Rumours and Stuff

[Poupou Escobar]

2027 is when we will see the big recruits. November 1 will be very exciting.

 

[jk13]

f**k Ritchie . Let me guess, his team got flogged again and Galvin is making bad headlines.

 

[Gronk]

Fox are picking all the squads to bits and building a team for the Bears.

EELS

Players off contract end of 2026: Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Doorey, Charlie Guymer, Brendan Hands, Dean Hawkins, Toni Mataele, Ryan Matterson, Junior Paulo, Richard Penisini, Will Penisini, Sean Russell, Kelma Tuilagi, Ronald Volkman, Dylan Walker

Analysis: The Eels sit in a precarious position ahead of the November 1 free agency deadline. Jason Ryles has gone about reshaping his squad, and two names on this list could be on the move. Brendan Hands and Ryan Matterson have already been loaned out for the 2025 season, joining Toulouse Olympique and Warrington Wolves respectively. Parramatta bosses will be hoping they can find permanent moves to open space on their salary cap, while it remains to be seen if several other stars will be re-signed. Josh Addo-Carr is arguably the biggest name who will come off contract, but has been solid since arriving this season and the club will do what they can to retain his services. Dylan Walker also secured a release from the Warriors, signing on until the end of 2026 and the former Origin star has been impressive in the middle of the park. He’s another priority re-signing for the Eels, while Charlie Guymer, Matt Doorey and Kelma Tuilagi are strong chances of being retained in the forwards after becoming key figures under Ryles. Junior Paulo’s situation sits at a crossroads and he will be almost 33 by the time his current deal runs out. The Eels could look to retain his leadership, being one of the club’s most experienced players but it remains to be seen if he will be handed a fresh deal despite being a first grade regular. Will Penisini, alongside his brother Richard, are also both off-contract and the pair could be a target of expansion franchises in a package deal. Will Penisini is a regular starter though, and the Eels will do what they can to retain the talented outside back. A halves shootout also looms between Dean Hawkins and Ronald Volkman, with Hawkins being the preferred option of that pairing while Joash Papalii has leapfrogged both of them in the pecking order. It’s unlikely both will remain at the club with Lorenzo Talataina emerging as an impressive talent through the club’s pathways system, now playing in NSW Cup.

$1m-a-year bid sparking Sharks cap fears; Bears raid hits Storm, Titans — Nov 1 State of Play

$1m-a-year bid sparking Sharks cap fears; Bears raid hits Storm, Titans — Nov 1 State of Play

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Twizzle]

They are all fringe players; the Pandas will need some match winners and they'll be cashed up to do it

 

[Stagger eel]

the only blokes I'd consider keeping from that list would be Fox and Penisini and even then I wouldn't be too concerned if they leave.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The Eels sit in a precarious position ahead of the November 1 free agency deadline.

Yeah, precarious having all this cap space

 

[Poupou Escobar]

the only blokes I'd consider keeping from that list would be Fox and Penisini and even then I wouldn't be too concerned if they leave.

I hope we keep the Penisinis and Guymer. JAC is still excellent, but recently turned 30. Definitely past his peak as an outside back.

 

[Parra Pride]

Fox are picking all the squads to bits and building a team for the Bears.

EELS

Players off contract end of 2026: Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Doorey, Charlie Guymer, Brendan Hands, Dean Hawkins, Toni Mataele, Ryan Matterson, Junior Paulo, Richard Penisini, Will Penisini, Sean Russell, Kelma Tuilagi, Ronald Volkman, Dylan Walker

