Ryles is doing fine with a half-priced roster

Ryles Winning with a $6 Million Roster

Jason Ryles is doing a phenomenal job at the helm of the Eels — and when you break it down, he’s doing it with a roster that’s worth just $6 million out of an $11.5 million salary cap.

That’s nearly half the value of many of our opponents.

Here’s a rough breakdown of the current squad he's working with

Iongi – $450k
Addo-Carr – $450k
Penasini – $550k
Russell – $280k
Lomax – $600k
Papalii – $180k
(Footy Dean) – $200k
Junior Paulo – $850k
Ryley – $170k
Williams – $460k
Kautoga – $200k
Tuilagi – $375k
Hopgood – $400k
Walker – $400k
Doorey – $300k
Lussick – $300k
Guymer – $300k

That’s approximately $6 million – and that might even be generous in a few cases.

Yet despite being undermanned on paper, Ryles' Eels have not only held their own, they've beaten the Dragons, Titans, Tigers, Manly, and Newcastle. They’ve also gone down narrowly to quality sides like the Sharks, Dolphins, Bulldogs, and Panthers — all in the last 10 rounds as the team adapts to Ryles' systems.

It’s clear: the coaching staff Ryles has assembled is doing a good job. With a full-strength roster and the cap space to build the squad he truly wants, look out. Parramatta is in seriously good hands.

Also, if we can get jag a win against the Dragons this Saturday then another 2 points with the bye up next, we'll have a host of players coming back from injury and suspension including

Moses, Sam Tuivaiti, Moretti, Bailey Simonsson, Ritchie penasini, Ryley Smith most of them due back after the bye.

A run for the 8 is not out of the question

Good blog, Chief.

You knew you’d cop some criticism but stuck to your guns. Well done.

It feels at the moment that we are really on a knifes edge, where the next 6-12 months could define the next 5-10 years.

Ryles, as you & others have mentioned, is building fantastic foundations.

Despite a lot of success under BA, we never developed a backbone defensively, with attitude, consistency.

Above all else, many of us wanted improvements defensively. It’s been a long time since oppositions didn’t simply have to enter our redzone to score, and as fans, we knew it. We felt it.

As you & Mick said, he has a side right now showing more fight & defensive cohesion than sides with 4-5m more in used cap. That is pretty impressive.

Players are also now able to step in from cup for injuries & suspensions, and we don’t look completely at sea.

But it’s also the attack. The Eels are a bit unique, & it was clear against the Titans, despite missing our halves, that we would stick to an aggressive mindset & be there to score points. Scoring 36 points without your starting halves is great.

Ryles & co. are building a new Eels DNA, and while we are a long way from executing weekly, the players are clearly buying in, and that’s a good indication of culture & environment.

As Mutt & BE mentioned, my concerns are now only in whether Ryles can be provided the team he asks for to execute what appears to be a very competitive vision.

The club have done an amazing job in the space of 6-12 months, from being one of the worst defensive sides in Eels history last season, to a team who held the ladder leaders right to the end despite 40% possession.

Its now up to the R&R, there is cap space, there is first grade opportunity, and there really are no more excuses to fail publicly in signing players the coach wants.

12 months from now the Eels could be a top 4 side with a premiership level defence, or we could be sitting right where we are now, with players losing that fight & belief, and no longer performing above their pay grade.

Love the optimism though, I am with you.

"Realised to me means there the finished product if I'm reading the thread right mate.
You mention Kautonga who I actually think is an unfinished product with some rough edges.
I get what your saying but again in my eyes to be realised as a team we'd…"

Replies

- - Blue Eel > Graham polkinghorne June 24, 2025 at 12:01pm
    
    Yeah Graham , there's so many we have tried for and lost, Just top of my head so we are in the same ball park. Mahoney, Papalii, Nuikore, Blaize, Sanders, Arthur, Galvin, Lodge, Tapau, Campbell, Dylan Brown, Utoikamanu, Brailey, you can throw in Hayne at 30 years old. These are just some we know about. At the moment they are trying to sign Tallyn Da'Silva with out much luck.
    
    All players the coach's wanted but Management couldn't get a deal done to buy or keep them.
    
    Graham I'd suggest there is an excuse for every single player, the negotiator or closers job to identify that, address that, fix that and get the deal done. Good closers like Gus do it every day. Put it this way. Strange how Galvins school coach got a promotion to first grade out of the blue just as Galvin signs. Is that co incidence or great Negotiating, closing skills by Gus. You decide.
    - Mitchy > Blue Eel June 24, 2025 at 1:30pm
      
      HI Blue Eel, mate i think you will find Vella his coach was already with the team and also coached Juniors there with Flegg. He is Canterbury through as per this article I recall from a season back. He was already assistant last year, hence Galvin possibly wanting out of Wests back then....who knows,
      
      https://www.bulldogs.com.au/news/2023/11/06/vella-earns-promotion-a...
    - Uncle Wizardssleeve- Indigenous Elder-Freemason Hunter -He/Him > Blue Eel June 24, 2025 at 2:39pm
      
      Connor Tracey , we also went after JAC previously and missed him, rumours were quite strong we went after Garlick, Tom Starling , Cotric a few years back,Blaise Talagi , didn't we also have a crack at Klemmer too at one stage ? How can anyone claim we don't miss out on players when we literally sign fucking nobody most seasons 😂😂
- SuperEel 22 > Blue Eel June 24, 2025 at 11:39am
  
  Well, let's look at how quickly teams can turn around after sacking a coach due to poor performances. Barrett was head coach until mid year 2022 when he was sacked and Potter took over. They finished 12th. In 2023 Ciraldo comes in and they seemingly go backwards as he overhauls the roster, finishing 15th. Ciraldo's second year they finish 6th. Now they're top 4.
  
