There's a growing segment of historians who demonstrate that empires do not rise and fall through a single, decisive event.
Instead small, incremental, sometimes unnoticeable changes are made until the result has already occurred.
The challenge for Jason Ryles lies in changing not just Parramatta’s personnel, but their attacking and defensive styles.
A change that is being made incrementally instead of all at once.
For so long under the Brad Arthur regime, the focus was on sending large bodies through the middle to lay the platform before spinning it wide.
That method now lies outdated as the smaller, more mobile forward we once saw in the early 2000s are preferred.
Penrith built their 4 time premiership pack around suffocating defence and a forward pack built for speed and intensity, rather than pure brute force.
Bookends James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota both weigh less than 110kg with JFH starting his career as a lock, while the 13 in Isaah Yeo made the transition from outside back and the edge into the middle as a ball player.
They were rolling with this middle, while the Eels carried heavyweight props in Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo. Effective when having the ball, but too heavy to handle when possession tipped against them.
So far Jason Ryles has clearly demonstrated a focus on a more mobile forward pack. Paulo has dropped weight, Jack Williams has shifted into the front row, while the likes of Luca Moretti and Matt Doorey have been part of the middle rotation when fit.
Perhaps most telling has been the recruitment and immediate impact of Dylan Walker.
The former centre and five-eighth has become key cog coming off the bench where his versatility and skill allow the Eels to go at the edges in attack.
Walker tips the scales at around 100kg, the same as former Eels lock Daniel Wagon.
In many ways, the game is heading towards the style once spearheaded by Brian Smith.
Unfortunately for Jason Ryles he will not have 4 internationals fall into his lap courtesy of the Super League War to try and drive home his changes.
As the weeks have gone in the 2025 season, Parramatta has gradually shown more confidence in their ball movement.
The return of Mitchell Moses and the recruitment of Dylan Walker have been key factors here. Once Walker enters the fray, the Eels seem to attack more towards the edges with Junior Paulo popping up wider where his size and footwork create more headaches for defenders.
Looking at the backline and Isaiah Iongi has shown that he was more than ready for NRL football following his recruitment last year.
The speed, agility and underrated ball playing of the fullback has slotted into an Eels backline that was crying out for a more creative custodian last year.
While Clint Gutherson was everything and more for the Eels throughout his tenure, by the end his lack of speed was glaringly obvious and a key issue for a very slow backline.
Combined with the recruitments of Josh Addo-Carr and Zac Lomax, Parramatta is starting to craft a powerful and speedy backline.
Yet to fully realise their full strength back 5, it’s clear what Ryles prefers. And that’s either a speedy back, or a powerful one.
Like many of their more fancied opponents, Parramatta is looking to their back 5 to take on more of their metre-eating workload than they did under Brad Arthur.
Lomax and Bailey Simonsson have led this change with their combination of size and strength allowing them to win first contact. It’s a shame neither have managed to really be on the field together with Sean Russell continuing to feature in first grade.
That being said, Russell, JAC and Will Penisini haven’t shied away from their workload.
What is clear though, is the change underway for the Eels.
What they could do with though is an emergence of a Nathan Hindmarsh-like backrower on an edge and a powerful bench prop capable of flipping the momentum after the 20th minute. Sam Tuivaiti was starting to show that ability until his injury.
The Eels are far from the finished product and there is unlikely to be a game where it all “clicks”.
But the Ryles era continues marching on as it looks to rebuild from the ashes of 2024.
Replies
I think we have risen from Definite Spoon to Probable spoon
Difference you can see is he is targeting certain types of players and "appears" to have a plan with type of player or attributes and the way he has demoted matto and Cartwright shows he has more clue than Kearney did
Even if we are langushing in 27 we still need to keep him , they are attempting to align pathways with our nrl side , play same style and appears to be serious with getting great young talent .
changing coach means changing game philosophies, style and even way we operate which would mean we would be in a continual loop of a rebuild like the tigers have been over the last 15 years.
as I heard ikin say today on the Paul Kent podcast , it's not about players or the coach it's about having everyone aligned in the organisation to move in the one direction with same mindset .. why storm works and what the bulldogs have been achieving at present
Mitch said he has learnt more in 7months from JR s staff than what he did from Ba staff. The team has improved a lot since round 1. The major concern is the injuries.
To be fair Darren, what is he going to say live on TV? He might be telling the truth but i take comments like that with grain of salt since what is he going to say?
"That I have learnt a lot over the last 7months " with no reference to Ba. A long way to go till the end of the year.
Again, putting praise on Ryles so there is nothing to see here and business as usual, even if he disliked him very unlikely he says much different.
Cmon LB. Most players who are put in his position with that question don't automatically say what he said. He isn't just saying it as a positive spin. He genuinely brought up the failures of the previous coaching regime, and at the age of 30 Moses has said he thought he knew everything about football. He's been coached by numerous coaches including NSW
He didn't say anything about the old regime technically.Do you really think he would say anything negative about Ryles if he thought it?
More likely he is trying to lift the team as we are last at the moment. I think he does like Ryles, seems a lot of players do. But it's like when journo's say is your goal to win a comp, what are they going to say?
Next year is a crucial year for ryles and it will show us whether he is the one to lead parra further!
We need some powerful backrowers-frontrowers. We are lacking there badly!
I wish we kept RCG..
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