“Can you salvage something from this season?” the reporter asked Jason Ryles yesterday.
“Absolutely. It’s about our younger players’ exposure to NRL every week," Ryles replied without hesitation.
“They are getting a lot of lessons at the moment.”
“The only way you get fifty games of experience is to play fifty games.”
“Izzy, Tallyn, Sam Tuivaiti, Kautoga. We need those players to keep going.”
“We’re on a different part of our journey to a lot of teams.”
“We want to win every week, but it’s important our younger players get exposure to NRL and to keep building.”
That journey continues this afternoon against the Eels' second oldest rivals. Meeting No. 155.
Teams Lists
Eels 15th vs. Manly 6th, 2pm, Sunday, 5 July, CommBank,
Weather: Expected to be fine.
Odds: Eels are the biggest outsiders of the round. Manly $1.38, Eels $3.10.
Referees: Grant Atkins (on-field), Drew Oultram (touchie), Ashley Klein (bunker).
Eels: 1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Brian Kelly 3. Jordan Samrani 4. Sean Russell 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Ronald Volkman 7. Jonah Madge Pezet 15. Sam Tuivaitii 9. Tallyn Da Silva 10. Jack Williams 11. Kelma Tuilagi 12. Kitione Kautoga 13. Jack de Belin
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker16. Teancum Brown 17. Harrison Edwards 18. Joash Papali’i 19. Charlie Guymer 22. Toni Manly Mataele
Reserves/Cut TBC: 8. Luca Moretti 20. Apa Twidle 21. Ryley Smith
Head Coach: Jason WalkyTalky Ryles
Eagles: 1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jason Saab 3. Clayton Faulalo 4. Reuben Garrick 5. Lehi Hopoate 6. Joey Walsh 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Taniela Paseka 9. Jake Simpkin 10. Kobe Hetherington 11. Corey Waddell 12. Ben Trbojevic 13. Jake "Magneto" Trbojevic
Bench: 14. Josh Feledy 15. Nathan Brown 16. Ethan Bullemor 17. Simione Laiafi 18. Aaron Schoupp 19. Zaidas Muagututia
Reserves/Cut TBC: 20. Hugo Hart 21. Blake Wilson 22. Fletcher Baker
Head Coach: Master Foz
Stat Attack
The Eels have won 6 from 7 against Manly at CommBank.
The Eels have won only 1 of their last 6 games without Mitch Moses.
Jason Saab has scored 7 tries in his last 6 games.
The Eels have averaged just 15.3 points per game since Round 13 with Mitchell Moses largely sidelined through injury. While the attack has struggled, their defensive resolve has gradually improved as the season has progressed.
Deadly Sins
Losing close, winnable games against Newcastle, Wests Tigers and Canterbury effectively ended any chance of building on last year's late-season improvement.
Injuries, constant changes in combinations, an inexperienced spine and individual lapses have all contributed. But three recurring issues continue to hurt Parramatta at both ends of the field.
• Errors and poor execution of basic fundamentals.
• Too much sideways football and insufficient ruck momentum, leaving the forwards struggling to generate yardage.
• An inconsistent kicking game and kick chase. Without dominant yardage, the Eels generally need more than 600 kicking metres simply to stay in the contest. Against South Sydney they managed just 59 second-half kicking metres.
Against Souths we made 18 errors.
Even Penrith, the benchmark club of the past five seasons, struggle to win with that level of ball security. Their only three defeats this year have come in matches where they made between 16 and 17 errors.
De Juva: Second-Half Self-Sabotage
The Eels were right in the contest at halftime.
By the 45th minute it was locked at 12-12, with the error count also level at seven apiece.
Then came 35 minutes of self-inflicted damage. 39% possession, 47% completions, and a mountain of errors to hand our heads to Souths on a platter.
The score blew out from 12-12 to 32-12.
It mirrored the Round 8 loss to Manly.
The Eels trailed only 7-6 at halftime before another second-half Death Zone proved fatal.
47'–56'
Manly possession: 70%
Sets: 14-3
Tries: 4-0
The score blew out from 7-6 to 27-6 in that ten minute period.
Bottom Line
Last week, the Eels finally hit the canvas after eight weeks of keeping their gloves up. Can they bounce back, or will the season begin to spiral further?
The already depleted Eels will again be without Mitchell Moses, while Manly are missing Olakau'atu, Koula and Brooks.
Despite absentees, Fozball is sitting pretty. Master Foz's charges enter as hot favourites. Since Round 5, Manly have owned the best defence and the fourth-ranked attack. They will look to dominate the middle, roll through the ruck, and create momentum, chaos and space for their halves, Turbo and their speed merchants.
Jason Ryles isn't hiding from reality. This season has become less about immediate results and more about accelerating the development of Parramatta's next generation.
Those lessons are valuable. Often painful.
Rebuilding is easier in theory than living through it.
Today's result matters. But the bigger question is whether the next generation learns enough to become the team Ryles envisions.
Especially when every defeat makes the calls for change grow louder.
Replies
Great write up HOE. I get what Ryles is saying but by the same token why not give Nanva a go in the centres to replace Russell and one of our young forwards on the bench to replace Mataele.
If he's talking about getting exposure to first grade then why not give some young guys a run in positions where players are leaving. It's not like Russell or Mataele are setting the world on fire so what do we have to lose
Fair point Alfred, I understand earlier saying he doesn't want to put them in too early but also has done it in the past and now they need to learn.
Thanks Alfred. Brave upset win by the Eels. They finally got some reward for their fight.
If Manly dont hit 50 on a fine day in Sydney, ill be extremely surprised. They'll get to 40 easily 100% without doubt.
Then the know it all's will come out and criticise Ryles, and not understand how Sarantinos and o'neill have left us with the worst roster in the competition by 10 lengths.
Then consider next year where the roster isn't any better..
We have podcasts and fan sites protecting these people and its very obvious why names haven't been named. Full stop.
I know of one podcast on you tube that hasn't mentioned O'neill or Sarantinos or the recruitment manager once, not once. They aren't real fans, they are more concerned about themselves
Yeah how dare someone criticize a coach for a poor team performance, not like you've ever done that bef.....oh.
Also question, when news comes on about world disasters and cost of living, do you watch and say "what is this world coming to where this is news, yet MON and Sarantinos have jobs still? Absolute sickening, that's should be the top story"
Lol. What's the world news have to do with the Parramatta football club. I have my own views on the cost of living
Chiefy doyou live on your own . If not i pity any poor bastard that is unfortunate to have to listen to to your over and over going's on and on .
Bobbie, he is definitely not coming to the nursing home or any seances, Sluggy would haunt him for a full pre season!.....wait to the twin's get together and then the 3 amigoes.....it will be dancing on the ceiling times!
Definitely Barred
No, I have 5 wives. They all follow soccer and netball
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