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
Thanks fellas. Sittin here with the biggest grin on my face. You dug deep today and played tough with a touch of aggression.
What a team, who said they couldn't play. Chuckle. They stood up big time today and made our day.
Our forwards showed we can do this, by chopping anyone in blue and white down, inspired mainlyby De Belin, Junior, Ryley and Saxon Pryke. They were outstanding and after our previous displays of woeful defence it shows Saxon Pryke must be kept in the team. Every other player gained confidence from seeing that and their games improved a lot.
That was especially true of Araz Nanva who followed the lead. We now stand 13th on the ladder and might climb somemore next week but before that Lets Enjoy Belting Those Doggies today
Great win! Showed plenty of heart. Saxon is our steve folks. Matele was great in defence as well. Jdb played his best game for the eels thus far. Jack and Charlie tightened up the edges. Araz made some big plays belongs in first grade. Great game.!!!
Great win. How good was it to watch a game with stuff all 6 agains and penslties. Got home watched the replay andrew voss was pissing me off suggesting the ref let the game flow due to him getting axed weeks ago for blowing to many six agains
Reckon we've seen enough from Nanva, and even Pryke to know they've got what it takes. And definitely seem to be defensively keen which is a huge plus. Pretty much the only one to be let go from yesty would be Kelly for mine. The experienced ones played their hearts out and are very much needed too.
It's pretty clear to most of us we haven't had too much success chasing ready made stars, so why don't we lock ones who've shown they have talent up? And right away. We've shown others what we've got so we need to get to it. Yeah we might still need an odd one here and there but we have finally got great prospects.
what our youngsters are going thru with game time and pressures this year, will hold em in great stead for immediate future.
we can't have both ready made stars and hold onto our many young talents (our RnR abilities and lack of paper bags have shown this doesn't work for us).
Reckon Ryles is absolutely the right one to develop our up and comers and give them faith too. How he got all the guys yesty back to the drawing board (and clearly realised he needed to go what positionaly worked for us), got the experienced leadership perfectly tuned in and the young blokes pumped and defensively solid, was absolutely amazing!
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