The bold direction of Parramatta rookie coach Jason Ryles has been questioned with departing five-eighth Dylan Brown in “career-low” form.
The Eels are 0-4 for the first time since 2018 – when they won the wooden spoon – after Ryles decided to clean house and blood young talent.
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Former captain Clint Gutherson was shown the door alongside star prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard and veteran winger Maika Sivo.
Ryles then demoted regular NRL players Bryce Cartwright, Ryan Matterson and Kelma Tuilagi to NSW Cup.
The results have not been pretty and the Eels sit on the bottom of the ladder with both the worst attack and defence in the competition.
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The NRL 360 panel – Braith Anasta, Gorden Tallis and journalists James Hooper and Dave Riccio – dissected where it all went wrong for the club that contested the 2022 grand final.
Anasta: How did they get here?
Riccio: I think it’s the by-product of a new coach, quite simply. Jason Ryles wants to put a stamp on things his way. Brian Smith had a mentality of when getting to a new club, clean house, get rid of the leaders, take control, have a young group at your disposal and that way you can dictate the path of that group much easier.
Hooper: But I’ve also heard Wayne Bennett say when you get to a club you don’t want to change too much. You might bring one or two players in but you’ve got to figure out what you’ve got under the bonnet and then figure out how to make it work so then you know exactly how to get to where you need to get to.
Riccio: There’s no greater example of Jason Ryles doing things his way than Bryce Cartwright, Ryan Matterson and Kelma Tuilagi playing New South Wales Cup while kids are getting debuted off the bench.
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Hooper: It’s coming across (badly) though. If you look at the numbers to start the year, it’s been a brutal beginning. You go back to Parramatta in the opening month of their season last year they won two out of four, they were a lot tighter defensively, the decision to move on Clint Gutherson and Reagan Campbell-Gillard have clearly bitten them on the arse.
I don’t know how we went from Parra making a grand final in 2022 to this.
Anasta: Didn’t they sack before because they thought he had the team to win a premiership and they thought he couldn’t get them there?
Hooper: Yes. And they said at that time they still thought they had a roster capable of competing for premiership. I’ll give Ryles all the time in the world because he’s four games into a four-year deal but the numbers don’t lie.
I think if you asked Ryles now with the benefit of hindsight, would he make the same call (on Gutherson) he might do things differently.
Anasta: Gutho, the energy he brings to a team is just irreplaceable. Like even in his losses, he’s always competing. He’s so reliable.
Hooper: We saw it against the Melbourne Storm last week, if he doesn’t play that game I don’t think St George Illawarra wins. It’s not just what he does with the ball, it’s his organisation defensively and the amount of tries that he stops. He is a leader, he is an energiser bunny… that hasn’t worked out as a great decision for the Eels.
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Riccio: Can we not ignore that Dylan Brown is in career-low form?
Anasta: Has there been a long period of time in his career where he has been in form?
Hooper: He started the year they made the grand final strongly, maybe eight games he was very consistent with running the football and then again when they went on the fun into finals. But aside from that, there hasn’t been a strong consistent massive block.
Anasta: I think because of the whole fanfare and deal he’s got at Newcastle, yeah it’s put pressure on him but he hasn’t reached great heights at all yet (this season).
What is the concern is his response to it, the way he’s playing now… the elite of our game, the best in our game, no matter what the outside noise is, the champions respond.
It’s hard to knock him because I think he has so much potential and I actually think he will be a good buy.
Tallis: It’s not his fault. They’ve asked him to do a job that he can’t do. The sad part is when I watch him I think he’s a ball runner, I think he’s more suited to the centres than moving closer to the ruck and I think he’s a mile away from running a footy side.
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