Analysis: The Eels sit in a precarious position ahead of the November 1 free agency deadline. Jason Ryles has gone about reshaping his squad, and two names on this list could be on the move. Brendan Hands and Ryan Matterson have already been loaned out for the 2025 season, joining Toulouse Olympique and Warrington Wolves respectively. Parramatta bosses will be hoping they can find permanent moves to open space on their salary cap, while it remains to be seen if several other stars will be re-signed. Josh Addo-Carr is arguably the biggest name who will come off contract, but has been solid since arriving this season and the club will do what they can to retain his services. Dylan Walker also secured a release from the Warriors, signing on until the end of 2026 and the former Origin star has been impressive in the middle of the park. He’s another priority re-signing for the Eels, while Charlie Guymer, Matt Doorey and Kelma Tuilagi are strong chances of being retained in the forwards after becoming key figures under Ryles. Junior Paulo’s situation sits at a crossroads and he will be almost 33 by the time his current deal runs out. The Eels could look to retain his leadership, being one of the club’s most experienced players but it remains to be seen if he will be handed a fresh deal despite being a first grade regular. Will Penisini, alongside his brother Richard, are also both off-contract and the pair could be a target of expansion franchises in a package deal. Will Penisini is a regular starter though, and the Eels will do what they can to retain the talented outside back. A halves shootout also looms between Dean Hawkins and Ronald Volkman, with Hawkins being the preferred option of that pairing while Joash Papalii has leapfrogged both of them in the pecking order. It’s unlikely both will remain at the club with Lorenzo Talataina emerging as an impressive talent through the club’s pathways system, now playing in NSW Cup.

$1m-a-year bid sparking Sharks cap fears; Bears raid hits Storm, Titans — Nov 1 State of Play

$1m-a-year bid sparking Sharks cap fears; Bears raid hits Storm, Titans — Nov 1 State of Play

www.foxsports.com.au

Calling Dylan Walker an Origin 'star' is a stretch.

 

[King-Gutho94]

The Baseline: They’re Not Great Yet, But Calling Ryles’ Eels Rebuild 'A Lie' Is Cooked | The Sporting Base

The Baseline: They're not great yet, but calling Ryles' Eels rebuild 'a lie' is cooked Needless to say, the take that popped out at me was far from what I

thesportingbase.com

The Baseline: They’re not great yet, but calling Ryles’ Eels rebuild ‘a lie’ is cooked​

I was having my coffee this morning when I saw an NRL article on Jason Ryles and the work he’s doing to turn the Parramatta Eels around after some serious down years for the Western Sydney club.​

---

Needless to say, the take that popped out at me was far from what I expected.

Here’s the headline: “Why Parramatta Eels so-called revival under Jason Ryles is a lie.” And the meat: Dean “Bulldog” Ritchie doesn’t think Parramatta should be getting any plaudits for winning a third of their games this year.

(Just to check the till, that number’s spot on; the Eels are 7–14 heading into the last few weeks.)

Now, all love to Bulldog Ritchie, but this is one of the more cooked takes we’ll see in the NRL world for some months.

I appreciate there are papers to sell, but it doesn’t need to be by punching down on rebuilding NRL clubs – especially not when it’s one of the teams that’s actually putting together a pretty nice little return. (Not exactly the easiest thing for me to admit, considering I’ll happily put the Parramatta Eels in the ‘not so loved’ basket in my household.)

Right at the core of this argument – that all the recent positive buzz is unbalanced compared to how much Parramatta have actually been winning through the 2025 season – there’s a big, gaping problem that pops up.

That is, that Mitchell Moses, the team’s star halfback, has been out most of the year.

The search function tells me Ritchie does touch on Moses’ absence once, pointing out that he’s been out basically as many games as he was last year. That comes 23 paragraphs down in the Tele column and doesn’t come packaged with a reminder that the Eels had a similarly torrid time without Moses and finished even worse with a 7–17 record by season’s end.

But why is the fact that the team’s built-around general has been sidelined so unimportant in the whole argument? I’d say it plays a huge part in why the team has been struggling to win football games. Take Nathan Cleary out of the Panthers side and they lose loads more – just look at the start of this season. The Storm look a step down without Jahrome Hughes or Cameron Munster to guide them around. Heck, the Bulldogs have fallen apart since Gus Gould and Cameron Ciraldo fiddled with their halves pairings.

Ritchie calls for an Eels team under Ryles to “start seeing cold, hard results” and a finals berth, but chooses to ignore the fact the team is coming together nicely. Isaiah Iongi has looked great in spurts (like any youngster would) while Joash Papalii and Ryley Smith are getting good game time.

And Tallyn Da Silva has been rocks and diamonds, but can only get better as he plays more NRL matches.

So what’s the go here – are teams just not allowed to go through rebuild periods anymore? The Eels have pledged themselves towards turning things around, signing youngsters, shipping off Dylan Brown to the Knights, have sunk time into developing pathways, and have constructed a new $70 million Centre of Excellence to help the team.

