Eels Blogs

The Kaizen Way 改善. Constant Improvement. All for One, One for All.

That journey continues tonight against the high-flying fifth-placed Broncos on a five-game winning streak are looking to win five-straight against the Eels for the first time since 1992. Perhaps, triple-five is the new triple-six as the Eels battle to dodge the dreaded spoon.

Reinforcements arrive. The Broncos gets Haas, Jensen and Arthurs back. The Eels regain Penisini, Moretti and Mitchell Moses for his seventh game this year. Momax is back. Still Warming up. It helps ease Eels pain of losing Iongi. This season appearing destined to be one where a full-strength Eels squad is less sighted than Bigfoot.

Team Lists

Brisbane Broncos vs Parramatta Eels, 8pm AEST, Friday July 24th, 2025, Suncorp Stadium
Weather: Some cloud cover, rain unlikely (unless you're an Eels' fan), around 15˚C, 6-11km/h winds, 68% humidity
Ground: Expected to be good
Sportsbet: $1.21 Broncos, $4.45 Eels
Referees: Todd Smith (on-field), Phil Henderson (touch judge), David Outram (touch judge), Ashley Klein (senior review official, bunker)

Broncos: 1. Reece Walsh 2. Josiah Karapani 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Gehamat Shibasaki 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Xavier Willison 9. Ben Hunt 10. Payne Haas 11. Brendan Piakura 12. Jordan Riki 13. Patrick Carrigan
Bench: 14. Billy Walters 15. Kobe Hetherington 16. Corey Jensen 17. Jack Gosiewski
18th man/reserves: 18. Tyson Smoothy  
Cut: 19. Deine Mariner 20. Selwyn Cobbo 21. Ben Talty 22. Jaiyden Hunt

Eels: 1. Joash Papali’i 2. Zac Lomax 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Sean Russell 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dean Hawkins 7. Mitchell Moses 8. J’maine Hopgood 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Charlie Guymer 12. Jack Williams 13. Dylan Walker
Bench: 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Luca Moretti 16. Matt Doorey 17. Sam Tuivaiti
18th man/reserves: 19. Jordan Samrani  
Cut: 18. Dan Keir 20. Bailey Simonsson 21. Toni Mataele 22. Dylan Brown

Recent History Grimaces

Eels have lost 4-straight to the Broncos.

Eels have conceded almost 40 points per game in last three clashes vs Broncos (38pg).

Eels average losing margin vs Broncos is 22 points over the last three games.

At Suncorp, the Eels have lost 5 of their last 6; Broncos have won 7 of 10 there this year.

Milestone Watch

Addo-Carr: Will he break the drought? He needs one more to hit 150 NRL tries. He hasn't scored in a month since R17 (see above, Getty Images).

Reynolds, Captain Courageous, needs 14 points to hit 2500 career points (Getty Images).

The rejuvenated journeyman Shibasaki has 8 tries in his last 6 Suncorp games (centre above, Getty Images).

Edge of Disaster

Get the fire extinguishers ready.

Statsinsider shows the Broncos right edge (Staggs' bull-like charges, Arthurs' hair, Reynolds scheming) seems lethal, and should pose issues for the Eels' left-edge (Hawkins, Russell, the Fox). But it's the Broncos left-edge (Karapani, Shibasaki, Mam) where the points have been scored, while the Eels leak the most on their right (Moses, Penisini, Lomax). 

Broncos
Score:  55% left / 19% middle   /  27% right
Leak:    39% left  /  22% middle /  39% right

Eels
Score: 42% left /  11% middle  /  47% right
Leak:   34% left /  16% middle  /  50% right

Joash Papali'i shifts from six to one, while Dean Hawkins steps into six (3 NRL games there v Joash's 2).

The Future is Still Now, With a Plot Twist

Ryles is sticking with the Kaizen Future is Now theme. There's no going Back to Brown for now. But Ryles never said never. Dylan still claws onto a possible inclusion come the final hour in the top 19.

This week it's Hawkins turn at six with Joash returning to his more comfortable fullback position. Another candidate? Last week, Ryles praised Joash for doing ‘some good things’ at six. He’s shown a deft short-kicking game (setting up Russell last week in the 37'), but it's a bit unrealistic to expect too much of the 21-year-old. Additionally,  Joash’s explosive Cup-level running game hasn’t yet translated into first grade. At times his defence has been found out when isolated. But, not something unusual for a rookie with a handful of games.

