Inspired Eels Topple Dogs
Parramatta's MASH unit of a team out-performed their arch rivals
Fresh off being annihilated by the Gold Coast Titans 52-10 at home, it was back to the 80s for the Eels.
A match against their traditional rivals, the Bulldogs loomed, as did the 40th anniversary of the Blue and Gold’s 1986 premiership.
The legends both gathered at the Centre of Excellence before taking the field as the old guard welcomed the new.
With a physicality that would have made Ray Price proud, Parramatta stuck it to their more-fancied opponents.
And they did it with a casualty ward well in the double digits.
As head coach Jason Ryles mentioned in the press conference, Parramatta used 8 players who had fewer than 20 NRL games under their belts:
Joash Papalii
Araz Nanva
Ronald Volkman
Saxon Pryke
Toni Mataele
They all sit below the 20 games. While Charlie Guymer, Ryley Smith and Tallyn Da Silva all sit at fewer than 50 games.
Drawing on the presence of the legends (which also included the great Steve Edge among them), Parramatta’s defence was the hallmark of this win.
They weathered the early storm from the Dogs and then chased, hounded and at times physically dominated their opponents.
Josh Addo-Carr cut Josh Curran in half to force a mistake. Araz Nanva in just his second game kept his edge quiet. Saxon Pryke, a middle forward on debut, tackled anything that moved, finishing with 30 tackles and 0 missed.
But this side was led from the front by Junior Paulo. The Samoan leader who has been playing on one leg in recent weeks churned out 169 metres from 17 runs. The high water mark for Parramatta’s forwards.
Where the Eels looked rush, panicked and confused at times against the Titans, this week they were calm, methodical and precise.
They exploited the injured Jacob Kiraz when they identified him limping in the line with Brian Kelly setting up Joash Papalii.
Parramatta hammered away at the Dogs right edge with Josh Curran out of position in the centres.
Josh Addo-Carr and Ronald Volkman both crossing while the diminutive five-eighth tormented the Dogs defence all match.
In many ways the match was a demonstration of all the promise Volkman showed as a lower grade player whose career was interrupted by that shoulder injury.
He played tough, he took the line on, he poked and prodded on his edge to continuously stress the Dogs defence.
His one general play kick resulted in a goal line drop out.
And I’ve gone all this way without mentioning Mitchell Moses. The Eels captain and halfback put in the sort of performance you have come to expect.
Calm and composed, he kicked the Dogs to death and pulled the strings. He popped up on both sides of the field, threatened with his running game but gave space to his outside men.
Defensively he was physical once again as he threw his body into contact on the much larger Villiame Kikau. The hulking backrower had no trademark linebreak. In fact he managed a paltry 48 run metres from 8 runs.
This Eels side is far from the finished product. Their worst is too far from their best.
But it was a show of what this Eels side can do. It was representative of what this side was building at the end of 2025.
Next week they travel to Manly. Weirdly they face a former captain and halfback in the opposition coach’s box.
If the Eels bring the same fire and brimstone, the Sea Eagles won’t know what hit them.
Parra Proud.