Under Jason Ryles, the club has been clearing the decks at breakneck speed.
Of the 31 players that pulled on the Blue and Gold in 2024, only 14 remain contracted for 2026.
Since then, the Eels have debuted 15 players.
Given the turnover, there has been a belief that the Eels have a massive war chest at their disposal for further signings.
But is that truly the case?
Despite releasing Bryce Cartwright and Joe Ofahengaue this season, with Dylan Brown set to depart in 2026, their positions have already been filled.
Tallyn Da Silva, Kitione Kautoga, Dylan Walker and Ryley Smith have all either been recruited or promoted to the NRL squad.
Jack de Belin has been signed for the 2026 season.
Meanwhile, Shaun Lane has sat out most of the season and it's unknown if he'll return to the NRL. Ryan Matterson has been loaned to Warrington, however he will need to find a club for 2026 otherwise he'll remain on Parramatta's cap next year.
Speculation remains over the futures of Wiremu Greig, Brendan Hands and Joey Lussick. With the rise of Smith and recruitment of Da Silva, the Eels are expected to release one of Hands or Lussick.
Of the 32 players so far used this season, 28 of them remain contracted for next season.
As stated in the NRL salary cap rules, we have to spend 97.5% of the cap every season. It's unclear how Shaun Lane's situation and the loaning of Matterson feeds into this. The NRL generally provides cap relief for long term injuries, but it's unclear regarding time out of the game for mental health reasons. With Matterson departing to Super League, it's also not clear if that decision was due to a current salary cap crunch the club is facing due to volume of players used this season, or if this was simply an opportunity to get Matterson in the shop window for 2026.
The only big money player departing the Eels for sure in 2026 is Dylan Brown. Mitchell Moses, Junior Paulo, Ryan Matterson and Zac Lomax remain contracted.
Recruitment and extension of Dylan Walker, Tallyn Da Silva, JDB and Josh Addo-Carr has likely wiped out any savings there.
The upgrades and extensions of Jordan Samrani, Kitione Kautoga, Joash Papalii, Will Penisini and Ronald Volkman and Ryley Smith likely chews up another section of the cap.
To add to this was the extension of Mitchell Moses at the start of the year.
Given the Eels are close to 30 contracted players for 2026, it's unlikely they have much cap space left beyond the final couple of NRL spots.
Release of any of players such as Lussick, Hands or Greig is unlikely to furnish much more in the way of cap space and their funds would likely go towards retaining and extending juniors.
The release of Matterson may be the only way the Eels have further funds for 2026 to aggressively enter the player market.
But the age of the squad adds a spanner to the works. It's likely many of these players recently signed or extended will have ratcheting clauses in their contracts as they advance into their NRL careers, so money will need to be available to furnish those clauses.
Given all the above, could the Eels really have the funds to enter the player market for 2026?
Replies
We have 29 signed already for 2026. If Matto and Lane leave then 27. If they stay we are fucked again.
I wonder how many gamesLane can nope out on before we can shred his contract? I like the bloke , and his skull is a mess, done playing for us. He is no dummy. Find him something to do for the club, but get him off the fucking cap
Smart thinking Randolph......for a dope head....just goes to show in moments of lucidity, what you can achieve.
Have you got that "seeing eye dog" yet..... I thought that was a classic, my guess is that 5% picked up on it LOL
When DB was on the books how much salary cap dispensation was the club aloud as time acrewed at a club you get $$$ xx taken off the cap.
Im not sure how much time you actually have to have done at a club but I think it's applicable to juniors coming all the way through to FG.
If we have no money for the 26 market we might as well donate our organs now. Walking dead.
We can have as much as we like if we can't recruit we are in big trouble.
have you seen who is available for the 26 season hence the reason we probably went for De Belin, Slim pikins Randy
Your calculations are based on this year's salary cap. Every year the salary cap is increased and has so for the last few years. Probably add another $1m for next year.
Looks like 8 million spare as we get rid of players and don't sign anyone.
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