Eels re-sign young trio

On field results had not gone the way of the Eels until last week’s win against the Sharks, but the club has been boosted by news that exciting young trio Matt Ryan, Joseph Paulo and Ken Sio have all re-signed with the club, all for 2-year deals.

With the pressure on Stephen Kearney by fans for both results and new signings, the timely announcement of the young trio will relieve a bit of pressure, as will the Eels recent win against in-form side, the Cronulla Sharks.

Retaining young local talent is the part of the long-term plan for the Eels, and for coach Stephen Kearney, he sees the re-signing of the trio as a positive step for the club moving forward.

“Matt, Ken and Joseph have all been great finds for the Club and they’ve shown their potential in what has been a tough start to the season for the team,” Kearney said.

“They’re three young guys who are great team members and will play a big part in taking this Club forward, so it’s very pleasing to see them all re-commit.”

Matt Ryan, who is nicknamed Red by his team-mates, only made his debut earlier this season – but has become one of the Eels most consistent forwards on the fringes.

“We’ve got a great bunch of young guys coming through and we’re all learning off the more experienced players like Hindy, Reni and so forth,” Ryan said.

“We are all enjoying our footy under Mooks [Kearney] so it’s great to know we’ll all be together at the Club… I reckon there are really good times to come.”

With a plethora of young talent to choose from and be proud of, evidenced by the appearance of 4 Parramatta NYC players in the U18’s NSW Origin, as well as juniors in first-grade – Eels CEO Bob Bentley said that keeping the youngsters and juniors at the club is a priority, and is a glowing endorsement for the club in the future.

“Steve and his team has put a lot of work over the past 18 months into ensuring there’s a clear structure in place for our talented youngsters to achieve their goal of playing first grade for the Eels,” Bentley said.

“We’ve said all along that first and foremost, developing and retaining our juniors is the priority and these examples are a good indication we’re well on track.”