Phil Gould’s ugly Eels sledge as Storm make NRL history in Parramatta shellacking

The Storm were totally dominant on Sunday afternoon and Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould took the chance to dig the knife into the Eels.

The Storm wasted no time in stamping themselves as the team to beat in 2025, with a 56-18 shellacking over Parramatta in their season opener.

The win extended Melbourne’s unbeaten Round 1 record to a 23rd season – including 22 under Craig Bellamy - in what marked a disastrous start to the Eels’ Jason Ryles era.

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And Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould didn’t miss the chance to twist the knife into the old enemy.

“We mightn’t have enough numbers on the scoreboard here to keep up … (Parramatta) have been completely blown away,” Gould said on Channel 9 as the Storm asserted themselves in the first half.

“I watched them come up to kick off the last restart and they came up like brown’s cows.”

It was a rather unnecessary dig from Gould, but not surprising given the fierce rivalry between Parramatta and his side Canterbury.

The two clubs have been geographically close throughout their whole histories and after both sides were at the top of the pecking order in the NRL in the 1980s, a formidable rivalry was formed.

Phil Gould labelled Eels brown’s cows in their embarrassing defeat to Melbourne on Sunday. Image: Getty

And after Canterbury finally cracked the NRL finals in 2024 and racked up a win in round one, Gould seems like his side’s ducks are finally in a row.

So he has now turned his attention to laying into Parramatta, who struggled with a lack of experience and without leader Mitch Moses on Sunday,

Gould’s quip also could have had to do with his prediction earlier on Sunday telling 4BC: “I think they’ll (the Eels) give it a good crack today”.

However, that did not happen as Parramatta were blown off the park in a concerning sight for fans, despite the common feeling the side is in a rebuilding phase under Ryles.

A lot has happened in the past 12 months at the Eels, with long-time coach Brad Arthur sacked, skipper Clint Gutherson now at the Dragons, player of the year Reagan Campbell-Gillard at the Titans and try-scoring machine Maika Sivo over in the UK.

And while no one expects much from Parramatta this year, with Ryles given plenty of room to rebuild the side that narrowly missed last year’s wooden spoon, even he would have been hoping for a better showing in the game against his old boss, Bellamy.

But in what was a shining light in the large defeat Ryles’ half time team talk appeared to have a real impact with the Eels winning the second half 12 points to 10, thanks to tries to Will Penisini and Isaiah Iongi, to at least end on a positive note.

The Storm were dominant on Sunday. Picture: NRL Photos

Storm make NRL history in mammoth win.

The Storm had the statisticians scurrying for the record books early on in the encounter, as they put on points at will.

Not only did the 38-point win extend Bellamy’s incredible Round 1 record, the Storm produced their biggest first-half score in the club’s history, 46 points, eclipsing the 40 points they put on the Dragons in 2000.

While by surpassing the 50 mark in the second half, Melbourne created NRL history, with this year marking the first time in NRL history that two teams have scored 50 points in Round 1, after the Broncos put on a masterclass against the Roosters on Friday night.

The Storm stars will now have a week’s rest with a bye in Round 2 before gearing up to face the Panthers in Round 3.

The Eels have a week to go back to the drawing board before hosting fellow stragglers the Tigers at CommBank next week.

Originally published as Phil Gould’s ugly Eels sledge as Storm make NRL history in Parramatta shellacking