First it was Jonah Pezet.
Now it's Jarome Luai.
The answer on the other side of the equation for the Parramatta Eels and their merry band of one-year contract layover style deals is that Jason Ryles had better find a way to climb the ladder next year.
Ryles hasn't been under a great deal of pressure yet, and maybe with good reason. He is only approaching the end of his second season at Parramatta, and the narrative surrounding the club has been that they are ‘rebuilding'.
Except, when you look at the moves they are making off the field to their roster, the argument should be that they are doing anything and everything but rebuilding.
A club who is rebuilding does not sign multiple veterans at the back-end of their career. Dylan Walker, Jack de Belin, Josh Addo-Carr, just to name the headline acts.
A club that is rebuilding - and are resigned to the bottom of the ladder while they go through that process - are happy to blood their young talent.
That is, kind of at least, happening at Parramatta, but seemingly only out of necessity with an enormous injury toll striking them down.
In truth, that injury toll may be the only reason Ryles hasn't been under the pump more given the club sit in the bottom four when, at the start of the year, improvement was expected. If anything, the outfit in blue and gold have actively gone backwards this year.
But most importantly, a club who are rebuilding do not squish the abilities of their young talent to bring in players on one-year layover style deals before they jet off to the club they actually want to play for long-term.
A ‘win now' team - a team who are in their premiership window might consider a move like that.
But the Eels want you to believe they are not a team in that window. It takes the pressure off. It tempers the expectations of fans. It builds hope for the future.
You can't say one thing though and act in a totally opposite way.
When you swing it back to the end of last year at the Eels, the priorities for Jason Ryles look, maybe wrong is the wrong word, but certainly a little misdirected, and as if they are changing on the fly.
Because when Dylan Brown confirmed he would become the $13 million man at the Newcastle Knights, Jason Ryles made it pretty clear what was going to happen.
Brown wouldn't be the priority anymore. Joash Papalii would. They'd get him ready for a running start at this year, where the hope was improvement would be what came their way.
The New Zealand international had some more games for the Eels before he left, but they were stunted, and any potential charge to the finals for the Eels last year - as unlikely as it might have been - was tanked.
Some may not have agreed with Ryles' treatment of Brown, but it was hard not to respect it.
From the day Ryles arrived in Western Sydney, the attitude seemed to be “you're either with us, or you're against us.”
And if you didn't fit into the long-term plans, you were gone. Multiple players were overlooked for selection despite seemingly being shoe-in's, and others left the club.
But then eyebrows were raised when the club signed Jonah Pezet at the end of 2025 on a one-year deal for 2026 before he goes off to try and replace Adam Reynolds at the Brisbane Broncos.
It's fair to say the move - the rent a half move if you will - hasn't worked.
Pezet has barely featured for the Eels, and while injuries haven't helped, his form on the field would have worried not only Eels fans, but Broncos ones too.
But maybe the year of pain was worth it for Papalii and the outrageously talented Lorenzo Talataina to get themselves ready for first-grade in the coming seasons.
Talataina has done nothing wrong in the NSW Cup this year, putting up 11 try assists in 15 games. He now has 23 NSW Cup appearances under his belt, and the notion that he won't be ready next year seems a poorly thought out one.
Just when it looked like the Eels could start working on their own future though, Ryles turned around and decided to double down, putting the Eels back in the rental space by bringing Luai in for a year.
Now, Luai is an excellent player. A really, really good option, particularly at club level.
But it's clear he was on the nose at the Concord-based Tigers ever since he elected to sign with the PNG Chiefs for 2028, and while a single year at Parramatta shouldn't be enough time for him to get on everyone's bad side, Ryles will need to pray it's enough time for him to fire the blue and gold up the ladder, and not lose the future of his club in the process.
What Ryles has effectively done by signing Luai is thrown out the goodwill of “give it time” and “it will work if you trust the process” to put the Eels in with a “win now” predicament.
Mitchell Moses and Jarome Luai is not a halves combination who should be missing the top eight, but Luai alone is not going to fix the mess that has become the Parramatta Eels this year.
There is a lot of talent around the club, but the simple truth is the defence isn't good enough, and the overall skill is not going to turn the club into a premiership-winning threat simply by adding Luai, who for what it's worth hasn't played overly well at the Tigers in recent weeks either.
But because of the immense pressure having a $2 million or more halves combination brings, the expectations from fans, the board, and everyone else in between will be that the Eels succeed in 2027.
It's an unbelievable amount of pressure for Ryles as he goes into the third year of his coaching career.
If it doesn't pay off, he may well find himself looking for another job.
