One of the NRL's most heated rivalries heated took another twist earlier this season, when the Penrith Panthers secured the signature of Parramatta Eels rising star Blaize Talagi, despite the Eels desperately wanting to retain him.
This was a brutal blow to Parramatta, who pride themselves on their youth pathways and the ability to convert these young players into building blocks for the club.
Despite new Eels head coach Ryles being early into his tenure, he has quickly taken pride in his team's development systems, and has hit out at the three-time reigning premiers for poaching their players.
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Ryles blasts Panthers for poaching Eels young talent
Jason Ryles didn't waste any time in continuing the Eels' rivalry with the Panthers, calling the team out for poaching their young talent.
During an introductory interview, Ryles gushed with praise for the team's NRL pathways, but identified Blaize Talagi as a cautionary tale around securing this talent long term.
"It's super important that we keep those guys and give them a pathway to first grade," Ryles said.
"The obvious one with Blaize [Talagi], it’s disappointing but it’s also Penrith cherry-picking out of our back yard, so while it’s disappointing, it’s a compliment that one of the best teams in the competition see our pathways program as a place that they can recruit from.
"Obviously we don’t want that to happen too often, but it’s just part of the game.
"Our pathways are super important for us, I think we had four debutants this year from our pathways program, and we’ve got four Australian Schoolboys sitting there as well, so that’s a reflection of where the pathways is at, at the moment.
"There’s a lot of time and resources put into the pathways here at Parramatta, we’re very lucky to have the catchment that we do, so that’s a really big part of connecting with our community, our fans and our members."
