Parramatta Eels: Review the Football Department. Back Jason Ryles. Demand better.
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The issue
We are Parramatta Eels members and supporters, and we are asking the Board and Chairman to commission an independent review of the leadership structure of our football department.
We want to be clear about two things up front. We are not calling for Jason Ryles to go. We rate him. We believe he is a serious football mind and the right man to lead this team into its next chapter, and we want the club to back him properly and give him time. And we are not pretending the last seven years have all been bad. They have not.
That is exactly why we are worried.
When Mark O'Neill was appointed General Manager of Football in late 2018, it followed an independent review and a wooden spoon, and the mandate was clear: fix recruitment, fix retention, fix our pathways, and build sustained success. For four years it looked like it was working. From 2019 to 2022 we made the finals every season and reached a Grand Final. Nobody is taking that away.
But look at what has happened since:
- 2023: 10th. Missed the finals.
- 2024: 15th. Missed the finals.
- 2025: 11th. Missed the finals.
- 2026: sitting near the bottom again.
Three straight years out of the eight, heading for a fourth. Across 2019 to 2022 we won 65% of our games and conceded under 19 points a match. Across 2023 to 2025 we won 40% and conceded almost 26 a match. Our attack did not change. Our defence and our depth fell apart. Those are roster problems, and roster problems sit with recruitment and retention.
And this is where it is clearest. The year after we made the 2022 Grand Final, we let a large part of that side walk out the door in a single off-season: Reed Mahoney, Isaiah Papali'i, a Dally M second-rower of the year, Marata Niukore, Oregon Kaufusi, Ray Stone and Tom Opacic. We did not adequately replace them, and we have not played finals football since. We then lost Dylan Brown, a player we developed from the age of 15 and our Grand Final five-eighth, to a rival club. And the recruits brought in to steady the ship have not stuck. We committed a reported $700,000 a season to marquee signing Zac Lomax and got a single season for it. We handed a starting halves role to Jonah Pezet on a one-year deal, a player carrying a long injury history who was already signed to join Brisbane in 2027, while our own young playmaker waited behind him. You cannot build sustained success when the talent you develop keeps leaving and the recruits brought in to replace it are short-term fixes that do not deliver.
Here is the part the club cannot explain away. We already changed our head coach. The decline ran straight through that change, 10th, then 15th, then 11th, now near the bottom again. When you replace the most accountable football person on the payroll and the results keep sliding, the responsible thing is to look higher up, not to ask the supporters for more patience.
So we are asking the Board and Chairman to:
- Commission an independent review of the football department's leadership structure, recruitment and retention over the last four seasons, and share the findings with members.
- Set clear, public performance standards for football department leadership, the same standards our players and coaches are held to every week.
- Put genuine accountability in place, with real consequences if the strategy keeps failing.
- Build the right structure around Jason Ryles so he is set up to succeed, and tell the members honestly where this club is heading.
We have backed this club through four decades without a premiership. We have earned the right to expect the people building our team to be held to account. Stand by Jason. Review the rest.
Up the Eels.
Replies
Boycott games and then they will start listening to fans.
Lol
Can we also add to the petition to start wearing the dark blue multicultural jersey we wore against the Raiders. That jersey looked mad ! 😝
I agree!
I went to the game against souths. Attendance was absolutely terrible. Think people are already boycotting games
This review has nothing to do with Talkin Parra. Its an independent review thats gaining momentum and started by Parramatta fans on the current situation.
It all over social media
While I myself have nothing to do with this petition, I totally support everything the author has said and believe we need to look higher up as to why the club is failing, not only in first grade, but also in other grades.
Whilst we've had some debutants who've done well, the club is extremely short on outside backs and have nobody of note coming through the grades putting pressure on those positions. Zero. There's nobody in reserve grade who ww can say can make a difference in the near future and they are close to last
Recruitment wise, we've missed out on nearly every above average player we've chased, and its looking like there's hardly anyone left to help change our 2027 fortunes. Its really looking likely that 2027 and 28 will be dismal years for the club. - its downright not good enough.
Not sure what impact this will have on the club but it's something at least.
Perhaps a large drop off in membership renewals would send a bigger message. After all, you pretty much get SFA for being a long term member.
I know it rained last week but they only had 14000 last week. The club is ruderless. Needs a broom from top to tail.
I can't see many fans renewing their memberships. There's no accountability, no statements and everything is being left for Ryles to deal with.
Fans with your feet if that's what it takes.
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