And Ryles has been hard at work chopping and changing players, too. Take a look at this:

• In: Zac Lomax, Josh Addo-Carr, Tallyn Da Silva, Dylan Walker, Isaiah Iongi, Joash Papalii, Kitione Kautoga, Jordan Samrani, Dean Hawkins, Ronald Volkman, Jack Williams.
• Out: Dylan Brown, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Bryce Cartwright, Clint Gutherson, Shaun Lane, Joe Ofahengaue, Maika Sivo.

That’s a hefty list of changing faces, all of which will take time to settle.

Surely if we’re swinging at teams that are struggling to rebuild, we aim the punches at a Gold Coast Titans, a Manly Sea Eagles, or a Newcastle Knights, who seem to be going backwards rather than working towards new eras.

I’d be putting the Eels in the same basket as the St George Illawarra Dragons or Wests Tigers, who seem to be marching on the right path after some long years in the barren wastelands at the bottom of the NRL standings. Time will tell, but they’re seemingly on the mend.

Ryles is already working on 2026 and continues to fiddle with the roster, too, so there’s plenty of hope around the place. The Tele column says Eels fans will “hate this take,” but I’d reckon they might just be befuddled.

All in all, very odd to slash the Eels specifically – they’ll come good in the 2020s, I’m sure.

 

[85 Baby]

the only blokes I'd consider keeping from that list would be Fox and Penisini and even then I wouldn't be too concerned if they leave.

Walker?

I’d say the only difficult ones will be JAC, Walker & Hawkins, in that there’d be enough interest to increase their cost, they’re good pieces to have in our squad but also of course there’s risk they don’t perform (age factors for JAC/Walker and not required/not good enough for Hawkins, although his cost isn’t going to be significant).

Guymer, Mataele, Renisini and maybe Volkman are ok squad fillers but each of them are going to need big contract years, plus none are worth getting into battles over.

Doorey & Russell may be worth digging a little deeper but they’ll really depend on if we sign anyone in competition to their spots.

Junior, Venisini & Kelman really need to meet us on our terms. Respect if they do, no disrespect if they don’t.

Matterson and Hands if there no plans to use, need to be gone before end of next season, and really by the end of this year. Although I think Hands is still worth a squad spot, but if he would prefer to take opportunity elsewhere, fully respect that.

 

[85 Baby]

Also @Tiger5150 you are a penis

 

[Delboy]

Yeah, precarious having all this cap space

As usual , we don’t have a lot of cap space until we move on a few players. Even if that occurs , due to contract management there are little if any decent players off contact for 2026 and expecting the current front office to achieve anything remotely that we see at Roosters, Dogs and even Tigers is a stretch. Until they can be seen as active and smart recruiters, not sure we move the needle for a few years.

Even eternal optimists must be getting pensive.

 

[Gherkin]

As usual , we don’t have a lot of cap space until we move on a few players. Even if that occurs , due to contract management there are little if any decent players off contact for 2026 and expecting the current front office to achieve anything remotely that we see at Roosters, Dogs and even Tigers is a stretch. Until they can be seen as active and smart recruiters, not sure we move the needle for a few years.

Even eternal optimists must be getting pensive.

I find it hard to believe we have no cap space with the current squad. Matterson obviously taking up a big chunk and not playing. But across the rest of the squad it's hard to see where the money went.
RCG and Gutho left in the offseason and weren't really replaced (Iongi signed before Gutho left). JAC replaced Sivo, Walker probably roughly equates to Joffa's money (Walker probably on a bit more). Unless we were still paying a large amount of their contracts to play elsewhere this year (hopefully not considering they all wanted to leave) then we should've had some money left this year to front load some contracts.
TDS comes in as a mid season signing apparently on 600k, so that eats away a bit of cap space for next year. But we also have Dylans ~1mill and Lane ~500k that don't appear to have been replaced in the squad.

 

[Eelementary]

Daily Telegraph - Why Parramatta's Revival Is A Lie

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archive.md

 

[RealdEel]

Walker?

