The majority of rugby league media and expert commentary has been bullish about the Eels under Jason Ryles in his first year, with some believing they could be finals contenders as early as next season. Yet, predictably, the knives are already out.
A Lie
Following the Eels’ 20–16 loss to Souths last week, and with their ladder position showing seven wins to date, the same as last year, The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie declared that Parramatta’s ‘Remarkable Revival’ is a Lie.
Ritchie has been highly critical of the club, including their controversial decision to move on talismanic captain Clint Gutherson. Many on this site agreed with some of his views, and many have been equally and consistently critical of the club.
“Parramatta is like a selfie with a filter. It looks great but you know it’s make-believe,” Ritchie mocked.
His comments were soon debated on NRL 360 (a video link). Although Braith Anasta didn’t fully agree with Ritchie, he admitted the Eels had “fallen off their perch a bit” after recent losses.
Disagreed
Michael Carayannis, Ritchie’s Daily Telegraph colleague, disagreed. He praised Ryles for making tough decisions, moving on some veterans to give younger players a chance.
“I don’t think they are being as comprehensive as some have made out but I don’t think it’s been doom or gloom either,” Carayannis said.
“Look at Mitch Moses. How many games has he played, nine? The fact they’ve got a rookie fullback."
“There’s been so much change, they’ve had the Dylan Brown turmoil going on. They have cleared out the joint. Ryan Matterson isn’t there, Joe Ofahengaue, Shaun Lane. These were guys that started the season now out the door already."
“I think they’re building. You can see the structure of play Jason Ryles is trying to introduce. The gameplay in the middle of the field, the sharp back line movements.
“They’ve unearthed a gem in Isaiah Iongi. We’re going to be looking back in 5–10 years time and judging Jason Ryles on the first call that he made and that was to move on Clint Gutherson to sign Iongi,” Carayannis concluded.
Bullish
An optimistic Gus Gould added his voice this week on Six Tackles, thinking the Eels could push into the 2026 finals.
“Parramatta are building nicely. There are some good kids there."
“You have another off-season under the coach. Yeah. Why can’t Parramatta make a run at the eight next year?”
But Gould also stressed the importance of Mitchell Moses.
“What I like most about is their attitude in defence and the structures and the principles that they’re consistently doing.
“Going back six or eight weeks ago, just looking some of their attacking play. They were moving the ball well. They weren’t getting it right, but they persevered. They knew they were on the right track. They just weren’t executing in games. Now, they’re starting to execute a little bit in games and points are coming. That builds to confidence,” Gould told his co-host.
A few weeks ago, Matty Johns and Billy Moore also tipped the Eels to be pushing for finals next season after their close loss to the Storm. Johns even suggested they could win a title under Ryles.
Others, like James Graham, remain lukewarm, somewhat sitting on the fence, not yet fully convinced.
My position remains much the same as it was at the start of the year: the Ryles era needs time before anyone throws it under the bus. It’s only Year One. Despite being anti-rookie last year, Ryles and the new era has shown promise. With another offseason, we should see improvement, particularly in reducing errors and tightening some fundamentals which have let us down this year. Greater cohesion should follow in theory.
Of course, much depends on Mitchell Moses, his captaincy, staying healthy and on filling key roster gaps, especially at six and in the forward pack, and the team's mentality and habit-patterns during the off-season. Building belief. It’s worth remembering that the Bulldogs regressed badly in Year Two of Gus’ rebuild (which began in mid-2021). In 2023, Ciraldo’s first year, they ended up with the worst defence and the second-worst attack in the competition. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if there is only marginal improvement next year. Given the unpredictably of the competition, anything is possible.
For us, 2027, when the salary cap clears, might be the year we get clearer answers.
Over to You
So, are you bullish or bearish about next year and the road ahead? Why? Why not?
Replies
Some what bearish yes it takes time for combonations to click, i hope Mitch plays 80% of games, do the simple things hold the ball forget the dumb penalty's and we mightbe around where the Roosters are this year
You can't judge a rebuild on results before the rebuild is complete, has the rebuild even started yet?, the tear down has happened but the rebuilding process is in its infancy.
The fact that ryles ripped the bandaid off straight away will quicken the process, most coaches would have taken the safer slow teardown of the roster before starting the rebuild, safer for their careers as they would have held on to some of the experienced players for longer in the hope that would get them a couple more wins the first season.
The fact that our results are slightly better than last season (same amount of wins but with 3 games left, less blow out losses, better defence) is an indication that ryles has already started to turn the tide on what was a downward slide since our gf appearance in 22.
I expect to see more improvements next season, how much more is questionable, I'm hoping we are challenging for top 8 but that might be a little too ambitious. Recruitment and pathways, as always, are going to be crucial over the next two seasons.
Anyone expecting more than what's been achieved in the first year of the teardown/rebuild process doesn't understand the extent of the dire situation we were in or even how much needs to be done to get in a position to be able to achieve more.
OK, so depending on recruitment and junior progression (or lack there of), another 3 or so years before we might be considered in the group with a hope of winning?
2086 here we come!
More than likely 3+ years, that's the reality of trying to rebuild from scratch. If the front office continues to fail, like it has, the rebuild process just keeps restarting and you never quite reach the summit.
We can all sit here and say we expect to be competing for a premiership next year but we would only be setting ourselves up for disappointment. You have to look at the reality of the situation not set your goals on unrealistic expectations.
I don't like it, none of us do but we can either keep kidding ourselves that we are close or we can see things for how they really are and lower our expectations to a level that is closer to actuality.
Explained quite well HKF I'm not expecting any real purchase until 27.Theres not enough depth or talent in this FG squad as currently constructed.
I think also off the field we need to get out of the bubble looking for talent it's too saturated and your fighting it out with all the other vultures.
Also we need a bit of luck to that goes a long way to speeding up the process.
Building from within always has and always will be the best way. Some clubs don't have the luxury of massive junior comps like the panthers and eels so they have to rely on recruiting young players and developing them in their systems. The storm for example go after the best young talent and offer them 3 times the amount the development clubs like parra can. That is one of the disadvantages of being a development club, you have to spread your money around more players whereas the storm can pick and choose the best. This is why the eels need to get better at identifying the best young talent that is more likely to succeed at NRL level and lock them up.
Even with a pathways system that is working effectively you will still need to some outside recruiting to fill holes.
Riff piss me off at every bloody corner they find potential stars Talagi & Maclean geez wouldn't we die to find or develop a centre like that.
Regardless how we do it how far are we behind off the park against the likes of Melbourne Penrith Roosters and alike.I'd suggest at least 5 years.
I agree development is the way but if we aren't developing guys like the mentioned and struggle to recruit geez we are in for a wait.
All the work is done by the middle and elite players, the young players just finish it off. We need to build a strong roster of experience and surround them with youth.
Tell you what the more I watch of Lindsay Smith the more I'm liking him,he's got a motor that guy and has the ability to play big minutes.
My nephew is contracted to penrith, played in their harold mathews team a year young this season. I've been out to penrith to watch him play for his local club on many occasions and let me tell you there are so many young families out that way every sporting ground is absolutely saturated with people, you often have to park streets away. I coached juniors in the parra comp in the early 2000's and we never had even half the amount of people at games as what penrith currently do. They simply have so many options which increases competition plus they have the best pathways system in place, one the eels had but unfortunately didn't priorities keeping mat Cameron.
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