Unlike last year, Mitchell Moses is fully fit for kick-off and Ryles faces several selection headaches heading into their opening game against the Storm in Melbourne on March 5.<\/p>\n
He uncovered several prospects last year in Isaiah Iongi, Ryley Smith, Joash Papalii, Jordan Samrani and Kitione Kautoga so the big question this time around will be whether they can back up their breakthrough seasons to support the experienced campaigners on the roster.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how their team is shaping up for Round 1.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s new?<\/p>\n
The Eels have added Jonah Pezet for a single season before the former Storm back-up playmaker heads to the Broncos hoping to become Adam Reynolds\u2019 successor in the No.7 jersey.<\/p>\n
Parra have also added Jack de Belin after he was unwanted by the Dragons and recently picked up Brian Kelly, who was told by the Titans that he was not part of their future plans.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s gone?<\/p>\n
The biggest name who has departed is Kiwi international Dylan Brown, who has joined the Knights on a decade-long record-breaking deal.<\/p>\n
Zac Lomax is also off the books after requesting a release three years out from the end of his deal but with R360 delayed by two years, the representative winger is in limbo.<\/p>\n
Second-rower Shaun Lane retired after falling out of favour last season, hooker Brendan Hands has joined Toulouse and back-up half Dean Hawkins linked with the London Broncos.<\/p>\n
Utility back Haze Dunster was released while prop Wiremu Greig will ply his trade with the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup this year after also failing to secure another Eels deal.<\/p>\n
![\"MELBOURNE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2204062477-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jason Ryles. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Key spots to unlock?<\/p>\n
Pezet is likely to slot in at five-eighth to alleviate the pressure on Moses, who has often been a one-man band when it comes to organising Parra\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n
Joash Papalii could be shifted to the centres or may find himself on the bench with Kelly and Sean Russell also options on the edge.<\/p>\n
Lomax\u2019s departure means there are a couple of spots to fill out wide and with Bailey Simonsson and Jake Tago in the mix, Ryles has plenty of candidates.<\/p>\n
Ryley Smith and Tallyn Da Silva are set to share the dummy-half duties again while the edge forward spots are up for grabs with Samrani, Kautoga, Luca Moretti and veterans Jack Williams and Kelma Tuilagi in contention for either side of the ruck.<\/p>\n
1 Isaiah Iongi
2 Josh Addo-Carr
3 Will Penisini
4 Joash Papalii
5 Brian Kelly
6 Jonah Pezet
7 Mitchell Moses
8 Junior Paulo
9 Tallyn Da Silva
10 J\u2019maine Hopgood
11 Jack Williams
12 Kelma Tuilagi
13 Dylan Walker
Interchange
14 Ryley Smith
15 Jack de Belin
16 Kitione Kautoga
17 Jordan Samrani
18 Ronald Volkman
19 Sean Russell<\/p>\n
Other squad members: Luca Moretti, Bailey Simonsson, Charlie Guymer, Jake Tago, Matt Doorey, Richard Penisini, Ryan Matterson, Sam Tuivaiti, Toni Mataele\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size As part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,952,4556,761,762,158,219151,219152,159,85],"class_list":["post-415061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-featured","tag-jason-ryles","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-round-1","tag-nrl-round-1-teams","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415061","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=415061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}