Eels Blogs

The way 2025 started with the season being over after one half to now playing some pretty good football but just cannot get over the line. It has been a whirlwind 2025. Unlike 2024 where it was the first year of something different since 2014. We started ok, Moses went down, team fell apart, few hammerings and BA was sacked. Then the coaching search added in with a few miss match players added last year was more exhausting than this year. Last year was a write off in a different way, where this year you could say yeah we are not making finals or even trying hard to make it but planning for the future, using 2025 to develop and harden players for that future. 2024 was about surviving til someone else came in, it was nothing, there was nothing from 2024 that has made us better for 2025 in a squad or club point of view. 

Where do we sit as a club at the moment? Well i before i start just want to say this is my opinion, if you do not like it so be it just be polite in disagreeing as i am all for it. Ryles is definately building defence, we are a better defensive outfit (I know 32 last week and 40 yesterday). But to be fair, compared to what we dished up last year and a bit of 2023, not hard to be better. If anything our goalline defence looks better, still not great and fitness has a bit to do with that but it is getting there. We have periods of looking great in defence then in attack we are so ill-disciplined and impatient we hurt our defence by having to do more work so soon. Both Penrith and Canberra tired us out in the middle, that is where we fell apart. Though at the same time, inexperience and young workers make mistakes, but they grow. The making of some of these kids, particularly the Ryles type kids are ones that make a mistake and move on. Iongi being prime example, he made a lot of mistakes early one, to the point where many here called for him to go to Cup while Papali'i played some Fullback, or Iongi goes to the Wing. Ryles stuck at it now the kid is looking better and better. But credit to Iongi for just getting on with it as he should. That comes from Ryles putting faith in these kids.

Majority of the kids Ryles has played have shown improvement and drive. Iongi we all know, though Kautoga improved rapidly. Adding toughness in defence then his attack got better with the confidence from his defence. Charlie Guymer who started the year looking quite frankly out of his depth has gotten better and shown he can play a full 80. Is he great? No, but he is a workhorse and is getting better with the speed of the game, his attack is not great but his role is for defence, he can be a nice depth player and we need them. Ryley Smith has shown to be a steady Hooker from day 1, clean in defence and though one or two wayward things in attack he has been stable and an improvement. Tuivaiti is getting better and better and is a beast, though still raw the finished product will be exciting. 

Now there are some who are works in progress further. Jordan Samrani has shown to be versitile, ability to play Centre, Wing and Second-Row. He had a solid debut on the Wing working with Lomax then made his way back into the team as a back-rower which would suit his size a bit better. Issue for Samrani is learning to play FG but a new position as well. Though started well his minutes dropped as did his form and now is just a 10-15min contributer to the team off the bench though he will be a handy depth player moving forward. Toni Mataele got only one game then seemed to just evaporate into nothing, he was fine in his debut but was not expected to be anything other than a bit player for us. 

*Disclaimer, depth is a word here that is seen as one thing to a few people but when we sign depth it is not good enough. Depth is something we have lacked for a while, teams with the best depth are those that go deep into the season for obvious reasons. People here cry out for depth but when we sign the likes of Mataele, Samrani and Papali'i to extensions it is frowned upon. Well guess what depth players are one of two things 1) those no team really wants or 2) those not good enough for week in week out FG. When needing a back-up Fullback, many here wont be happy unless we signed Edwards as a back-up. If we signed a superstar as depth they are gone quick, therefore are not depth. 

Anyway back to this. One big key rookie that is high in discussions and for good reason, is Joash Papali'i. He signed after we got Isaiah Iongi, was seen as either a back-up Fullback, 14 option or competing for the Fullback spot. Iongi obviously won the FB spot therefore Papali'i was sent to Cup to bide his time further. Issue was, he was playing so well in Cup many thought he should be in NRL somewhere, make a spot for him. Even Gus mentioned he could play Hooker when at Canterbury. Ryles eventually got him onto the bench but his debut was on the Wing to replace HIA ruled out Penisini, scoring a try and impressing all involved. The next few games he played as a Hooker relieving Smith, though very limited game time to actually make an impression but was getting experience in NRL nonetheless. Then when Brown was suspended gave him the chance to start at 5/8, a position he had rarely played. It was a very vanilla, pedestrian performance there was but it worked for what Hawkins and the team needed. Took a few runs, fed the edges and forwards and tackled. It gave Ryles someone to lean on if necessary. v Penrith he looked ok but as the game went on the pressure to impress gained and he started to do too much. Fast forward to Canberra and similar, he tried too much, tried to be too clever and it cost us with errors. 

Issue comes with where to put him many said at the time he is too good for NSW Cup but cannot be at Fullback due to Iongi. Could he be a Hooker off the bench, could he be a 14 like Walker, could he be a 5/8. Truth is it seems, he is a Fullback only. Nothing wrong with that as he is a quality Fullback option. Hell he is even a handy 1-2 game bench utility incase of injury if you feel 16 can get job done. He can be a mr fix it in games but not full-time. But what a handy back-up Fullback to have and that is what makes squads great. 

Though i never actually believed Ryles was going to have him be the future at 6 anyway. If he impressed then i believe Ryles would be open minded but always said he gets "first crack" it is not developing it is an audition. If a quality 6 comes available; whether Pezet or Campbell for example, Ryles will chase them. We have money to do so as we feel necessary. Will Papali'i be our starting 5/8 come Round 1 2026? Doubt it. I reckon Ryles gets someone as there is always movement from October to February. But Papali'i is getting knocked about his performance at 5/8, he definately can improve, to me he is not dreadful. He does ok in defence, he is eager and has some natural instincts. However, just feel he is not suited to the position as no matter how much experience he gets i am not sure he will be a steady player under pressure. Kid is a goer but seems to not fit the role of a 5/8.

As for the season moving forward, i believe we can get about 3 more wins. NQ, Souths and Newcastle i think are very winnable, 2 of them at home. Also, if you had asked me during the bye who would be more likely beat out of Penrith, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne? I would have without hesitaiton said Brisbane. I am boyish on us v Brisbane and have been for a little bit. Here's why. Firstly, we seem to do well at Suncorp against Brisbane, it is a fast track. Secondly, Brisbane are coming off a bye, they have the pressure of trying to get into the top 4 and catch up to the Warriors. Issue with them is they are a momentum team, the bye may not be friendly to them. After each bye this year Brisbane have lost to Manly heavily and barely beat Cronulla despite being down for most of the game at home. Now not saying we are morals but Brisbane are a very fragile team, you go into HT like we did v Canberra, they aren't coming out like Canberra they get frustrated and start to blow us off the park and make mistakes. Brisbane more likely still win but i see us in with a chance. Now watch them put 50 on now i said that.

Squad wise, i think we are seeing most of the squad for next year already of course, though some areas still to ponder. Does de Belin's signing move Hopgood to the bench or Williams to an edge? Speaking of Williams, is he a middle or an edge player? Are we still in the market for younger forwards or going with the future? What rookies might jag a debut by seasons end? Do the rumours of Paulo retiring come to fruition and change our plans or have we already planned for it with de Belin?

Ryles did say he is planning for the future, does that mean in the last few games we start blooding a few other forwards? Names like Will Latu, Saxon Pryke, Toni Mataele getting more game time come to mind who could get a debut. I mean 1-2 games is nothing at all but better off going into the pre-season with at least a game of experience then none at all. We know the likes of Tuivaiti and Talagi are the future in the middle in the next 1-2 years, similar to Funa-Iuta. Though i feel our forwards are far from being settled and there could still be movement both ways.

Edit: This was written before Iongi's injury.