight really calmed my nerves if he doesn't.
For the record I'm still very certain Galvin will be an Eel.
Agree. It shows that without Galvin and even Mitch and Lomax, the team can win as long as they play for each other and stay and trust their process.
Ryles has outperformed my expectations. He is obviously a man who listens, who tries to take the best advice of all the experience in his network.
The systems he's putting in place and the way he's shaping our squad is making us look so much more like a complete football team. Tonight we had Penis go off a minute in, Joash thrown into the wing and was immediately targeted and exposed.
But...but then we learned and adapted. Something BAs team and structure could never do. This team and system seem to be adaptable, to have multiple plans and play styles to switch between depending on the game situation.
We are starting to look like a modern footy team.
Don't get me wrong, I know the inconsistency will be there for a while with a younger side still learning 1st grade and each other. But we look so much more threatening now that BAs One Dimensional Gameplan is gone.
Great start to the weekend!
100% agree, and I echo the Fong earlier. The style they are playing now is better than anything we saw under BA (Semi excepted). It's just so much more enjoyable to watch, and the little effort plays in defence saved quite a few line breaks tonight. Sean Russell (who gets bagged out here non stop), his defence was top shelf tonight. Iongi is such an amazing player and he will be a superstar. Gutho who?
Ryles is doing a wonderful job. He ripped the bandaid off, and we are starting to see the fruits.
pEnnis is desperately hoping Galvin signs with the Dogs...
Not sure why broncos sacked Walters, he's easily the smartest bloke on that panel lol
Well done to both team and coaching staff. It's all starting to gel. Trust the JR process. He's imported speed in both back line and forwards getting rid of the plodders in the mean time. Speed makes all the differance in every sport. The first 2 rounds seem like they happend a long time ago (plodders Lane, Joe O and Hands gone or dropped)
Exciting times ahead.
I reckon both JP and JS did a fine job considering they dont even have 10 NRL games between them.
Great win tonight. I can't believe we can't that manly team with suck a strong backline to 10 points and zero in the second half. What impressed me was the little tweaks in defence to help out joash, loved the short passing in the middle and just really happy to see us playing fast football. As others have said we were previously playing a slow boring one out power game and even in 2022 I was never excited like I was in 2009 for example. There was a period today that we went one out and I thought uhoh back to our old habits but guys like walker and Moretti change things up.
Full credit to JR and the coaches but also let's give credit where credit is due to the management for the players we have brought in. Iongi, Williams, JAC Lomax and now walker have made a massive difference to our team. Well done to all, long way to go but definitely improving
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