We host our greatest and longest foe this afternoon. Can our brave 1986 premiership warriors inspire us?
"It's come without warning," Gus Gould told us earlier this week.
He was not referring to our injury list that is around half our squad. A M*A*S*H Unit.
He was talking about this year's madness. The huge increase in restarts and pedantic refereering this year. Manufacturing the Game. Ricky Stuart agrees. He said it's changed the "fabric of the game". Mike Meehall Wood, an insightful anaylst, calls it "enshittification".
The game is on overdrive like never before. The traffic cops have waved their arms off, and no-one knows what's happening and no-one is wearing seatbelts. Welcome to V'landy's Universe.
The Eels' demoralizing 52-10 loss to the Titans last week, stands in stark contrast to the Dogs' upset win against the Panthers; hot premiership favorites. But even more to the Eels 4-2 nail-bitting win over the Dogs in the 1986 decider.
In 1986, most games were decided by 1–12 points. Most were competitive.
Blowouts (20+) happened about 1 in 5 games.
In 2026 to date, blowouts happen 1 in every 2 games.
Games are now rarely built or lost over 80 minutes. They’re lost in bursts of 5-10 minutes of momentum. Restarts. Speed. Fatigue. Death Zones murdering defences.
Teams
Last hour shuffle. For the Eels, Jack De Belin starts at lock. Dylan Walker to bench. Araz Nanva came in for Russell, yesterday. For the Dogs, Josh Curran comes in at centre for Enari Tuala who is cut.
Eels 16th vs Dogs 7th: Sunday, 19 April 2026, CommBank Stadium, 4:05pm (AEDT)
Referee: Liam Kennedy (Referee), Jon Stone (Touch Judge), Grant Atkins (Bunker)
Weather: Sunny, clear, 19–21°C, SE 19-33km/h Humidity 48%
Sportsbet: Dogs $1.21, Eels $4.45. Eels slumped to $126 this week, second-last in premiership market, with the Dragons at $501.
Eels: 1. Joash Papali’i 2. Brian Kelly 3. Viliami Penisini 19. Araz Nanva 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Ronald Volkman 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Luca Moretti 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Charlie Guymer 12. Jack Williams 16. Jack de Belin
Bench: 13. Dylan Walker 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Saxon Pryke 17. Toni Mataele 18. Teancum Brown 20. Lorenzo Talataina
Reserves/Cut: 4. Sean Russell 21. Jezaiah Funa-Luta 22. Mohamed Alameddine
Head Coach: Jason Ryles.
Bulldogs: 1. Connor Tracey 2. Jacob Kiraz 21. Josh Curran 4. Bronson Xerri 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Matt Burton 7. Lachlan Galvin 8. Samuel Hughes 9. Bailey Hayward 10. Leo Thompson 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Jacob Preston 13. Jaeman Salmon
Bench: 14. Kurt Mann 15. Sitili Tupouniua 16. Harry Hayes 17. Jake Turpin 19. Jonathan Sua 20. Lipoi Hopoi
Reserves/Cut: 3. Enari Tuala 22. Alekolasimi Jones 23. Stephen Crichton
Head Coach: Cameron Ciraldo.
Stat Attack
• The Eels have lost their last 3-straight against the Dogs.
• The Eels last beat the Dogs in 2024. And 1986.
• The Eels have leaked 122 points in three-straight losses at CommBank.
• Josh Addo-Carr has scored 11 tries in his last 8 games at CommBank.
• Enari Tuala has scored 6 tries in six games against the Eels.
• Will Penisini has scored 6 tries in 8 games against the Bulldogs.
Moses in the M*A*S*H Unit
“I’ve never really experienced or been a part of a team where we’re so injury bashed up. It’s a different challenge for myself in my football career." Mitch Moses admitted earlier this week.
“Being the captain, it’s something I’m excited for, to try to get us out of it. We’re all walking forward to it, there’s no hiding. It’s clear we weren’t happy with the performance on the weekend, so we don’t want that to happen again.
“Having young kids in, you don’t want to lose your head too much and then it filters down. I’m definitely taking a lot of lessons out of how I’ve been in the past and trying to be better there.
"We’ve got to be better as a whole team; it wasn’t just one person, it was everyone.
Low on troops. Low on Belief. Low on Cohesion and combinations, we're exposing weak-links across the park.
“We’re going to walk forward to the fire and see how we go," Moses said channeling Mr Pepetual Motion.
M*A*S*H's Hawkeye has an additional suggestion: “Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
The Rise of Blowouts (20+ margins, R1-R6)
| Yr | Games | No. | Ratio | % |
| 1986 | 36 | 7 | 1 in 5.1 | 19% |
| 2020 | 48 | 10 | 1 in 4.8 | 21% |
| 2021 | 48 | 14 | 1 in 3.4 | 29% |
| 2022 | 48 | 9 | 1 in 5.3 | 19% |
| 2023 | 48 | 11 | 1 in 4.4 | 23% |
| 2024 | 48 | 13 | 1 in 3.7 | 27% |
| 2025 | 48 | 16 | 1 in 3.0 | 33% |
| 2026 | 48 | 23 | 1 in 2.1 | 48% |
Slow Death Of Close Games (1-12 points, R1-R6)
| Yr | % games | Ratio |
| 1986 | 69% | 1 in 1.4 |
| 2020 | 65% | 1 in 1.5 |
| 2021 | 54% | 1 in 1.9 |
| 2022 | 63% | 1 in 1.6 |
| 2023 | 56% | 1 in 1.8 |
| 2024 | 54% | 1 in 1.9 |
| 2025 | 46% | 1 in 2.2 |
| 2026 | 35% | 1 in 2.8 |
The poles have swapped. The axis reversed.
Replies
If the ref stays out of this we are going to go on with it.
The dogs don't have a half that can control the game.
First 20 of this second half will decide this game.
I wonder if the ref is going to have a bearing.
Be interesting to see how we go when they throw everything at us in this forty now 🤞🤞
The refs are definitely pulling back on the 6 agains. I was rapidly losing interest in watching any NRL with the way it was going, and I'm sure many others feel the same way. Not to mention the serious injuries that are happening all across the teams. You want a great product? You aren't getting that with so many sitting on the sidelines by the NRL speeding up the game and introducing so much fatigue.
Just when they ruined Magic Round a few years back with all the binnings. It has to go completely shit before they react.
Good on the boys for turning up today. Hoping the Dogs are flat after last weeks game against the Riff.
Regardless of the result today, this game so far has 100% proved what an absolute abomination the 6 again rule is and how much it wrecks a game of footy.
No penalty, play the ball
Nanva is the man!
@EA what are Nanvas strengths in the lower grades? He looks like a solid no frills type of player which all clubs need
What you saw today is what he does in reserve grade. Decent air delusion. Plenty of carrys. Tries really hard in everything he does. Does make the odd poor read. The only thing we didn't see is he has the ability to stand a player up sometimes. He gets on ther outside and tries to fend them away to get a line break. It's his pet play. Obviously only comes of sometimes
Lucky we didn't get galvin
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