“We want to really test ourselves against these guys,” Jason Ryles told the media on the eve of battle.
And what a test it’ll be — a blockbuster clash in front of an expected 70,000 crowd, as the high-flying Bulldogs take on the second-last Eels. That’s 20,000 more than turned out for Origin One at Suncorp, and just 10,000 shy of last year’s Grand Final at Accor.
The Bulldogs, coming off a bye and still smarting from their Round 12 44-8 shellacking at the hands of the Dolphins, will be fired up — desperate to bite back.
The Eels, near full-strength and resilient despite an 18-10 loss to the Panthers last week, are looking for redemption.
The Dogs, second-favorites for the premiership behind the Storm, have led the competition since Round 4. A loss drops them to second. The Eels, stuck near the bottom most of the season, could slide back to last with a heavy defeat.
The Dogs haven’t won three straight over the Eels in a decade — will that change today? Or will the Eels pull off one of the upsets of the season?
Team Lists
Monday 4:00pm AEST, 9 June 2025, Bulldogs vs Eels, Accor Stadium
Weather: Cool around 16˚C, cloudy with a chance of rain, humidity 43%, 11-20km/h winds
Ground: Expected to be fine
Sportsbet: $1.42 Dogs, $2.89 Eels
Referees: Gerard Sutton (on-field), Chris Sutton (touch judge), Matt Noyen (touch judge), Grant Atkins (senior review official, bunker). The Eels have the third-worst record against Sutton and Atkins (both 37.8%, 45 games) from all existing NRL officials.
Bulldogs: 1. Connor Tracey 2. Jacob Kiraz 3. Bronson Xerri 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Matt Burton 7. Toby Sexton 8. Max King 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Daniel Suluka-Fifita 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Josh Curran 13. Kurt Mann
Bench: 14. Bailey Hayward 15. Harry Hayes 16. Lipoi Hopoi 23. Lachlan Galvin
18th man: 17. Kurtis Morrin 20. Blake Wilson
Cut: 19. Jake Turpin 21. Samuel Hughes 22. Blake Taaffe
Head Coach: Cameron Gould Ciraldo
Eels: 1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Zac Lomax 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Sean Russell 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Jack Williams 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Kelma Tuilagi 12. Kitione Kautoga 13. J’maine Hopgood
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker 16. Ryan Matterson 17. Jordan Samrani 19. Matt Doorey
Extended Bench/18th man: 18. Joash Papali’i 20. Joey Lussick
Cut: 15. Luca Moretti 21. Dean Hawkins 22. Samuel Loizou
Head Coach: Jason Ryles
Key Ins and Outs
The Dogs welcome back a small army. Three Origin reps – King, Crichton, and Mann – along with Kiraz and Fifita returning from injuries. And the man of the moment, Lachlan Galvin, makes his debut for the club off the bench.
The Eels lose Moretti but regain Penisini, pushing Samrani to the bench and Papali’i to the extended reserves.
Injuries/Suspensions
Dogs - Jacob Preston (R15, suspension), Jack Todd (R16, arm), Jaemon Salmon (R20, ankle). Kiraz returns weeks ahead of schedule.
Eels - Bailey Simonsson, Sam Tuivaiti (R19, ankle), Dan Keir (R18, hamstring).
History Leans Dogs
The Eels have lost 2 of the last 3 against the Dogs, and lost last year’s King’s Birthday game, 22-18.
The Dogs have edged the Eels in their last two, by 4 and 8 points. Will we see another nail-biter?
Dogs Own Mondays
Eels have lost 4 of 5 Monday clashes with the Bulldogs. Can the Eels break the hoodoo?
Their only Monday win against the Dogs came in 2023, a year both teams struggled (Eels 10th, Bulldogs 15th).
Since 2021, the Eels have only won 2 from their last 8 at Accor.
Recent results reverse a seven-year trend (2016-2021) where the Eels dominated winning 8 of 9 at Accor against the Dogs.
What is great about Accor?
The Flying Fox
Josh Addo-Carr has scored 23 tries in 26 games at Accor Stadium. He worked his magic again last week - despite the Eels' short kicking game focused on Lomax's edge.
The Galvin Gamble
The Galvin Circus has sparked a butterfly effect — forcing future reshuffles and potentially pushing several Dogs out. Nevertheless, all eyes will be on the young rockstar as he appears to make his sudden and dramatic Dog's debut.
Image (getty): Toby Sexton's future is up in the air with Galvin potentially taking over at seven - despite Gus Gould claiming Galvin was not in their plans a few weeks ago. This had been foreshadowed for months, with Sexton's delayed re-signing — and arguably for over a year with Luke Vella’s promotion (Galvin's mentor), which coincided with Galvin’s growing discontent at the Tigers.
“Toby knows he’s the master of his own destiny,” Ciraldo said earlier in the week. If he’s playing his best footy and he’s the best option for us to win games then he’ll be in that No.7 jersey.” Perhaps, but to outsiders he appears a dead man walking, playing for a contract elsewhere. Will he put on a show today?
