The under-strength Eels face a hostile crowd, bitter Wollongong winds, old demons, and fired-up Dragons side simmering in drama.
Could this be happening? The Dragons finally escape Parramatta. They will host the Eels at home for the first time since 2019 — after meeting the Eels at Commbank for six-straight years.
Former Eels King-pin Gutho and former Dragons star Lomax clash against their old clubs — for the second time. The Eels won the first in a round-five nailbiter off a Lomax field-goal in extra time.
The bye-refreshed Dragons will be hell-bent on honouring the milestones of Klemmer (250th) and Guler (100th) and redemption on their home turf — after conceding 86 points in their last two games.
The Eels have steadily worked their way into the season and while they have missed injured skipper Mitchell Moses, rookies Isaiah Iongi and young playmaker Joash Papali’i have impressed in their debut campaigns. It's been a season of blooding rookies.
Round Seventeen is an orgy of thematic collisions — youth vs experience, undermanned vs strengthened, old kings, new kings, rebuilds, revenge, redemption,
Team Lists
St George Illawarra Dragons vs Parramatta Eels
Saturday, 28 June 2025 | 5.30pm AEST | WIN Stadium
Weather: Expected fine, around 12˚C, 82% humidity, 9-15km/h Northerly winds
Ground: Expected good
Sportsbet: $1.64 Saints, $2.26 Eels (Wednesday night)
Referees: Liam Kennedy (on-field), Liam Kennedy (touch judge), Dave Munro (touch judge), Chris Butler (bunker)
Dragons: 1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Corey Allan 3. Moses Suli 4. Valentine Holmes 22. Nathan Lawson 6. Lyhkan King-Togia 7. Kyle Flanagan 8. Emre Guler 9. Damien Cook 10. David Klemmer 17. Luciano Leilua 12. Jaydn Su’A 13. Jack de Belin
Bench: 11. Toby Couchman 14. Jacob Liddle 15. Hamish Stewart 16. Viliami Fifita
18th man: 18. Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga
Players cut: 19. Lachlan Ilias 20. Blake Lawrie 21. Nicholas Tsougranis 5. Christian Tuipulotu
Eels: 1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Zac Lomax 3. Jordan Samrani 4. Sean Russell 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dylan Brown 7. Dean Hawkins 8. Jack Williams 9. Joey Lussick 10. Junior Paulo 11. Kelma Tuilagi 12. Kitione Kautoga 13. J’maine Hopgood
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker 15. Matt Doorey 16. Charlie Guymer 17. Joash Papali’i
18th man: 18. Dan Keir
Players cut: 19. Toni Mataele 20. Brendan Hands 21. Ronald Volkman 22. Samuel Loizou
Dragons — are boosted by the key returns of Valentine Holmes and Jaydn Su’A. Winger Corey Allan return from hamstring injuries. Christian Tuipuloto drops out with Nathan Lawson taking his place.Viliami Fifita plays his first NRL game in 2025.
Eels — Dylan Brown returns from suspension which sees Joash Papalii revert to the bench. Jordan Samrani starts for the suspended Will Penisini. Joey Lussick comes in for the suspended Ryley Smith.
Semi Trailer Suli: The Red-Vs are full of big boppers and experience
The Eels are under-strength, while the Dragons are about full-strength.
Injuries/ Suspensions
Dragons — Mathew Feagai (ankle, R20), Raymond Faitala-Mariner (ill, TBC), Ryan Couchman (ACL, season), Dylan Egan (ACL, season)
Eels — Bailey Simonsson (Foot, R19), Sam Tuivaiti (ankle, R19), Mitchell Moses (calf, R20), Luca Moretti (ankle, R20), Ryley Smith (Suspension, R20), Will Penisini (Suspension, R21)
Forever Iongi time: Budding superstar rookie Isaiah Iongi stepped up last week — turning heads and shaping as one of the buys of the year
The WIN Curse
The Eels — have lost 4 of their last 5 at Wollongong — last playing there in 2018.
Surf's Up. Dragons have that WINning feeling at home.
Bookies Say Dragons, Form Says Eels, History Shrugs
The bookies are leaning towards the Dragons ($1.64) aided by a home ground advantage against an understrength Eels missing six top-liners.
This season, the Dragons have been stronger at home (3/6) than away (2/5).
