Parramatta Eels NSW Cup Ryan Carr has named his team to take on the Penrith Panthers in Saturday's trial at Panthers Stadium.
The Battle of the West starts with Jersey Flegg kicking off at 3:30pm on Saturday 27 February.
NSW Cup will play from 5:30pm, before the main event kicks off at 7:30pm.
Tickets are still available here
1. Jordan Rankin
2. Solomone Naiduki
3. Will Penisini
4. Tim Lafai
5. Haze Dunster
6. Will Smith
7. Jakob Arthur
8. Makahesi Makatoa
9. Joey Lussick
10. Dave Hollis
11. Ellie El Zahkem
12. Marata Nuikore
13. Tasi James
14. Dylan Clifford
15. Daniel Sakisi
16. Grant Taufalo
17. Toa Mata 'Afa
18. Charlton Schaafhausen
19. Noel Aukafalou
20. Harry O'Toole
21. Charbel Tasipale
Replies
Good side
Nuikore starting in reserve grade and on the bench for first grade, interesting to see how much game time he gets in each game.
Yeah will be interesting. Estimating he might play 40 minutes for each game. Gives him 80 minutes between the 2 games. Considering he will be unavailable to play in Round 1 seems logical.
I hate to start this train but Jakob Arthur is not at this level. Whether he will end up there time will tell, but he doesnt have the size, skills or vision to play at Cup level which is a thousand miles from NRL level. He's a compeitive player who gives his all but ... no further insinuations . He's gonna need a lot of time. Physique wise he's closer to being a 5000m olympic runner than an nrl first grader.
He looked quite comfortable at cup level last week, the week in week out grind might pay a toll at some point but he looked more than capable of playing cup level, first grade is another thing all together but he has another couple of years to work on that.
Any reports on these games?
Love your work mate but i disagree here. The highlight of his game last week was his chase down of Ramsey off his own shitty kick. Everywhere else his timing was a fraction off on simple plays (understandable with the step up), doesnt have great speed off the mark, wouldnt call him a creative half either. All that is well and good , no one expects him to be a world beater at this stage of his career, but I think the cup side is there to put pressure on the first grade team and help guys develop.. hes miles off. What he does have going for him is competitiveness and he gets his body in amongst the tough stuff despite his size. There is no way we could play him in first grade this year but he's in our 30 man squad and essentially is the half helping prepare our first grade team weekly.
The Cup side was dead set rudderless against Penrith.