I was going through my camera roll earlier, and came across this photo of our lineup from exactly one year ago — Round 21, 2024 against the Melbourne Storm.
Upon reading the names, it was mind-blowing the quantity of players who are no longer at the club or have been given permission to explore their options. As it stands, only 11 of the 22 remain. However, this can be expected to trim down to about 6 at the commencement of next season (Brown departing, Hands potentially to UK, Grieg on the outer, Matterson 'trialing' UK). Whilst many expected a clean-out to occur under Ryles, none could imagine the pace and effectiveness at which it has all occured. To me, this rapid clean-out indicates the clubs strong desire to rebuild and return to competitiveness in the immediate future.
Furthermore, from the names on the above team sheet which have departed, I would only consider Gutherson (who is gradually slowing down) and Blaize (who is slowly improving) to be performing at an NRL Standard. Ryles was heavily scrutinised for letting go of several of these players— most notably RCG — however, he has been nothing short of abysmal, with his current form unlikely to earn him a spot at any club other than the Titans.
With this, the next phase of the rebuild should focus on investing these funds into players which align with Ryles' vision of football (expansive, small-ball). Although Ryles has bought in several recruits who already seem to fit this mould - namely Walker, Iongi, TDS & Williams - none of these players bar TDS would of come at a significant cost to the cap. This should ultimately mean we have the cap available for a marquee signing, along with several proven NRL starters.
Despite the current market being thin, quality players always become avaliable through the offseason. A typical example of this is the movement in the front-row position last season. Essentially, last season we saw players like Terrell May, Erin Clark, Dylan Walker, James Fisher-Harris, Jack Williams, Francis Molo, Josiah Pohalu, and AFB (possibly the year before) released by their former clubs. Although the quantity may be an outlier, players will defintely come avaliable. We must be active in acquiring some of these 'bigger name' players who fit the mould and improve the quality of football we produce. With this occuring, coupled with our continous improvement from our young core we will undoubtedly be on an upward tracetory and should return to competiveness in the very near future.
Go Parra!
Replies
Haha Russell and penis haha god help us!
Yeah RCG, our player of the year by default. The man who many claimed was the reason our season in 2025 started badly and how could we let our player of the year go to the current wooden spoon favourites being relegated to the bench? Who could we do that.
RCG runs soft these days and goes in backwards...we don't need front rowers like that.
Like they said on SEN radio last week.
"Sean Russell the only Eels 1st grade player , playing today from exactly 1 year ago ". vs Canberra game, Sean Russell the last man standing, who would have thought, and then delved into our team makeup.
What about Paulo, Moses, etc?
Injured at the end of last year.
You can have a team at the bottom of the ladder filled with ageing, declining players, or you can have a team at the bottom of the ladder filled with young players learning valuable experience, improving in key areas week to week. Which do you prefer? It just goes to show that the team we had for the past few years was never upgraded. It's like they were just expected to get better despite age not being on their side. At least we are seeing a fix now, hopefully it works.
Exactly. The Eels of 2024 were not far from the Eels of 2012. Stuart came in with the trusty OHP and did what needed to be done. Shame he didn't stick around to see the job through, a bit like Cleary jumping off the bus at the Wests Tigers.
Ryles has pretty much done the same thing, only far more aggressively without the use of an OHP to publicly advise which players were leaving... the Eels of 2025 are similar to the Eels of 2013. I'd expect, barring any unforeseen cheating of the salary cap rules, we'll be back in contention again by 2028, like we were in 2016.
Yuck what team. One of the worst line up's I've ever seen.
Good post, Longfin Eel. And another good blog Eels2025. Human, just quietly.
Speed-wise, there is a Gus-esque rebuild about it.
But unlike Ryles, Ciraldo entered Kennel Country (2023) years after Gus' demolition bombs went off in the total rebuild (2022-23). Pre-Ciraldo, heads rolled.
Ryles first-year is year-one of detonations, facing the worst of it. On Ground Zero.
It took Gus 10 years out Panthers way. 3.5 years out Dogs way. In a few seasons, we'll get a better idea of how our story unfold.
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