{"id":673796,"date":"2026-05-16T02:04:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/673796\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T02:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T02:04:19","slug":"jason-ryles-explains-absence-of-jonah-pezet-in-eels-team-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/673796\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Ryles explains absence of Jonah Pezet in Eels team list"},"content":{"rendered":"

The one-year ‘stopover’ deal that brought Jonah Pezet<\/a> to Parramatta may end up costing him more than just game time in 2026, with the young playmaker now fighting to keep his reputation intact before joining the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> next season.<\/p>\n

Pezet arrived at the Eels from the Melbourne Storm<\/a> on a short-term contract before linking with the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> in 2027, in a move widely viewed as a temporary stepping stone deal.<\/p>\n

However, after starting the opening five rounds of the season at five-eighth for the Parramatta Eels<\/a>, the 23-year-old has struggled to build momentum.<\/p>\n

A hamstring injury, followed by a suspension in the NSW Cup<\/a> for a hip drop tackle, has limited Pezet to just five appearances this season. He has not played since Round 5.<\/p>\n

Despite being available for selection this week, Pezet has been left out of the Eels side, with Ronald Volkman<\/a> retaining the No.6 jersey after impressing in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Volkman has made the most of his opportunity since taking over at five-eighth in Round 6, scoring three tries, setting up another three and producing two line breaks.<\/p>\n

In Parramatta’s win over the North Queensland Cowboys<\/a>, Volkman ran for 105 metres, broke five tackles and added 144 kick metres in another polished performance.<\/p>\n

The decision to stick with Volkman over Pezet mirrors a similar stance taken by coach Jason Ryles<\/a> last season, when Dylan Brown<\/a> was dropped in favour of Dean Hawkins<\/a> amid poor form and his looming departure.<\/p>\n

Ryles explained the decision to leave Pezet out of the side, backing Volkman’s recent form.<\/p>\n

\u201cJonah hasn’t played a lot of footy over the last six weeks, and he got suspended last week,\u201d Ryles told the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cRonny held his form and has been improving all week. That’s all we can ask. He’s been doing a really good job for us, especially defensively, and he’s come up with a few really big moments, so he deserves his spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Pezet is expected to return to Parramatta’s rotation during the State of Origin<\/a> period, with Mitchell Moses<\/a> likely to be selected in the NSW Blues<\/a> halves, the extended absence from first grade could create concerns for his long-term prospects heading into his move to Brisbane.<\/p>\n

With the Broncos already boasting depth in the halves, Pezet’s \u201cstopover\u201d season at Parramatta is beginning to look less like a launching pad and more like a battle to prove he still belongs in the conversation for a starting role in 2027.<\/p>\n

Parramatta Eels<\/a> will face the Melbourne Storm<\/a> on Saturday night in Brisbane.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The one-year ‘stopover’ deal that brought Jonah Pezet to Parramatta may end up costing him more than just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-673796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673796","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=673796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}