Ashes Third Test, Headingley

Australia lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test at Edgbaston and drawing at Lord's.

The Aussies will be without former captain and the best batsman in the world after Steve Smith was ruled out with concussion following a Jofra Archer bouncer that struck him on the neck in his first innings at Lord's.

Marnus Labuschagne is expected to fill Smith's spot like he did at Lord's when he entered the fray as Test cricket's first ever concussion substitute where he scored an admirable 59 runs, helping to steer Australia to a draw on the final day.

It's expected that Peter Siddle will drop out of the side to allow for the return of James Pattinson who was rested for the second Test. Mitchell Starc seems destined to remain on drinks duty.

England meanwhile are expected to name an unchanged 11 although they may tinker with the make up of the batting order. Joe Root has struggled at first drop, while Jason Roy has failed to make the switch from opening in the ODI team to becoming a Test opener. Root is expected to move down to four with Joe Denly jumping into the number three position.

Many are talking about the effect of Jofra Archer's entry into Test cricket. Interestingly, his debut performance lands him as just the 312th best bowler on debut with overall figures of 5/91. He need only look across at his opponents in Pat Cummins (7/117) and Josh Hazlewood (7/142) who had better debut figures.

The Headingley pitch is rumoured to be a slow deck that will crumble and break up towards the end of the match. An interesting decision by the ground staff there given Australia's Nathan Lyon has been collecting wickets for fun and spun the English into knots in the first Test.

As always the toss will be important and Tim Paine will be hoping his luck continues. This will likely be a bat first pitch because no one will be looking to bat last on a decaying deck.

Play starts at 8pm AEST tonight so get your picture-in-picture going or set up a second screen to make sure you don't miss the first ball while watching the Eels belt the Dogs.

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EA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Guymer has played centre properly since Harold Matthews (u17s) not sure what your talking about. He has been shifted to centre in games during nsw cup due to injury and every time his edge would concede so many tries because he doesn't have the…"
20 seconds ago
Yehez replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Very good second half. We still building. Shout out to Da Silva, slowly becoming the player. "
1 minute ago
JC replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Poor game management from moses today, tried to be too fancy when up 24-14 when all we needed to do was complete our sets particularly when in their red zone. 
Tuivaiti has been tremendous to start the season,  he needs another similar front row…"
3 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Guymer played and captained our under 21's from the centre a few years back. He has the knowledge of the positonal play if not the speed. Kelma is hopeless in the centres.That said it was a band aid this week, he won't be picked there next week you…"
4 minutes ago
Muttman replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"From what I've seen so far this season Panthers will put 30 on us by HT. "
5 minutes ago
Muttman replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Moses hasn't been great but our go forward hasn't helped him either. Halves need space and we're on the back foot for far too long especially at the start. We know Moses can play but he needs a platform. "
6 minutes ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Moses kicked brilliantly,  but he let the dragons back into the match with a couple of loose pasees "
6 minutes ago
Bubba j replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"  TDS and Tuiviati should both start next week our starting side just isn't doing it TDS is starting to show why everyone was saying he is a talent speed around the ruck is king "
7 minutes ago
EA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Panthers is going to rip us a new one. Dragons should have won the game with the chances they had once Guymer was binned. We were out on our feet but dragons didn't excute at all at the end. Our starts are so bad and I can't see it improving much…"
8 minutes ago
macybrown replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Outstanding! Sam is one of our very very best for a long time. Parra need to wrap him up since last year! We cannot let him get Perth rooster or anyone's offers 
 "
8 minutes ago
Mallee57 replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Agree very boring game. Moses has been average every game this year. He makes some questionable choices at times. Eels really need some quality recruitment. Team was better when Lomax was in the side. "
8 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"What's actually constructive about that comment Joel. What do you possibly think you can achieve?
Criticise by all means, but try and be constructive in the process! maybe you can bring that up at the end of the season if you feel someone will take…"
10 minutes ago
EA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Tuivita with 175m from the bench. "
11 minutes ago
Muttman replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Agreed. 1) We severely lack go forward through the middle. 2) Pezet is a huge downgrade on Brown. The attack seems to break down on his side. His defence is ordinary. But hey, love getting the 2 points. I'll always take that. But we're still a fair…"
13 minutes ago
macybrown replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"our defence was obviously much better in last twenty ish but why are we so so lazy D in starts. lucky Dragons have no attacking direction "
13 minutes ago
Parra fan on The Hill replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R3: Danger Game as Desperate Dragons Hunt First Win TEAM UPDATES IN
"Mitch was poor with his passes but his kicking and defence when we were on the rack was top notch.
3. TDS
2. Doorey
1 Mitch
Bravo to the boys for holding out when we were down to 12 men. Really proud of the boys."
16 minutes ago
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Keaon done deal

As of Thursday, December 11, 2025, South Sydney Rabbitohs forwardKeaon Koloamatangi has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Parramatta Eels, but it is not yet officially announced by the clubs.  Soon to be announced.

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14 Replies · Reply by Poppa Jan 9
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