Parramatta Eels 2025 NRL season preview
2024 recap
2024 won’t be remembered fondly by Parra. They finished outside the top eight for a second straight year, just avoided the wooden spoon with a last-day victory, and sacked long-serving coach Brad Arthur midway through the season.
On top of that, one of the team’s most promising young players, Blaize Talagi, made the decision to leave at the end of the year and 200-gamer Clint Gutherson was told he could walk away from his contract 12 months early. So all in all, very few positives to take from the season.
2024 position: 15th
Key signings
Josh Addo-Carr (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), Dean Hawkins (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Isaiah Iongi (Penrith Panthers), Zac Lomax (St George Illawarra Dragons), Joash Papalii (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), Jordan Samrani (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), Jack Williams (Cronulla Sharks)
Key departures
Matt Arthur (Newcastle Knights), Daejarn Asi (Castleford Tigers), Reagan Campbell-Gillard (Gold Coast Titans), Zac Cini (Castleford Tigers), Clint Gutherson (St George Illawarra Dragons), Morgan Harper (North Sydney Bears), Jirah Momoisea (released), Lorenzo Mulitalo (Burleigh Bears), Ky Rodwell (Wakefield Trinity), Ethan Sanders (Canberra Raiders), Maika Sivo (Leeds Rhinos), Blaize Talagi (Penrith Panthers)
Players to watch
Josh Addo-Carr arrives at the Eels after a couple of injury-disrupted seasons with the Bulldogs and a high-profile sacking for drug driving. On his day, he’s one of the NRL’s best wingers, and 140 tries in 179 games is testament to that. This year’s a big one for the Foxx if he’s to get back to those levels, and at 29, he still has time on his side.
Zac Lomax is another of the Eels’ new arrivals, and he joins off the back of a career-best year with the Dragons. 14 tries, plus debuts for New South Wales and Australia, and a place in the Dally M Team of the Year, mean he comes to Parra on a high, and he should be able to pick up where he left off in 2024.
Young gun
Isaiah Iongi is set to take over the fullback role from Clint Gutherson in 2025, so all eyes will be on the 21 year-old. He made his NRL debut last year for the Panthers and put in a solid showing in his only appearance. Expect big things from the Queenslander, who was named NSW Cup Fullback of the Year in 2023.
Our prediction – 11th
It’s tough to predict how Parra will go this year. With a big turnover of players and a new rookie coach, they could end up as the competition’s surprise package or collect the wooden spoon, and neither seems impossible to imagine. A wooden spoon looks unlikely, but I can’t see them making the finals either.
