Talagi exit a symptom of Parra’s poor contract calls with more pain on the horizon in Ryles’ rebuild

Parramatta are paying the price for being slow off the mark to regenerate their roster with Blaize Talagi’s exit to Penrith a massive body blow as they try to pick themselves up off the canvas from their staggering 2024 campaign. 

The Eels should have been on the verge of a bright future with Talagi the young gun at fullback spearheading a new generation of talent profiting from playing alongside their star halves pairing of Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown. 

With centre Will Penisini and lock J’maine Hopgood already ensconced in first grade to be cornerstones for of the future, they had NSW under-19 representatives Matt Arthur, Charlie Guymer, Ethan Sanders and Sam Tuivaiti coming off the production line to bring more new blood into the team. 

But they overspent on ageing players from the team which made it all the way to the 2022 Grand Final, extending their deals beyond their use-by date. 

Eels management also handed Brad Arthur one contract extension too many when it was obvious that he had run his course as coach after more than a decade in the role. 

Then after waiting too long to give him the flick, their dithering cost them any chance of luring their No.1 target to the club in Wayne Bennett, who basically told them that they called too late as he was all but signed, sealed and delivered to South Sydney by the time the Eels got their act together. 

They eventually selected a rookie coach in Jason Ryles, one who is viewed as a long-term NRL mentor after serving a lengthy apprenticeship under Craig Bellamy but that doesn’t always guarantee success – two of the Eels’ last three coaching hires followed the same pathway but Stephen Kearney and Arthur were both unable to break the 1986 premiership drought.

After a middling 10th-placed finish last year, they have just four of 18 matches this season and are no certainties to keep their noses in front of the Wests Tigers in the final six rounds to avoid the wooden spoon.

And now Talagi has delivered a kick to the guts by deciding to leave with all signs pointing to him linking with their western Sydney rivals, Penrith.

The team that used to be their little brother. The team that old Eels used to join when they were no longer wanted at Parra. 

This is a 19-year-old prodigy who has come through the Parramatta pathways and decided he wants to be a Panther because he sees a brighter future there. 

He’s not the only member of their bumper crop of talent from the 2023 SG Ball Cup premiership-winning team that is heading elsewhere. 

Matt Arthur has been granted a release, disgruntled by the treatment dished out to his old man, while Sanders has taken up an offer with the Raiders next year. 

Losing Sanders was perhaps understandable because the young playmaker’s unlikely to cement a starting spot in the NRL any time soon at Parra with Moses and Brown locked in as the first-choice halves pairing. 

Parra are now in premiership purgatory and look likely to be stuck there for the next few years. 

Strong roster management means having a mix of elite players in their prime and those who are on their way to becoming top-line talent. 

The Eels have a handful who fit into this criteria but way too many who were great or are run-of-the-mill role players. 

In the forwards, Junior Paulo, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Ryan Matterson, Joe Ofahengaue, Shaun Lane and Bryce Cartwright were either representative players or not far off but they will all be 30 or older by the time next season rolls around and their effectiveness is only going to diminish further.

Matterson has already been told he can head elsewhere if he can get a decent offer but it is likely Parra will be paying some of his contract to get another club to take him off their hands. 

Out wide, Maika Sivo is another who has been tapped on the shoulder with what could have been three years left on his contract although the deals for 2026 and 2027 were club options so the Eels could only be on the hook for a portion of his deal next year.

Eels captain Clint Gutherson is also hitting the wrong side of 30 next month and he’s showing the wear and tear of a decade in the NRL.  

Clauses are a cause for concern at the club. Talagi is able to join the premiers because he exercised a clause in his deal to leave a year early. 

Brown could do likewise as early as the end of next season even though the club trumpeted a historic extension a couple of years ago for the Kiwi five-eighth until the end of 2031. 

Moses also has clauses in his five-year (three guaranteed years) deal that allow him to slide out of the Eels at the end of 2026 with Matterson, Lane and Penisini the other members of the top 30 squad who have managed to talk their way into getting clauses written into their current contracts. 

Smart clubs don’t get held to ransom by player agents. Penrith and the Roosters don’t have any of their senior squad members with player options hanging over the club’s heads, the Storm have two in Harry Grant and Tyran Wishart while the Broncos, who were riddled with them under the previous administration, have weeded them all out since Dave Donaghy took over as CEO a couple of years ago.

It all adds up to a lot of roster pain for Ryles to manage in his rookie head coaching assignment. 

He knocked back the chance to coach his hometown club St George Illawarra last year. As much as they were a basket case, they are further down the rebuild path now.

Zac Lomax has also turned his back on the Dragons to join the Eels on a lucrative four-year deal – perhaps he might also regret leaving the devil he knows.

Moses, Brown, Hopgood, Penisini fit into the category of Parramatta players who need to be kept on the books no matter what, Guymer and Tuivaiti have enormous potential after earning their NSW under-19 selections but apart from that small selection of talent, the rest of the squad is eminently expendable.

Parramatta Eels

Daejarn Asi	2024
Dylan Brown	2024	2025	PO until 2031
Reagan Campbell-Gillard	2024	2025
Bryce Cartwright	2024	2025
Zac Cini	2024
Matt Doorey	2024	2025
Haze Dunster	2024	MO
Wiremu Greig	2024	2025
Clint Gutherson	2024	2025
Brendan Hands	2024	2025
Morgan Harper	2024
J’maine Hopgood	2024	2025
Shaun Lane	2024	2025	MO
Zac Lomax		2025	2026	2027
Joey Lussick	2024	2025
Makahesi Makatoa	2024
Uinitoni Mataele	2024	2025
Ryan Matterson	2024	2025	PO
Jirah Momoisea	2024
Mitchell Moses	2024	2025	2026	PO	PO
Joe Ofahengaue	2024	2025
Ofahiki Ogden	2024
Junior Paulo	2024	2025	2026
Will Penisini	2024	2025	PO
Ky Rodwell	2024
Sean Russell	2024	2025
Bailey Simonsson	2024
Maika Sivo	2024	2025	MO	CO
Blaize Talagi	2024	PO
Tevita Taumoepenu	2024
Kelma Tuilagi	2024	2025

2024 recruits

Kelma Tuilagi (Sea Eagles), Morgan Harper (Sea Eagles).

2024 departures

Josh Hodgson (retirement), Jack Murchie (Huddersfield), Andrew Davey (retirement), Waqa Blake (unsigned), Samuel Loizou (unsigned)

2025 recruits

Zac Lomax (Dragons)

2025 departures

Ethan Sanders (Raiders), Blaize Talagi (Panthers)