They’ve never lost a home game by more than 8 points this year. All their heavy losses were away.
Dragons v Eels: At Home — won 12 /17 (71%) | Away — 12 / 26 (46%)
Form? The Eels have won 3 from their last 5 games, compared to the Dragons’ 2 from 4.
The Eels are coming off a 36-20 win over the Titans last week, while the Dragons were smashed by the Dolphins 56-6 (R14) and threw away a halftime lead against the Sharks to lose 30-18 (R15).
Form since round ten (R11-16)
Eels: Attack—7th (23.2pg) | Defence—5th (16.8pg)
Saints: Attack—13th (18.5pg) | Defence— 14th (29.5pg)
History? The ghosts of Wollongong say Dragons. But, the Eels have slayed the Dragons over 4-straight games and 7 of their last 9 encounters — albeit mostly at home.
Lomax the Dragon Slayer: Who could forget his field goal and penalty goal in a golden-point thriller in Round five (Eels won 23-22). Eat your heart out Buffy.
Mostly tight, but a few blowouts
The last three encounters between these two teams have been close affairs — decided by 1-6 points. Between these two, over the last eight years, since 2018:
Most have been close — 1 to 14-point margins (80%, 8 of 10 games)
A few blowouts — 34-plus margins (20%, 2 of 10 games)
A Battle Of Exes: Ryles is up against his old club while alleged new Eels' recruit Jack De Belin edges closer to his 250th.
Dragon Lover: The Fox has scored 9 tries in 7 games against the Dragons.
Breathing Fire: The Flanagans are feeling the heat.
Pressure, Pride & Points to Prove
Is there unrest in the Saints camp? With Lachlan Ilias firing in Reggies, Kyle Flanagan is under pressure, with dad Shane watching and critics whispering 'nepotism' much to Shane's visible ire. Eels fans know that feeling.
The desperate Dragons face two recent floggings, a sea of drama, and milestones to honour on home turf. Will Flanagan's fire-breathers smoke the understrength Eels or self combust?
Parramatta, meanwhile, smell momentum. A rare chance to notch back-to-back wins, even without star skipper Mitchell Moses and several key outs. They'll need to avoid shooting themselves in the foot — they've made more errors than the opposition in 9 of 14 games. It's a young team filled with rookies and they've been up for the better part of two months now facing a more experienced and physically imposing side hellbent on scorching the earth. Will the undermanned Eels break the WIN curse or drop their bundle?
Brothers In Arms: It's All Hands on Deck
Footnotes
What would the table look like, after round ten (R11-R16)?
The Cowboys have taken the biggest nosedive, while the Panthers and the Dolphins are the big movers up — while the Eels have been steady.
Stats are sourced from David Middleton, nrl.com, rugby league project, Foxlab and statsinsider
Replies
Don't understand why bunker can't review that either. Didn't they use bunker on Jarryd's beautiful SOO try years back or am I dreamin' ha
That's ridiculous, a ref's call can be challenged, but a linesman can't be challenged, in other words, he has more sway than the ref.
Yup, crazy and dumb rule. Do they think it was an affront on the touchies 'integrity'.
Our worst first half start of the year for sure...they must learn a lot from it and never ever let that happen again. Honestly thought they looked like they'd had a night on tiles or worse :(
Yes, it should never happen again and Ryles should let the whole team know that it ends tonight.
Joash looked alot more involved this week. Hopefully he continues to improve and starts at 5/8 next year
Kelma suspension probably coming to but will get Moretti + Tuaviti back and Bailey as well
The first half and fact we couldn't score with all that possession for 1 last try shows we are still a fair way off. Few dodgy calls and I don't know why the bunker wasnt allowed to decide the JAC try but probably wouldnt have been given anyway. More concerning was how often can they run Lomax off the ball. I counted 5 where defence changed their direction to stop Lomax getting to the ball.
We had players out but when our only play was to kick for Lomax we need to get others backing him up for a tap back. A few opportunities lost when he tapped it back and it went over head of the only players backing him up.
Kick it to Lomax is about 0/16 success rate tonight. By Rd 25 he might actually catch one. He might be able to barge 200m from 38 hit ups and be sub 50% goal kicking, but regularly does dumb things. We are king of the bums as usual.
He had a few he knocked back, but our players couldn't get to the ball. More players need to back him up.
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