Parramatta savaged over 'disgraceful' move that allowed Blaize Talagi to join rival NRL team
The Eels have struggled to hang onto their juniors in recent years.
The Parramatta Eels have come under fire for failing to hold onto young star Blaize Talagi. On Wednesday the Eels confirmed the 19-year-old will be leaving the club at the end of the NRL season and he is reportedly set to sign a three-year deal with the Panthers.
The teenage sensation burst onto the scene with a barnstorming display in the Eels' narrow Round 3 win over the Sea Eagles earlier this year. The performance caught the attention of the NRL world as Talagi showed his immense potential, topping off his strong debut by running over Manly star Tom Trbojevic to score a powerful try.
It led Parramatta to push him to take up the extension option in his contract. However, the 19-year-old shunned the chance to do so, with multiple clubs expressing interest to sign him. But viewed as the Eels' long-term fullback, Talagi was a priority retention target and the club was understood to be confident of getting a new deal over the line after signing Jason Ryles as coach for next season. And now the fact he has still opted to leave has been seen as a major failure on Parramatta's part.
Speaking on Wednesday night's NRL 360, Fox League's James Hooper described the Eels’ inability to keep Talagi as a "shocking case of mismanagement". Hooper was especially critical of Parramatta's decision to insert player options into the contracts of star players, such as Talagi, Dylan Brown, Mitchell Moses and Will Penisini. The clause means the player has up until a certain round to take up an option for next year - in Talagi's case Round 11 -and if the player doesn't they are free to go.
“For whatever reason they’ve allowed them to put these clauses in their contract and it’s bitten Parramatta where it hurts,” Hooper said. “I’ll tell you what, this is only the beginning of how bad it could get at Parramatta.
"Mitchell Moses has got a clause (for 2027). I think he’ll be gone. Next year Dylan Brown has the same clause (for 2026) and so does Will Penisini (for 2026)... What’s been laid bare for everyone to see in this case with Blaize Talagi is the lack of rugby league IQ at the absolute top of Parramatta."
Braith Anasta agreed with Hooper, stating Paramattta's inability to retain Talagi and juniors Greg Marzhew, Stefano Utoikamanu, Jaeman Salmon, Oregon Kaufusi and Sam Hughes in recent years is "a disgrace". “They can’t contain or maintain players at the club and they put clauses in their contract to give them an option of leaving. If I’m a Parramatta fan, I’m filthy,” Anasta said.
Clint Gutherson backs Jason Ryles to shake things up
Parramatta fullback Clint Gutherson says he expects incoming coach Jason Ryles will make mass changes when he takes over next season. Former Eels coach Brad Arthur favoured a power game that was heavily reliant on their forwards making big metres through the middle before then handing it over to the likes of Gutherson, Moses and Brown to create something in attack close to the line.
But with Arthur gone and the Eels without a distinctive style, Gutherson believes Ryles will shake things up and modernise their style of footy. "I think we do (need to modernise). We missed the finals last year and we're sitting at the wrong end again this year," Gutherson said. "The results probably speak for themselves that we do need to change our style because we haven't been playing finals footy.
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"The game changes a lot, very quickly, year-to-year, and if you don't adjust and don't change it you get left behind, and that could be the reason for the last couple of years."
