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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Hector Bob Down replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"Six again is still open for corruption "
23 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"4th"
54 minutes ago
Parra-Choker replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"are we saying is we finish in the 8 and beaten by a top side its alright we had  good year , thats bull shit ,  we need to aim for a top 4 spot and damn well convince ourselves we can beat the top teams
if we beat the Panther on saturday wont be a…"
58 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"That's not cheating though again it's just another way to attack the escort rule."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"Yeah definitely is. Could Payten's last by then."
1 hour ago
Hell On Eels replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"That doesn't sound like us, Gucci.
The thing with restarts is you can't keep doing it repeatedly — successive restarts, around 3-straight — is a sin bin. 
Storm almost got a sin bin for doing it against in R1. Alas, they did it at the end of the…"
1 hour ago
Joel K replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"Last year our middle defence was the same early on
it improved as the season went on, hopefully the same for this year "
1 hour ago
Gucci replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"I swear on these sites we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. If we don't exploit the rules we are behind the rest of the power house clubs, shit coaching staff, we abuse the rules like Penrith and Melbourne, we are cheats, penalise us."
1 hour ago
EA replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"Even if they don't raise their arms I don't think it's a penalty because as you said they get into position very early "
1 hour ago
SuperEel 22 replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"We are doing what we should be doing. Exploiting the rules to the letter of the rule. Our players are taking up a position early and abiding by the contesting rules by raising their arms. I'd love to hear a referee try to justify a penalty in this…"
2 hours ago
Parra-Choker replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"we still need to be competetive in "these:|" games if we cant beat the top teams whats the point , our playing group isnt going to get any stronger than what we have , weakest link besides Kelly , Debelin is Junior PAulo 
to turn around and say we…"
2 hours ago
Parra-Choker replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"kids love to play in the NRL , we cant keep waiting till they are 30 years old and buy them back from another club we gave them to 15 years ago"
2 hours ago
Clintorian replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"Yeah, I realised that after typing it. Still a game we should win."
2 hours ago
LB replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"Right and ruin their confidence v Penrith. Kelly is not good but experienced "
2 hours ago
LB replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"NQ isn't in Sydney but yeah our draw isn't too bad after this week."
2 hours ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to Muttman's discussion Sneaky ploy which makes Panthers defense so good.
"There should be a warning then sin bin for a second offence.  Its cheating.  Its worse than being caught offside after a tap because its pre meditated. 
Vlandys has to use the bin
And now there's a view that Parramatta is cheating by players placing…"
3 hours 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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