Our Strongest Top 17 for 2025

I see everyone posting teams but are awful and are completely way off the mark. Here is a truly realistic top 17 for next season.

  1. Isiah Iongi
  2. Josh Addo Carr
  3. Will Penisini
  4. Zac Lomax
  5. Bailey Simmonson/ Sean Russell
  6. Dylan Brown
  7. Mitchell Moses (c)
  8. Joe Ofanghue
  9. Brendan Hands
  10. Junior Paulo
  11. Shaun Lane
  12. Bryce Cartwright
  13. J’maine Hopgood
  14. Joey Lussick
  15. Jack Williams
  16. Ryan Matterson
  17. Kelma Tuilagi

 

Reserves

Wiremu Greig

Matt Doorey

Luca Moretti

Sam Tuivaiti

Dean Hawkins

Joash Papalii

Haze Dunster

Toni Mataele

 

Development

Charlie Guymer I’d say 18/19/20th player

Richard Penisini

Saxon Pryke

 

The only changes would be if Paulo went back to his bench role impact & if ryles wants lane as a middle then Kelma would start in the second row position. 

What do you think guys?

You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!

Join 1Eyed Eel

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Pretty spot on, think Junior needs to lead from the front with RCG gone now so he should start 

  • Think lane will be in the front row rotation 

  • Just need one more forward and perhaps a Hooker. Then that is sweet. Move Hands to 14.

    • Papalii most likely the 14.

      • Yea im keen to see papalii get moulded into a bench hooker as we know he can play wing fullback centre 5/8 could be a nice 14 

  • Just a note, I listened to Bailey on the Bloke in a bar podcast, he said a lot without saying anything direct. The defensive system is going to change for the better, he clearly hated the stupid system BA was running. We should reset our expectations for all edge defense.

    • The defensive system couldn't change for the worse, that's for sure. 😂

    • Best thing I've heard all pre-season.

  • The backline is coming together nicely but there's still a big question mark over that forward pack. 

This reply was deleted.

More stuff to read

Parra Dice replied to Prof. Daz's discussion Greatest Eels Comebacks?
"Is this the game where we scored 3 tries in the last 10 minutes when David Vaealiki had a ball go through his legs in one of those tries. i only remember this as i had about a dozen pissed kiwis behind me sitting in the corporate area (my regular…"
3 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Roy tannous's discussion Jdb junior paulo 👉🚪👋
"The best thing about last night is when the game got tight we were down 28-32 Cronk mentioned it Parra didn't throw the ball around chasing the game we got back in the grind Moses buried them in corners we committed no errors and kept the pressure…"
9 minutes ago
Parrafan101 replied to Roy tannous's discussion Jdb junior paulo 👉🚪👋
"Mate if pensini was playing we would have 20 more errors and 50 more miss tackles."
15 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Roy tannous's discussion Jdb junior paulo 👉🚪👋
"Your a wise man for a Snottie LOL
I can see where Mallee is coming from just the same. I thought when Joash played 5/8 last year he did well defensively and his passing and linking was not a problem. The problem with Pezet is his speed in defence,…"
43 minutes ago
More…