I’d say the only difficult ones will be JAC, Walker & Hawkins, in that there’d be enough interest to increase their cost, they’re good pieces to have in our squad but also of course there’s risk they don’t perform (age factors for JAC/Walker and not required/not good enough for Hawkins, although his cost isn’t going to be significant).

Guymer, Mataele, Renisini and maybe Volkman are ok squad fillers but each of them are going to need big contract years, plus none are worth getting into battles over.

Doorey & Russell may be worth digging a little deeper but they’ll really depend on if we sign anyone in competition to their spots.

Junior, Venisini & Kelman really need to meet us on our terms. Respect if they do, no disrespect if they don’t.

Matterson and Hands if there no plans to use, need to be gone before end of next season, and really by the end of this year. Although I think Hands is still worth a squad spot, but if he would prefer to take opportunity elsewhere, fully respect that.

You can not just start keeping players as squad fillers..

I love footy Dean but by 2027 you will need to have space for our juniors in the halves... Fletcher and Bamblett will be at the cup age and battling to see who will move up into first grade.

Kelman and Barlow will be replaced by a junior most likely Sam T and Funa-Luta.

 

[Delboy]

I find it hard to believe we have no cap space with the current squad. Matterson obviously taking up a big chunk and not playing. But across the rest of the squad it's hard to see where the money went.
RCG and Gutho left in the offseason and weren't really replaced (Iongi signed before Gutho left). JAC replaced Sivo, Walker probably roughly equates to Joffa's money (Walker probably on a bit more). Unless we were still paying a large amount of their contracts to play elsewhere this year (hopefully not considering they all wanted to leave) then we should've had some money left this year to front load some contracts.
TDS comes in as a mid season signing apparently on 600k, so that eats away a bit of cap space for next year. But we also have Dylans ~1mill and Lane ~500k that don't appear to have been replaced in the squad.

It was explained somewhat earlier, the club signed up to 12 of the elite juniors to contracts up to end of 2027 and a couple to 2028. Some basic maths and some will be on bottom end of top 30 so would be close to $120/$150k pa average, so anywhere from $1.4 to $1.8 million in ensuring we keep those juniors as we see their progress and don’t lose them to the usual suspects.

That’s where I believe a fair bit has been used ., and hopefully a base for our future.

 

[Eelementary]

Daily Telegraph - Why Parramatta's Revival Is A Lie

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archive.md

Never mind - already been posted!

 

[Poupou Escobar]

As usual , we don’t have a lot of cap space until we move on a few players.

We're talking about 2027.

Even if that occurs , due to contract management there are little if any decent players off contact for 2026

The article wasn't talking about 2026, it was talking about competition from the Bears.

and expecting the current front office to achieve anything remotely that we see at Roosters, Dogs and even Tigers is a stretch. Until they can be seen as active and smart recruiters, not sure we move the needle for a few years.

Even eternal optimists must be getting pensive.

*pensieve

@Gary Gutful

 

[85 Baby]

You can not just start keeping players as squad fillers..

I love footy Dean but by 2027 you will need to have space for our juniors in the halves... Fletcher and Bamblett will be at the cup age and battling to see who will move up into first grade.

Kelman and Barlow will be replaced by a junior most likely Sam T and Funa-Luta.

My thoughts on squad make up is that you have your top 17 and the remainder are essentially squad fillers with the exception of maybe spine backups.
So with that I think Hawkins has shown he’s very handy backup for Moses. As I said he’s a difficult one because he’d be easy to overpay for what he actually provides during the year. Mitigated of course by him not being on a high salary.
Names people are throwing up as the future halves of the club really can’t be relied on even by 2027. There more likely going to be earmarked for development contracts at best through that period.
I get that Paulo and Kelman aren’t everyone’s favourite people either, but Tuivati at best is still developing in 2027 and nowhere near Paulo level (that’s ideal Paulo level, just replacing 2026 Paulo level is going to be a watermark we really should be aiming higher than) & like the junior halves, JFI still has a ways to prove he’s at even Kelman level, hopefully he gets his opportunity next year to do so

 

[Avenger]

On second thoughts, go f**k yourself

Buddy, seriously what’s wrong with you? @Tiger5150 goes ok and I actually think he gives plenty of value to our forum.

Since you’ve transitioned to your new identity you have become a bit of an angry pussy. Almost unhinged.

#relax