Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm: NRL 2023 season opener – live

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Parramatta v Melbourne on the opening night of the 2023 NRL Premiership season. Kick off at Commbank Stadium in Sydney is 8pm AEDT.

The NRL has survived the off-season and returns juiced and glistening with last year’s beaten grand finalists, the Eels, welcoming perennial contenders, the Storm. Both will start tonight’s contest eager to prove they can deny the all-conquering Penrith Panthers a three-peat.

Of the pair Parra probably have the stronger claim over the 26 round-plus playoffs marathon. Hull-born Josh Hodgson could be an inspired recruit from the Raiders, bringing his steel and nous at dummy-half to complement the efficiency of Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses in the #6 and #7 jerseys. Fullback Clint Gutherson is a matchwinner. And any pack containing Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paolo cannot be taken lightly.

But round one has arrived a little too soon for Brad Arthur’s liking with the Eels coach having to dip outside his pool of top 30 talent to cover for injuries – and the suspension to Ryan Matterson following his grand final indiscretion and unwillingness to pay a $4,000 fine. “Maybe it’s because we had a bit of a shortened pre-season for some of the guys, but we’ve got five or six blokes that won’t be available for selection,” Arthur said.

“It is exciting because it gives other blokes an opportunity and someone hopefully steps up that we mightn’t have known about, especially in the back row where we’ve got some new players getting an opportunity. I don’t know what our best combinations are at the moment but we’ll sort that out in the first couple of weeks.”

Parra’s short-term pain opens the door for an unfamiliar-looking Storm to catch them cold. In the off-season Melbourne stalwarts Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, and Felise Kaufusi all headed north for the Dolphins, while Brandon Smith departed for the Roosters. On top of that, starters Ryan Papenhuyzen, Justin Olam, Tui Kamikamica and George Jennings are all on the sidelines for a number of weeks. Craig Bellamy’s side will have at least eight changes from the one that finished 2022 in the first week of the finals.

Incredibly, Bellamy has never lost a round one match in charge of the Storm and he can still call upon the brilliance of Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, and Jahrome Hughes, so anything is possible.

I’ll be back shortly with more build-up. In the meantime, feel free to send me an email or fly a tweet to @JPHowcroft.