Here is an article about a few questions regarding the Eels squad.
1) Penisini, Addo-Carr and who: I think this the biggest question in the squad right now. With the recent news of Simonsson's ankle injury (not serious) could see Kelly overtake him in pecking order. With reports of Russell now training on the Wing i think you will see Kelly paired with Addo-Carr and Russell occupying the Wing vacated by Lomax. Simonsson as a pretty handy back-up until mid year when i reckon a club like NQ or GC want a back and he pushes to start. This is where someone like Alamaddeine or Richie need to have a great start in Cup in order to secure that spot as first in line back-up. We do not want to resort to Samrani being our first line back-up for Wing and Centre, though not awful he is not good either.
2) Does Joash Papali'i find a spot?: At this stage, he doesn't. Not sure where he finds his spot. At this stage he is the first back-up for Iongi, Pezet and Moses. As well if Da Silva or Smith go down and Ryles wants a 2nd Hooker he would be put at 14. But Joash's hope is to perform in Cup and be the 6 for 2027.
3) Where does Williams play?: He will be starting. But is he on an edge with Kautoga and Tuilagi fighting for the other spot? Does he go into the middle with Paulo going to the bench? I would say he will start on an edge. I think he is more valuable there for now as our best edge.
4) Does De Belin start?: I think this is the easiest one to answer, yes he absolutely does. He is not an impact player. If anything he is that leader for when Paulo is not starting. De Belin is that older head that can set the tone, then Paulo comes in as impact.
5) Will Ryan Matterson win a spot?: Not to start with. He is down the pecking order a fair bit. There are a few middles ahead of him. With Paulo, Hopgood and De Belin starting. Walker, Moretti and Tuiviati either bench or in the squad. Williams can move into the middle with Tuilagi and Kautoga going to edge. Then after all that Doorey has the nod as the first come up back-up. He has a long way to go, plus needs the trust from Ryles. He is now just waiting til the end of the year.
Replies
What's the difference between a Greenbean and a Chickpea?
Ploppa doesn't pay to have a Greenbean on his chest
Chiefy and Randic....hymmm I would take you both with me because my wife needs someone to hold her up at the bar! that said I have strong doubts that Randic could get past the sniffer dogs at the airport......Chiefy, well he is a different case, to my knowledge there are no Casino's in Bali and playing the exchange rate is illegal using the "shell" trick he employs.....
I could fall back to Daz and have intelligent conversations at the pool bar, but soon as he see's an "Orange Smoothie" he cracks it.....we could take Carlo as she knows my wife well, between the pair of them they will just be bashing the "shit" out of me.....We could take Coryn but being a Kiwi and the exchange rate having a six in it means he gets sex every time he changes a note!......Bluey would be handy, he will the perfect foil when we have our Avatar Party.
That leaves Hoey who will probably drop in anyway and there is no point in LB and Super coming, I just cannot see them getting "pissed" every day! It's a tough life in Bali, just stay away from the Aussie Tourists.
PS Hector can come with his horses, expensive but for his Unicorn, waking up with a horn at his age is dangerous.
@Randy Handlinger .....LOL I like it, but I am a dominant not submissive.
I like Sean Russell as a player but not a winger. He's a pretty bad finisher, not the type of player who can find the line down a skinny edge or get the ball down in an impossible situation like the modern winger. He often tucks the ball under his arm (the wrong arm) and gets caught out. The modern winger needs to be a classy finisher too.
Agree Mutts, lacks a bit of that speed and agility to be great at Wing and Center.
If he continue's his defensive work he could be an agile edge, but would probably be a backup at best.
I agree with Mutts in that he is not a great finisher, his strengths to me is the centres where his defence is almost dominant, I have said for a long time that I think Pensini could be a revelation as a winger, he is not fast but very strong and most of our wingers tries come from around the 25 to the line, one on one he would be hard to handle. Defensively in the air he will be critically targetted and for that reason alone he would not be picked against Melb, I would still like to see him given ago on the wing,. people on here get very critical of Penisini when we are not doing well, conveniently forgotten coming into this season as Ryles see's him as a permanent starter.
Russell in 2023 had some decent finishes. Look at the one against Melbourne at Marvel Stadium for example.
His chip and chase against Broncos was pretty special, but he blew a lot of half chances throughout the year.
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