Parramatta Eels 2024 season review
Overview
The Eels made it back-to-back seasons without finals footy in 2024, and only a handsome win in the ‘Spoon Bowl’ kept them off the bottom of the ladder.
The year started encouragingly enough with a 26-8 win over the Bulldogs in round one, and three wins and three losses from the opening six, suggested they’d be in and around the top eight come September.
That was as good as it got for Parra though. They lost their next four in a row, which saw long-serving coach Brad Arthur sacked.
His interim replacement, Trent Barrett, could do little to halt the slide though. His first 12 games yielded just two wins, and the wooden spoon looked a distinct possibility for the 2022 Grand Finalists. However, back-to-back wins in rounds 26 and 27 saw the Eels scrape their way up to 15th – 10 points outside the finals.
Highs
Slim pickings in 2024 I’m afraid. For a team who were expecting to be challenging for finals footy, the Eels’ season was so disappointing, with very few highlights.
One positive was the emergence of youngsters Charlie Guymer and Blaize Talagi, although Guymer’s reportedly looking elsewhere and Talagi has already signed a contact with the Panthers for 2025.
One positive was Maika Sivo’s 17 tries, which took him past the century mark for the Eels.
And, their final two games of the year saw them score 104 points, including 60 against the Tigers.
All in all though, not much to shout about for the Parra fans.
Lows
This bit’s much easier to write.
Brad Arthur’s sacking after more than a decade as head coach was met with mixed emotions, especially as the club failed to land their number one target to replace him, Wayne Bennett.
Arthur’s exit also led to his son Matt seeking an early release, and he’ll link up with the Knights in 2025. Arthur junior was part of the Eels’ now-decimated SG Ball Grand Final winning side in 2023, and he joins the likes of Blaize Talagi and Ethan Sanders in leaving the club ahead of next season.
Meanwhile, star player, Mitchell Moses missed most of the season. His best performances came in a New South Wales shirt, and the injury he suffered in game three ruled him out for the remainder of the year.
Other senior players at the club have seemingly been frozen out, with prop, Reagan Campbell-Gillard heading to the Dragons in 2025 and club captain, Clint Gutherson’s future under constant speculation.
To top things off, a group of former Eels players have started a a committee titled “Make Parra Matter Again – it’s time for change”. The aim of their campaign is to overthrow the current board and bring some stability back to the club, so watch this space in the off-season.
Reasons to be positive in 2025
There’s a new coach arriving ahead of the new season – Jason Ryles. Although it’ll be his first head coach role, he’s been around some of the best systems in the NRL under the likes of Trent Robinson and Craig Bellamy, so big things will be expected of him.
Zac Lomax is also heading to the Eels off the back of an outstanding Origin series, and there are likely to be more new signings joining him in 2025 with the squad looking a little thin at the moment.
My 2024 prediction – 6th
Final 2024 position – 15th (-9)
Another shocker here, but I was expecting so much more from the Eels in 2024. How a team can go from a Grand Final to a ‘Spoon Bowl’ in such a short space of time baffles me, but that’s the price you pay for mismanagement.
I’m expecting a big improvement from Parra next year, but the new coach has his work cut out.
