Image produced by the Eels club
Easter Monday’s traditional clash brings drama both on and off the field as the under-seige Wests Tigers (3W-3L) host the struggling Parramatta Eels (1W-5L) at CommBank.
The Tigers have spent the week under the shadow of the ongoing Isaac-Galvin saga — a soap-opera of conflicting headlines, division, and now bullying-related litigation threats. Galvin’s creative absence looms large. Meanwhile, the Eels welcome back talisman halfback Mitchell Moses and enforcer Jack Williams. It's a timely boost after a bruising 50-12 loss to the Raiders.
The Eels' Moses and Williams are big ins. The Tigers' Galvin is a big out.
Team Lists
Monday, 21 April 2025, CommBank Stadium, 4.00pm AEST
Weather: Expected to be fine, sunny, around 25˚C, 28% humidity, 17km/h winds
Ground: Expected to be good
Sportsbet: $1.72 Wests Tigers, $2.13 Eels
Referees: Liam Kennedy (on-field), Drew Oultram (touchie), Phil Henderson (touchie), Adam Gee (senior review offical, bunker).
Tigers: 1. Jahream Bula 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Brent Naden 4. Starford To’a 5. Luke Laulilii 6. Jarome Luai 7. Adam Doueihi 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Fonua Pole 11. Samuela Fainu 12. Alex Seyfarth 13. Alex Twal
Bench: 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Royce Hunt 16. Jack Bird 17. Sione Fainu
18th Man/Extended Bench: 19. Heath Mason
Cut: 18. Tony Sukkar 20. Kit Laulilii 21. Solomona Faataape 22. Tristan Hope
Head Coach: Benji Marshall
Eels: 1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Josh Addo-Carr 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Sean Russell 5. Bailey Simonsson 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Jack Williams 9. Ryley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Kelma Tuilagi 12. Kitione Kautoga 13. J’maine Hopgood
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker 15. Luca Moretti 16. Matt Doorey 17. Sam Tuivaiti
18th Man/Extended Bench: 19. Joash Papali’i
Cut: 20. Dean Hawkins 21. Brendan Hands 22. Jordan Samrani 18. Ryan Matterson
Head Coach: Jason Ryles
Stat Attack
- The Tigers have won their last three games against the Eels at Commbank Stadium.
- The Eels have won only two of their last eight games at CommBank.
- The Eels have lost two of the last three Easter Monday clashes against the Tigers (after 2021) by a field-goal.
- Since 2021, the results have been split evenly to 3 wins a piece. The last two games have been blowouts (32-6 Tigers win R2 this year, 60-26 Eels win 2024) but the three years prior to that were decided by between 1-8 points. Eels centre Sean Russell has scored four tries in his past four games at CommBank Stadium.
Tigers winger Sunia Turuva (above) has scored seven tries in his last five games including a double in round two against the Eels. How quickly things seemed to have changed in a month for the then-happier seeming Galvin.
Tigers centre Adam Doueihi (above) will make his 100th NRL appearance. He moves from centre back into the halves reshuffle with Galvin's absence.
Last Week Recap
The Eels' pack was underwhelming against the Raiders in round six
Eels:
- Eels were dominated: low possession (44%-56%), poor ball control, low completions (66%-88%), high errors (16-8), lost penalties and six agains (11-6 in total), and poor kick chases; it meant defence was fatigued and crumbled (362-250 tackles) admidst plenty of questionable refereeing decisions
- Eels' struggled with a lack of go-forward (1,393-2090m): Paulo (4 runs, 46m), Hopgood (4 runs, 49m), Guymer (3 runs, 20m), Big Joe (6 runs, 66m)
- Moretti (11 runs, 122m) and Simonsson (19 runs, 197m) stood out.
Tigers:
- Controlled the game, but were lack-lustre in a messy 20-4 win over the bumbling Knights, dominating possesion (57%-43%) field position and red zone opportunities (45-28 tackles in the 20m).
| For | pg | Against | pg | |
| 1 | Storm | 34.3 | Bulldogs | 9.7 |
| 2 | Broncos | 30.0 | Knights | 17.2 |
| 3 | Raiders | 28.0 | Tigers | 18.3 |
| 4 | Sea Eagles | 26.3 | Sharks | 19.0 |
| 5 | Bulldogs | 26.0 | Dolphins | 19.4 |
| 6 | Dolphins | 23.4 | Dragons | 19.7 |
| 7 | Dragons | 23.0 | Broncos | 20.7 |
| 8 | Tigers | 23.0 | Rabbitohs | 21.9 |
| 9 | Sharks | 22.5 | Raiders | 22.0 |
| 10 | Panthers | 22.0 | Storm | 22.7 |
| 11 | Titans | 21.2 | Sea Eagles | 23.4 |
| 12 | Warriors | 19.6 | Warriors | 23.6 |
| 13 | Cowboys | 19.3 | Cowboys | 26.3 |
| 14 | Roosters | 18.3 | Titans | 26.4 |
| 15 | Rabbitohs | 16.7 | Roosters | 27.0 |
| 16 | Eels | 13.2 | Panthers | 28.3 |
| 17 | Knights | 9.2 | Eels | 33.7 |
Current Attack and Defence Ranks (average points per game): The Tigers have improved from the worst attack and defence in 2024, but have faced struggling teams (such as the Knights, Eels) and were put to the sword 46-24 by the Broncos in round five.