So what are Joash's 'Future' prospects at six? The 'Now' has mixed signals. Or is he depth cover for one? A future utility? Will the future six be Hawkins, Twiddle, Hunter, or another unforeseen rookie? It's too early for Iongi to be considered. Or does the answer lie in a yet-to-be-named recruit?

The Goethe Dilemma

In the 18th century's Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, Goethe warned that 'too many options and choices can lead to confusion and indecision'. Cohesion alert.

The young Wilhelm, not unlike Joash and a few of our rookies, is trying to find his way amidst the illusions of freedom and an abundance of tempting directions.

In a way, the Eels mirror Wilhelm’s journey: full of youthful exuberance, potential and artistic expression. Expansive footy. Pretty. Young. Brave. But like Goethe's protagonist, often betrayed by harsh real-world realities.

Poor ball-handling and error counts (top-four highest for both, via nrl stats). Poor completions (bottom five). Getting dominated through the middle (bottom four for run metres per game). Getting pinged more by referees these days (seventh-highest for penalties conceded). Playing on the back foot exposes our kick chases, which are still far from Panther-esque. We're often losing the grind, despite staying in the arm wrestle until exhaustion.

Doorey makes a linebreak but his lone support is too far behind (Getty Images)

Small Moments, Big Consequences

Here are some missed opportunities last week. What is the common theme in each? Check the highlights and compare our busts to the Raiders.

• 10' The Fox almost scores after picking up a sublime Hawkins kick as he's held up; naturally there was no effective support.
• 11' The Fox makes a 60-70m linebreak with only Papalii late in support and in the wrong position, swamped by Green jerseys.
• 16' Dylan Walker busts the line, but has no support as he's mowed down 20m from the Raiders' line.
• 22' Lomax takes an intercept, then jags and weaves 70m upfield, UFC wrestling a Green-army, looking for support no-where to be found before getting swallowed whole by Green jerseys 30m out.
• 31' Doorey makes a 50m break from the Eels red zone off a deft Hopgood short ball;  running like a pepped-up-gazelle checking left-right side mirrors for non-existent support with Da Silva late to the party.
• Note: The Raiders made 8-0 linebreaks in the second-half, with 4 of those in the final eight minutes (nrl.com). The second-half was an Eels' horror-show (32% territory, 35% possession, 217-123 tackle-count against us via Foxlab).

Hypothetical. We convert three of those five opportunites and we're leading 34-22 (instead of behind 22-16) with eight to go. Better Support. Better execution. More ball for us, less for them. Less tackles for us, more for them. Less fatigue for us, more for them. More wins.

Lomax played Prop last week

Second-Half Collapses

Over the last two weeks, rounds 19-20, the second-half scoreline hasn't been an oil painting. 20-0, 28-0. End-of-season fatigue setting in? Fitness issues? Mental issues? Is 2024 returning where we practically lost every last quarter?

Let's stand back. 

Those last two games were against the Raiders (1st) who have won 13 of their last 14 on an eight-game winning streak and Panthers (6th), four-peat champions on a six-game winning streak. Against the Panthers, it was 22-16 with under 8 minutes to play before the spectacular seven-minute nose-dive. 

Overall, we've lost about half (8 of 17) of our second halves this year. Almost all of those second-halves lost (8 of 9) were to the current best-nine teams (Canberra twice, Penrith twice, Dogs, Cronulla, Dolphins, Manly). 

In contrast, most of the second-halves we won (5 of 8) were against current bottom-eight team (Tigers, Knights, St George twice, Titans). Only three times have we won second halves against top-eight teams (Melbourne, Manly, Dogs).

Takeaways? It suggests is we're not able to keep up with the best often enough. Ergo, rather than being a 2024-like perfected habit of second-half implosions, we more often than not get out-grinded by the best even when we're in the arm wrestle. 

Final Word

Goethe's rookie Wilhelm Grew. Matured into Reality. Small changes. Gradually. Eventual Transformation. He was Kaizen. Maybe the Eels will too. Iongi, Joash, Smith, Guymer, Tautoga, Da Silva, Tuivaiti are the future with more to come. There is improvement. A faithfulness to The Kaizen Commitment. But we need more. To own the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, tonight looms. It cares naught for future nor ideology. History suggests more pain against yet another team running red-hot. Still, Wilhelm can't ever surrender hope nor fight.

PS: Currently, Sportsbet has the Eels as second favorites for the Spoon ($5.50) after the Titans ($1.72), while the Rabbits ($6) and Knights ($7) round up the top-four shoe-ins.