Ryles stunned after Eels thrashing and head knock drama

After a successful pre-season challenge, legal wins and promising displays from emerging talent, the Parramatta Eels entered the season opener with confidence. 

That optimism, however, was quickly shattered when they were dismantled 52–4 by the Melbourne Storm in Round One. 

The Thursday night footy fixture was tipped to be a tight battle, but it quickly turned into a one-sided affair. 

The Melbourne Storm came in as favourites, continuing a remarkable 23-year winning streak in season openers, yet the heavy loss suffered by the Parramatta Eels was far greater than most had predicted.

“If you asked me before the game if it was going to end up like that, I would've definitely said no,” coach Jason Ryles shared in the post-match press conference. 

Captain Mitchell Moses echoed this disbelief. 

“Like what Rylesy said. If you told me it was gonna be like that at the start of the day, I would've told you you were crazy,” shared the skipper. 

In hindsight, the start of the game foreshadowed the catastrophe that would eventuate over the night, after a J'maine Hopgood sin bin in the opening second left many viewers perplexed. 

When questioned about the controversial decision…

“The first one for J'maine (sin bin), not sure what else he could've done there,” Ryles answered. 

Storm's lock Alec MacDonald was on the receiving end of the nasty head knock, seeing him not return to the field for the rest of the night. 

Hopgood was also seen to stagger away after the collision, the unfortunate contact being a result of Macdonald stepping into make contact with Hopgood's shoulder at the last minute. 

From the outset, it was clear there was no intent from Hopgood; he was still sent away for ten after consultation with the Bunker. 

“It is direct and forceful contact to the head, on report and in the bin,” the officials claimed.

“But what about his head?” Moses rebutted as the Eels forward was directed to the sheds. 

Hopgood returned exactly after his ten-minute spell, presumably without a HIA himself. 

However, the head clash controversy did not stop there.

Parramatta fullback Isaiah Iongi suffered a high tackle just before half-time, and although the ref cleared the shot of committing any sort of infringement, Iongi was taken from the field for an HIA by an independent doctor. 

Parramatta were instructed to play the ball coming out of their own half, whilst the Storm remained unaffected. 

If a doctor stops play for a head knock, why isn't the incident automatically considered a high tackle and penalised?

Even more so when a similar instance, that arguably occurred simultaneously and without intent, occurred in the opening moments of the game that punished Parramatta?

Eels ran into the sheds behind at 18-4, not knowing that their night would continue to propel downhill. 

After conceding six more tries, failing to respond with their own points and receiving another sin bin, with Bailey Simonsson sent, the Eels' night ended shamefully.

“Very disappointed,” Coach Ryles answered with his thoughts on the game. 

“We didn't get to the ends of our sets as we planned to. Then we had one in the bin, and fatigue grew.

“I have obviously got to reflect on our preparation. What went well and what we need to work on. 

The Parramatta halfback was blunt with his thoughts on the humiliating performance. 

“We came in confident, and we got our pants pulled down,” Moses admitted. 

However, the Eels coach reminded the media that it was only their first game and urged them not to get ahead of themselves about the Eels' demise.

“It's Round One. Lets not lose sight of that fact,” Ryles said.

The start of Parramatta's season isn't getting any easier, with the Eels set to face last year's premiers in Brisbane next week.

The next week will need to see them significantly improve their discipline, cohesion, communication, and overall performance if they are going to stand a chance at Suncorp against the Broncos.

“Some really good lessons there, and we'll just have to have a big schooner of reality and move on,” Ryles concluded.