Plot and subplots
In the first two rounds of the season the Eels leaked 44 per game, then over the next three rounds they improved to leak 21.3 per game, before leaking 50 last week to hit the canvas again.
Can Moses lift the Eels off the canvas? He can't fix everything. If Moses is on the back-foot on the back of poor ball control, go-forward and kick chases, disapointment looms. The Eels defensive systems are still a work in progress and are unlikely to withstand sustained pressure.
Are the Tigers genuine finals contenders — or just flat-track bullies against weaker teams? Will the Galvin soap affect them?
If the Eels win, it pours gasoline on the Tigers' off-field fires. If the Tigers win without Galvin, it eases some of their pressure and they start to prove a point and put more heat on the Eels' plight. And if we can't win with Moses back and almost at full strength? It's a big game.
Image produced by the Eels club
Benji fronts the media pre-game: "We can only control things internally...whatever happens externally we can't control."
UPDATE: Eels showed impressive goal-line resilience with 11-men (after questionable officiating) to win 38-22, after a spirited Tigers fightback.
- Better ball control (better completions Eels 87%-72%, less errors Eels 7-11, nrl.com stats)
- Far improved go-forward on last week and some power running (e.g. Sam Tuivita, metres Eels 1665m-1384m)
- An origin-standard kicking game from Mitchell Moses (includes a 40/20, try assists off kicks)
- Best attack and exection all year (first time we've had more linebreaks than the opposition 6-5)
On the back of better work with the ball, better ball control, less errors and an Origin-standard kicking game & kick chase both our confidence with the ball in attack and our defensive resilence was far improved. A highlight was the outstanding 11-men goal-line defence with the game on the line (after questionable officiating, yet again, two weeks in a row).
Footnotes: Stats note are supplied by David Middleton, nrl.com, rugby league project, Foxlab and statsinsider
Replies
Huge game this week tbh as we have the bye coming up. Forwards the key here and limit the errors.
Wests under pressure too but Douehi a decent back up and calm.
Let's see if DB can do something outside Moses...
Nice write up HOE
Tigers by 36+
There is a website called stats insider which has NRL try location. It shows where teams score and conceed tries. Parra have scored 69% of tries on the left none in the middle and 31% on the right.
The tigers conceed 50% of their tries on their right which is our best attacking side which is good sign for our attack and in particular JAC but they haven't really faced much quality attack playing us, the warrior and Knights twice so this may be misleading. Our left edge has hardly scored without Moses so expect us to be better there but attacking the tigers right edge defense is the go. They have conceeded only 28% on their left edge and 22% in the middle. Their left edge is 2nd best in comp behind Canterbury
The tigers on the other hand score 56% of their tries on the right side with Lachie Galvin but he is gone. JAC is our best wingers for defence due to his communication so with Lachie gone and an a new combination with Douhei defending on their worse edge, I am confident we can win if we play like we did against the saints or even get close to our performance against the bulldogs.
Thanks HOE - top shelf analysis as always.
Hoping all the drama of the past week destabilises the Tigers rather than unite them.
Tipping the Eels in a high scoring game.... by 8.
We lose again in close game but i hope we win because that be 4 points win
Great read HOE. I always admire your write ups. They're informative and balanced.
May I say that the Tigers have bungled this whole affair. First the senior players are posting negative stuff on social media against the kid and then they're fronting up on national TV to deny making life difficult for him. Poor form.
One other comment I would like to make. Wayne Bennett once commented that Alfie Langer was a once in a generation player but would not make a good coach and the reason for this he stated was Alfie wanted to be 'one of the boys'. You can't be friends with the players Bennett said. You need to keep a professional separation. I think Benji Marshall suffers a similiar disease that will be his downfall ultimately.
Tigers to win by 8. Here's hoping I'm wrong.
Great comments
agree whole heartedly with all of them . I think benji also has an inherently " soft and emotional disposition which could be easily influenced within the team . In this media conference I posted he seemed very authentic with his feelings and you got the vibe he kind of felt extremely wraught being in the middle of Galvin , Luai and api . I doubt confrontation sits very well with him at all tbh
A lot do say one player doesn't change a team completely. But what Moses gives us is confidence and guidance. Errors can come from disorganisation, which is what we've had the first 6 weeks. It can come from trying to create something from nothing.
Will Moses guide us to top 8? No i do not think so but i think we get a few more wins than we all thought to start the year. His kicking in our zone alone is enough to change how we play.
Tigers by 20
I believe we can lift today and redeem ourselves.
We are back home, even though we're the "away" side and Mitch will drive us to lift. Junior was magnificent a few games back and is due to replicate that effort.
Simmo will be fitter for the two games he's had....Tuivati is in/Matto is out and I'm Bullish!
And Brown will be a different person with his partner back.
I'm on are you
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