The injury woes to start the year have had the Parramatta Eels kick off their 2026 season not the way they had planned.
The club has slumped to 16th place on the NRL ladder, recording two wins and four losses, with a ruthless injury count not helping them in attempts to snap their 39-year premiership drought.
It has seen Bailey Simonssen, J'maine Hopgood and Matt Doorey all ruled out for the remainder of the season only after six rounds.
Following those long-term injuries include stars Jonah Pezet and Isaiah Iongi missing from the side this weekend for respective hamstring and syndesmosis injuries.
There is a total of 12 squad players unavailable at the quarter mark of the NRL season, making the Eels grit their teeth and try to compete despite missing experienced stars.
It has left skipper Mitchell Moses shocked, who told Fox Sports that he's "never faced it before" when describing the club's horror injury count.
“That's the challenge that I'm facing at the moment as a skipper. I've never faced it before, even just taking away the captaincy," Moses said.
“I've never experienced a time in a team where we've been so bashed up like this.
“It's different as that, but then put it on top that you're the captain and you've got to lead and do the right thing.
“Having young kids in, you don't want to lose your head too much and then it filters down. I'm definitely taking a lot of lessons out of how I've been in the past and trying to be better there.
“It's a challenge for me, it's a challenge for the club in the position that we're in, so we're just going to have to move on with it and get on with it.”
The unlucky run with injuries has contributed to the Eels conceding the dreaded 50 points twice in six weeks, with history to show that it rules them out of contention to win the title in October.
Last week, the Gold Coast Titans embarrassed the Eels at CommBank Stadium, resulting in a 52-10 loss in front of the blue and gold fans.
“It was tough to watch, to be honest,” Moses said when reflecting on a mid-week video session of the loss.
“I felt like it just wasn't us as a team and as a club. We've got to be better as a whole team; it wasn't just one person, it was everyone. We're going to have to fix that up.
“It doesn't get much easier this week against the Dogs. There were bits and pieces of the game where we probably could have got back in the game and we failed in that aspect.”
Another tough challenge awaits the Eels when they host the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at CommBank Stadium, where they are given the opportunity to bounce back and get their season back on track.