  So I think 2 full seasons gives you a good gauge as to how a new coach is tracking. But it also depends on how the clubs approach it. The Dogs just decided to go and buy a bunch of players and they're continuing to do that.
  
  While Ryles has cleaned out a lot of players, we're promoting a lot more from within as well.
  
  And while we're questioning us being bottom of the ladder, part of that is down to how the stupid bye system works. We are literally 2 wins behind 5th place but somehow 3 wins behind 6th place. We've also been gradually improving this year, particularly defensively. We went from conceding well over 30 points per game to now 25 PPG and it's continuing to trend downwards.
  
  At the same point last year we were dead last and conceding 29 points per game.
  
  I've said this before, but not many out and out stars hit the open market. The vast majority of squads rely on talent ID and junior promotion to be competitive. Melbourne have signed 1 top of the line first grader in Xavier Coates over the last decade. Every other player they have either developed or they have been a journeyman. And that is how a lot of sides are put together. It's then up to the coaching staff to turn those players into a decent side.
  - Coryn Hughes > SuperEel 22 June 24, 2025 at 3:05pm
    
    Agree with this one Super it's why I'm not judging JR right now because it's an incomplete puzzle.I think you give him 2 full years building a squad and implementing how he wants to play we get a real gauge like you mention.
    
    The Melbourne way is definitely the way to go 💯 % the thing I think that scuppers our efforts copying the same is the front office.They have quality throughout there organisation top to bottom I'm not sure we are quite at that level but again I bag them hard but they to need the same amount of time.Thing is your trying to beat the masters at there own game that's a tough ask.
    
    But we will see.We definitely are seeing some little wins out there but just not the comp,eye picture.
Zip zip June 24, 2025 at 9:31am

You can view this differently....

Clubs are required to spend at least 95% of the cap on top the top 30 players.

So does this mean Ryles and the coaching staff haven't managed to get the best out of their highest paid players... or the handful of highly paid players are over paid and aren't contributing like they should be.
- Coryn Hughes > Zip zip June 24, 2025 at 9:54am
  
  Or the players below the highest paid player aren't putting the team in position for the mentioned to have the effect expected.Said this many a time and it's rampant all over the nrl if the supporting casts don't keep them in games and consistently do there jobs on the weekly these talented 7 figure guys can be rendered ineffective.
  
  Thats why I'm of the addage of lifting the floor is more important than lifting the ceiling.Keeping the performance between good and bad as close as possible.
Nightmare Off-Season June 24, 2025 at 10:20am

Good blog, Chief.

You knew you’d cop some criticism but stuck to your guns. Well done.

It feels at the moment that we are really on a knifes edge, where the next 6-12 months could define the next 5-10 years.

Ryles, as you & others have mentioned, is building fantastic foundations.

Despite a lot of success under BA, we never developed a backbone defensively, with attitude, consistency.

Above all else, many of us wanted improvements defensively. It’s been a long time since oppositions didn’t simply have to enter our redzone to score, and as fans, we knew it. We felt it.

As you & Mick said, he has a side right now showing more fight & defensive cohesion than sides with 4-5m more in used cap. That is pretty impressive.

Players are also now able to step in from cup for injuries & suspensions, and we don’t look completely at sea.

But it’s also the attack. The Eels are a bit unique, & it was clear against the Titans, despite missing our halves, that we would stick to an aggressive mindset & be there to score points. Scoring 36 points without your starting halves is great.

Ryles & co. are building a new Eels DNA, and while we are a long way from executing weekly, the players are clearly buying in, and that’s a good indication of culture & environment.

As Mutt & BE mentioned, my concerns are now only in whether Ryles can be provided the team he asks for to execute what appears to be a very competitive vision.

The club have done an amazing job in the space of 6-12 months, from being one of the worst defensive sides in Eels history last season, to a team who held the ladder leaders right to the end despite 40% possession.

Its now up to the R&R, there is cap space, there is first grade opportunity, and there really are no more excuses to fail publicly in signing players the coach wants.

12 months from now the Eels could be a top 4 side with a premiership level defence, or we could be sitting right where we are now, with players losing that fight & belief, and no longer performing above their pay grade.

Love the optimism though, I am with you.
- Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin > Nightmare Off-Season June 24, 2025 at 10:30am
  
  Good post well said nos.
GM June 24, 2025 at 12:45pm

Lomax on $650

of 9

This reply was deleted.

Eels Blogs