{"id":338433,"date":"2025-12-10T02:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/338433\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T02:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:04:13","slug":"2026-nrl-eels-lock-in-rising-star-with-long-term-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/338433\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NRL: Eels Lock In Rising Star With Long-Term Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Parramatta Eels have secured one of their brightest young talents, with fullback <a data-ail=\"423451\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/rugbyleaguezone.com\/?s=Isaiah+Iongi\" title=\"Isaiah Iongi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Isaiah Iongi<\/a> re-signing with the club on a long-term deal that will keep him in blue and gold until the end of the 2030 NRL season.<\/p>\n<p>Since arriving from Penrith ahead of 2025, Iongi has quickly emerged as one of Parramatta\u2019s most promising players. Previously stuck behind <a data-ail=\"423451\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/rugbyleaguezone.com\/?s=Dylan+Edwards\" title=\"Dylan Edwards\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dylan Edwards<\/a> in the Panthers system, the 22-year-old has made the most of his opportunity at Parramatta\u2014stepping into one of the toughest roles in the competition following the departure of club stalwart <a data-ail=\"423451\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/rugbyleaguezone.com\/?s=Clint+Gutherson\" title=\"Clint Gutherson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Clint Gutherson<\/a>, who left for the Dragons at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Iongi made his NRL debut for Penrith in August 2024, featuring against the Knights before switching to the Eels the following year. He has now chalked up 22 NRL appearances, crossing for eight tries, and drawing praise for his footwork, ball-playing improvement and composure under pressure.<\/p>\n<p>The long-term commitment signals Parramatta\u2019s intent to build their next-generation spine around Iongi, who has quickly become a fan favourite and a key part of the club\u2019s rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>Eels officials were thrilled to retain him, believing he has only scratched the surface of his potential in the NRL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Parramatta Eels have secured one of their brightest young talents, with fullback Isaiah Iongi re-signing with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,48990,188271,48474,9112,4598,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-338433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-clint-gutherson","11":"tag-isaiah-iongi","12":"tag-nrl-signings","13":"tag-parramatta-eels","14":"tag-penrith-panthers","15":"tag-rugby","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}