The Eels will meet the Sharks this week at Magic Round, interestingly, with both teams returning from games against the West Tigers.
While the Moses lead Eels fought out an incredibly brave 38-22 win based off their defensive efforts, the Sharks lost in Golden Point 20-18 to the Tigers at Leichhardt oval.
The Sharks have now won 2 from their past 5 games, and consecutive losses against the Tigers & Eels could severely dampen their Premiership credentials.
The last time these two teams met the Eels broke a 5 game losing streak to defeat the Sharks 34-22 at CommBank, so it is hard to imagine any complacency will creep into this one for the Sharks.
They will be up for it, will the Eels?
TEAM LISTS
Sharks: 1. Will Kennedy 2. Samuel Stonestreet 3. Jesse Ramien 4. KL Iro 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Brayden Trindell 7. Nico Hynes 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Oregon Kaufusi 11. Briton Nikora 12. Billy Burns 13.
Bench: Cam McInnes 14. Daniel Atkinson 15. Siosifa Talakai 16. Braden Hamlin-Uele 17. Thomas Hazelton
Eels: 1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Bailey Simonsson 3. Will Penisini 4. Sean Russell 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitch Moses 8. Jack Williams 9. Riley Smith 10. Junior Paulo 11. Charlie Guymer 12. Kitione Kautoga 13. J’maine Hopgood
Bench: 14. Dylan Walker 15. Luca Moretti 16. Matt Doorey 17. Sam Tuivaiti
LAST GAME RECAP
The Eels currently sit 16th and have the worst defensive record, so is it 'Unicornian' to claim there has been defensive improvement from previous seasons?
Defensively, the 2025 Eels just look & ‘feel' far more connected?
Between the 57:10min mark & the 72:20 min mark:
The Eels had 3 sets compared to the Tigers 10 sets, while defending with either 11 or 12 players, yet the Tigers only points came from kicks as they unable to break the goal line defence or create overlaps on the edges - which, is pretty extraordinary considering what we’ve seen over the past few years.
As Coryn has mentioned on the site, the work ethic defensively from the inside has improved dramatically, being lead by Ryley Smith & Jack Williams.
The edges are remaining patient & communicative, there is no panic & players breaking structure to jam in.
While it will likely be a rollercoaster this year, the Eels defensive system, and their trust in that system & one another, looks to have finally improved & there are clear signs of what Ryles & Co. are trying to build with resilience.
The other big area of improvement in 2025 has been:
THE BACK THREE
We all know the importance of the back 3 in the modern game - kick returns, metres, field position, where your sets start & end, and of course, ability to finish opportunities in attack.
But what about the snowball effect these positions have on defence & defensive workload, especially for a teams forward pack?
The work of a teams back 3 allows the forward pack valuable time in the early tackles of a set, impacting energy & fatigue, which in turn impacts the power in their runs & more importantly, their ability to defend & hold the middle.
So how much of the Eels developing defence is stemming from the work of their back 3 - Iongi, Simonsson & Lomax?
The improvement from the past few seasons has been monumental.
Another point worth noting, in 2024 especially, many of us were frustrated with the lack of support running on half breaks. This is not an attack on Gutho, he pushed his body to its limits, but there were signs it was letting him down & in turn letting the Eels down in this area.
So, with the Eels back 3 working overtime, how are they sitting dead last for Metres Gained overall, and dead last for Post Contact Metres?
The Eels currently have no forwards, front row or edge, in the Top 50 for Runs or Run Metres across the league.
The Eels are also ranked number 1 across the league for metres gained from their back 3 verse the rest of their team, which, considering the Eels sit dead last in Metres overall, is not a great sign of what they are getting from the engine room offensively.
What makes these stats so important this week is the Eels opponent, the Sharks…
WHERE IT CAN BE WON
While the Eels sit 17th for Run Metres & Runs, the Sharks sit:
The Sharks currently have 5 players inside the Top 50 for Run Metres (average).