On Galvin, Ciraldo told us earlier in the week, “The first two sessions he’d had here he’s impressed us all with his attitude and his work ethic and if he continues that then he’ll be in the team before long.”
Seems it wasn't long at all. When it comes to the Galvin Show and all its moving pieces, the Dogs' actions talk louder.
Ryles was philosophical about "the game away from the game" yesterday, implying the drama was "good for the game."
“It’s funny how things work out," Ryles summed it up mirrorring Gus' often-used quipp, "Rugby League is a funny game."
Ryley and Reed
Image (getty): Swings and Roundabouts.
Reed Mahoney is another who looks set to be pushed out of the kennel, despite being a key figure in the Dogs' revival in recent years.
The former Eels' grand final rake and former Dogs' captain is up against the Eels' heir apparent Ryley Smith who has been impressive in his debut year.
Kicking Kings
With cool, slippery conditions expected, territory will be king — and that means a blockbuster kicking battle between Matt Burton’s booming left boot and Mitchell Moses’ precision game.
Both playmakers will look to control the tempo, pin the opposition deep, and force errors through pressure and aggressive kick chases.
Centurion Milestone Men
Image (Getty): A quiet achiever in a reshuffled backline, Connor Tracey brings up his 100th NRL game — and the Dogs will be out to make it a milestone to remember.
Tracey’s versatility and reliability have become an asset, and he’ll need to be sharp under the high ball with Josh Addo-Carr and Zac Lomax lurking on Parramatta’s flanks.
Image (Getty): It's the 100th NRL game Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses have played together in the halves.
A Season of Two Halves
Dogs R1–7: 1st place
Scored: 26 ppg (5th)/ Conceded: 9.7 ppg (1st)
Form: WWWWWW-Bye (Won 6 of 6)
Dogs R8–13: Still 1st
Scored: 24 ppg (7th)/ Conceded: 28.8 ppg (15th)
Form: WLWWWL (Won 4 of 6)
Form: LLLLWL (Won 1 of 6)
Form: W-Bye-LLWWL (Won 3 of 6)
The Dogs started on fire, but have dipped. Over the last six weeks (since R8), the Dogs have conceded almost 29 points per game (15th ranked defence).
Still, they keep finding ways to win — the hallmark of a good team.
Final Word
The high-flying Bulldogs haven’t lost back-to-back games all season. They will seek to make a statement — reasserting themselves at the top.
The Eels are quietly becoming one of the NRL’s stingiest defences since Round 7, but they continue to shoot themselves in the foot at crucial moments.
Ryles called last week’s Panthers loss “self-inflicted” — highlighted by bombed chances and crucial errors they didn't defend. More urgent, aggressive kick chases — like the Panthers delivered — could make a world of difference. These have been recurrent issues for the young, rebuilding side.
“The consistency we had at training is starting to come onto the field. We just need to get that scoreboard to tick over our way. It’s all part of the journey," Ryles concluded.
As they rebuild, they have little left to lose this season but pride. Can the Eels finally cash in on their form? Worse still, will their momentum unravel after almost two months of steady improvement?
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.
Replies
Great stuff Hoey.
The imponderables are "have the dogs been effected by the Galvin stuff"
Will Parramatta fall for the subconscious feel of "yeh! but we are still improving"
This game is defining for me with respect to that issue. Threats would seem to be Burton and Kikau, both capable of doing something that we can't control. The other thing is "Moses" is he still carrying leg injuries? Watch to see the line kicking?
There is a bet in this game, Zac Lomax anytime try scorer at $2.20 seems excellent value to me.
I really hope we win this one in front of their fair weather supporters! C'mon footy Gods.
Great work HOE.
Sutton and Atkins in charge is a death sentence for us.
Dogs by 48+
70,000 expected. The officials will favour the dogs. Watch how many 6 agains they get. You can see it now the papers and commentary will be blowing their load over Galvin.
I don't like wishing misfortune on players , so it'd be a real shame if Galvin suffered a season ending injury today.,
good write up Hoe, think this will be a close game, yeah the dogs are leading the comp but I don't see anything exciting about them. If we continue to improve and hold our defence and improve our attack in the red zone we'll win this. Eels to win in a close 1.
Great write up HOE. The Eels as individuals and as a team have been improving each week. This will be a good test for us.
With the bounce of the ball being equal I think we can win this game. I really think we are a danger to the front runners.
Moses needs to nail his long kicking game and our defence needs to be down there in defence. Try a 40/20 now and then early 3rd or 4th keeps the winger back and the one.
Parra by 8.
AI is scathing of our opposition this week. Wow hahaha
Can't see Eels winning this. The NRL and the media won't want to upset the Galvin tainted Gould purchase which has been getting media bashings and Pinocchio Gould's name being tarnished. A win here for doggies will settle the Galvin/Gould dust unfortunately at the Eels expense. Hope I'm wrong but with the listed referees for the game doesn't inspire enthusiasm either.
Hell on wheels , religious person I'm not much of , but I'm kinda preying for the footy gods to send the eels this afternoon some luck our way, if and how we win today I don't know or care , providing we bring attitude, discipline, a little mongrel we can certainly ambush these canines. .. please gods 🙏
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