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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Blue Eel replied to Blue Eel's discussion Let's Ask !!
"Good point  Muttman, I think the club are doing so many things right as well. At the end of the day I don't know what the club is really doing wrong to miss out on their first choices at the last hurdle so to speak. I'm hoping that fans outrage…"
1 minute ago
KENDOZA replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"They even went after allan overton just went to show how clueless and dopey they and some of our supporters are"
48 minutes ago
KENDOZA replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Biggest mistake was those grubs ousting fitzy. Love him or hate him fitzy knew how to run a club. I said back in 09 when fitzy was ousted be careful what you wish for."
49 minutes ago
KENDOZA replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Richo would be good worked at souths and penrith two premierships."
52 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Why Frankie you know as well as anyone there protected you no it so why is anything the media do going to put them out of a job when the club constitution protects them like it did McElduff.I'd be shocked if anyone on our board is outted over…"
58 minutes ago
Muttman replied to Blue Eel's discussion Let's Ask !!
"AI makes some decent points especially in its conclusion. Galvin was a classic. That entire saga was instigated by Gus Gould and the Bulldogs well before it all blew up publicly. They orchestrated the entire process early to get their man, we were…"
58 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Missed Galvin to Pops he took less apparently to go to the Dogs and for us we went all in.At some point if we are in for these types of players we have to have the ability to close talent.
Thats a given or else this discussion and ending a…"
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"I think your on the money here but how far does that get us is the real issue and with the optics of us not being able to land the top tier of talent are all our eggs in one basket with regards to development which again if it is I'm not against it.…"
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"I agree with this but the club needs to have a win for the optics of it.Just to show to there fans and others that the club is a threat when it comes to recruiting this type of talent.What it basically says we were in for the same sought of $$$ just…"
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"They'll punt him much like the board after they've done there 9 year stints as per the constitution.Just like McElduff before them.You think Beech and co are going to fire MoN now the guys been bad for years and we are just realising this now 😂."
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"As bad as this may sound MoN will just be a conjuit for recruitment the ace up the clubs sleeve is Jason Ryles he'll be the conductor of this orchestra.All MoN and the numb nut committee are there for is exactly that to facilitate moves.Players will…"
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Aj's discussion Keaon done deal
"Where's this gem of a poster disappeared to can you see counting chickens before they hatch 😂 "
1 hour ago
The Badger replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Does anyone know what Jack Williams contract is worth ?
"Your blog asks how much Williams is on (no-one really knows) then assert that DeBelin is cheap. How much is he on?"
1 hour ago
Poppa replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Its also fair to admit you don't understand what an option is HKF"
2 hours ago
Randy Handlinger replied to Blue Eel's discussion Let's Ask !!
"Do we have the option of dominating and winning? All signs are we need to scrap with what we can get (Kellt, JDB, 1yr pezet) or overpay in both yrs and $$$. The AI may have matched Dylboobs deal for fear of overcaution. That would be worse"
2 hours ago
HKF replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Garbage poppa, player options through other clubs are very minimal,  at there peak in 2024 the eels had by far the most with 7 players under contract with player options, the next most was the raiders with 3, some other clubs had 2 or 1 with others…"
2 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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12 Replies · Reply by Coryn Hughes 1 hour ago
Views: 1612

ANY MORE SIGNINGS???

I've been frustrated recently about the work we have been doing in the open market. Jonah's alright for a year and JDB is solid but he's getting old. I feel we need more in the forwards and some a replacement outside back. All I have seen is links…

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Let's Ask !!

I find myself sitting around watching the cricket after the Christmas Festivities, and I'm stewing on the perception that we are missing out on real talent that our coach wants, and missing out with way too much regularity and consistency. The…

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6 Replies · Reply by Blue Eel 1 minute ago
Views: 220

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