‘I’ll never forget to the day I die’: Jason Ryles’ hilariously honest admission after ‘Mike Tyson moment’

Eels coach Jason Ryles admitted the 46-6 halftime scoreline he found himself on the wrong end of in Melbourne at the start of the year is “something I’ll never forget to the day I die”.

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But in proof of just how far Parramatta has come since then, the Eels led 34-4 at the break on Sunday afternoon as they ended their season on a high with a historic 66-10 win over the struggling Knights.

While the quality in opposition could obviously not be further apart, Ryles was particularly pleased that the Eels went on with the job in the second half when it would have been so easy to get complacent.

“We spoke at halftime about how important it was to start the half really well,” he said.

The Eels did just that, running in another six tries and conceding just one as they claimed their biggest-ever win against the Knights.

It capped off an impressive return to form for Parramatta since star halfback Mitchell Moses’ return from injury, with Ryles’ side winning five of its final seven games to close out the year.

One of those two losses came to the Storm, with the Eels falling short 16-10 on that occasion — a far cry from the 56-18 flogging they copped in Round 1.

Eels chief executive Jim Sarantinos called it a “Mike Tyson moment” in an interview with foxsports.com.au, adding: “Everyone’s got a plan until you get punched in the face”.

It was certainly a punch in the face for Ryles and his rebuild. So, if you had told him he would be sitting here at the end of the season with 10 wins, would he take it?

“I probably would have,” Ryles said.

“I think there were a lot of games there where we were in them up to here and you kind of look back on it and think what if?

“But for me and the playing group and Mitchell, we’re on a journey. This is to be continued and we need to get back in really good shape so that we can give ourselves a chance to continue to get better.”

There is some argument with the way they have played lately that the Moses-led Eels would even be stiffer finals competition than the Warriors.

So, is a return to the top eight the goal for Parramatta in 2026?

“I think what a realistic goal is everyone turns up in good shape ready to train in November, December, whenever they’re back,” Ryles replied.

“We’ll look to continue to improve each individual, give them the environment to be the best they can be, but a lot of things have got to happen for you to get to that stage.

“But, who knows?”

This will be a very different roster to the one Ryles took over at the start of the year after a major cleanout, with Dylan Brown among the biggest names to be departing the club.

Moses said the Eels players spoke about Brown at captain’s run, crediting his halves partner’s mature approach to being dropped by Ryles earlier in the season.

“He’s just a selfless person, selfless player, such a good teammate, good mate off the field,” Moses said.

“He could have easily kicked stones a few weeks ago when Joash got the six jersey and he didn’t, he went about it the right way and just put his ego to the side and done (sic) what was best for the team.

“He’s not here next year, but he did what was best for the team at the time and he got back in the team straight away the next week after. He set an example for us going forward and a bit of a lesson for us.”