“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
Errors. End of story. The rest is a direct result of errors. We were always going to get run over in the final 20, the boys were done. What we saw after that point is kind of irrelevant. We can't be making dumb errors coming out of our own end. Hopgood, Penisini, Williams etc. just happens too regularly with you boys. Sort it out.
Lack of cattle: We can't win any games if we don't make decent yards through the middle. We've got Jnr.....and that's it. Everyone else is a makeshift middle who are more comfortable on an edge. Today we had Williams and Kautogo in the middle. Both should own their respective edges and be left to create combinations there. But we're moving players in and out left and right because the cupboard is bare with our recruitment. I said it before Round 1 and here we are. We must go to market and get some middles and soon.
A for effort. Credit where it's due. But there's no award for almost good enough.
Yep the errors was the main story of this one for us. Of course the refs sided with the dogs that was always going to happen but our errors gave us no chance in 2nd half
This☝️
There is an echo in the room. Exactly!
Yes we can we've been doing it pre season and we are still doing it now.
You can call it learning whatever you like I hate it because after the Newcastle pre season and the excitement generated man I saw those errors and knew it wasn't good enough to be competitive in Melbourne.
We got flogged and we got flogged tonight doing the same shit we've been doing from the jump.
There are plenty of playres not living up to it (Hopgood, Penisini, Brown to name a few). And the likes of Iongi, Smith, Kautoga while doing great still have brain farts in them.
But it was margins. Williams droppin the ball on the break after Walker try. Lomax and Hopgood dropping the ball during sets. It doesn't mean we would've won, but we would've made it much closer and relieved pressure.
We were playing away next to competition leaders who have just signed the hottest property in rugby league. And they had 65% possession and couldn't break us until the last 15 mins or so. And even then through offloads and after 3-4 sets on the relay.
PLENTY of work needed to improve.
And Ryles needs to learn too. He left Tuilagi too long, as just on example. It's far from perfect.
Jason Taylor was an astute hiring by Gould. You can see him anylising in the box , shit head coach , fantastic assistant.
He's Melbournes version of Mark Brentnall who no one talks about.
Was hoping Taylor would've got the Perth gig.
Lomax was solid most of the game besides the error. Can't blame him for the loss
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