Addin Fonua-Blake (19th), Ronaldo Mulitalo (30th), Sam Stonestreet (35th), Jesse Ramien (43rd) & Will Kennedy (46th).
Further to this, the Eels only 2 wins so far this season have come in games they ran for more metres than their opponent.
While most games are won in the middle, the middle battle is vital in this one, and the Eels middle forwards are going to have to lift for the Eels to win.
CONCLUSION
We’ve had to temper expectations this season, and remain patient, and while there are really positive signs, can the Eels follow up their emotional win over the Tigers with another (bigger) upset?
Containing the Sharks metres has to be the Eels first priority… With Blake Bailey leading the league in Dummy Half Runs, discipline around the ruck will be vital.
Frustrate the Sharks, and they can be prone to errors - they sit 2nd across the league in Handling Errors.
With Moses back, the Eels have the points in them, but can Junior & Co. match Addin Fonua-Blake & Co?
That might define the winner in this one.
Who wins this one Eels fans, and how?
Replies
We lose but appreciate the effort and fight of the team. Just shows we still do not have the right roster and missing edge rowers. Hopefully when Lomax is back, we can do much better. Consider that there are many youngsters in the team and are rookies.
Kautoga had 1 error, 1 six again and 1 penalty.
We are an improving team and need to keep doing so, I hope the young guys don't get down and throw the towel in, it's a long season but they have to look at it as their opportunity to learn and improve for nest year, it's up to the older experienced guys to keep their attitude good and encourage the youngsters.
Now the elephant in the room, hopgood, he is not playing good at all and anyone that thinks he is is kidding themselves. I wouldn't drop he completely but I would move him to the bench and promote walker to the starting side.
I said similar in another blog. Walker is what we need at 13. Hopgood to the front row. Simplify his game. Run hard, quick play the ball. That's it. Walker's ball playing in the middle is by far our better option.
The concerns in the room are:
Samrani and Tuilagi may overtake both backrowers soon is my prediction
Another concern is longi dropping bombs, he has dropped a couple this year that were really not difficult. He is only young and inexperienced at this level so should improve with time so hopefully he does.
Yea it's a shame because I thought he was brilliant till than
He's one of those "I have to jump as high as I can regardless of whether anyone is near me" players... half the time there is zero need to leave the ground and he makes it harder for himself.
Iongi is definitely not the finished product. I realise it's only early days for him but he's got a few issues to work on. The dropped ball is one if he wants to be considered elite, he needs to rarely drop a bomb particularly when it's uncontested.
His support play needs work. Watch the highlights and twice we made line breaks through the middle with offloads, both times Moses ran into the backfield and both times Iongi was nowhere to be seen. I looked for him and on both occasions he's parked on the left edge waiting for a left edge shift. I can guarantee any quality NRL FB is watching the play unfold and they get themselves into that play as support. Gutho did it all the time, Papenhuyzen sniffs around the middle constantly as does Tedesco. Good FB's anticipate line breaks. Iongi hasn't shown that yet and he needs to get there.
The bomb diffusal is hurting, unfortunately for Iongi his errors hurt more than others being the last line of defence... but a positive is he is getting himself back into position & catching the next one.
Iongi is learning arguably one of / if not the toughest position in the modern game, he's doing it a team running second last and with Gutho leaving, he has no fullback mentor at the club - Gutho would've been huge for his development this season.
Those things considered, he's doing a great job & most importantly is getting better week to week.
His positioning will improve, the errors will lower & his metres, passing game & general attack is already very good.
Mutt, some fair criticisms, but there is no way on earth Gutho is there on those line breaks. Gutho's support play was non existent in 2024, and it hurt us.
Iongi will get there, but it's going to take more than 9 games for him to read the game & position himself at elite levels. He's showing a lot of promise.
-
24
-
25
-
26
-
27
-
28
of 28 Next