Eels halfback Jonah Pezet has endured a “pretty tough season” at the club before he joins the Broncos next year, but he bounced back from a couple of hamstring injuries and a stint in reserve grade to remind everyone that he belongs in the NRL.
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Pezet, 23, left the Storm at the end of the 2025 season and linked up with Parramatta for one year before he joins Brisbane in 2027.
He was seen as the perfect man to partner Mitch Moses in the halves, but that combination ended after five rounds with Pezet returning on Sunday afternoon after three months out to help the Eels stun Manly.
“It’s probably no secret that it’s been a pretty tough season, not just for the club with injuries but (also for) myself,” he said after the match, with Moses away on Origin duty.
“I haven’t played NRL since round five, so that’s a long time. It’s been some tough days but the performance staff have been really good looking after me and the boys wrapped their arms around me.
“We’ve got a fair rehab crew in there and those boys are doing it a lot tougher than I am, so to get back out on the field and just to be playing footy with my mates and having fun is pretty cool.”
After a frustrating few months, Pezet had a reason to smile after he came up with two huge plays to seal a big win for the club.
The first was a bit of individual brilliance on the first tackle with the game in the balance when he kicked for himself and regathered to score a try with 10 minutes remaining, before he iced the result with a field goal.
The try was an important piece of redemption for a young man who got it wrong with a similar play against the Tigers.
“I’ve just been doing that since I was a kid. That’s just my footy brain,” he said.
“If you look back at round five, I put us under pressure doing that. I kicked one dead and they went up the other end and scored and I put us under pressure for the whole game.
“(Assistant coach) Nathan Brown coaches it in us that to learn off it and I think that’s been the story of our year. You learn from your mistakes and you take your lessons and you do it better, and today it came off.
“They’re going to back me to play with my eyes and see what I see and do that, and I’m grateful for the club to put their faith in me to do that kind of stuff.”
Pezet said he was just proud to get back on the field, especially after the second hamstring injury, and thanked coach Jason Ryles for supporting him and not expecting him to do anything exceptional in his limited opportunities.
Pezet was emotional after he returned to help the Eels beat Manly. Picture: Matt King/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
It’s unclear whether he’ll play much more for the Eels with Moses and Ronald Volkman the preferred halves pairing, but he’s on the right path ahead of the next stop in his journey at the Broncos where veteran Ben Hunt recently signed a new deal.
“Jonah is a pretty resilient kid,” Ryles said.
“He’s had a bit of trouble with injuries over the last couple of years, but he’s quite confident and he gets over things really quickly which has held him in good stead throughout his career.
“He’s on a long journey. Everyone wants these young halves to play really early all the time, but the reality of it is that it’s a tough business in the NRL.
“That’s why you see a lot of halves in their late 20s start to play their best footy because they get their lessons early. He’s in that little phase at the moment, and he’s taken the long route with his career. I think it’s really good that he’s done that.”