Impressive Parramatta Eels forward earns contract upgrade

He is set to join the club’s Top 30 roster in the next few seasons.

The Parramatta Eels have upgraded the contract of one of their best up-and-coming forwards as they look towards the future.

Zero Tackle can reveal that Saxon Pryke has been upgraded to a development contract for the remainder of the season, meaning he could potentially earn his NRL first-grade debut in the coming rounds, just like Jake Tago and Charlier Guymer.

Pryke will remain on a development contract for the 2025 NRL season and then has a mutual option to join the club’s Top 30 roster the following season.

Primarily playing as a lock, Pryke has been plying his trade in the Jersey Flegg Cup before moving up to the NSW Cup this season, where he has shown that he has plenty of potential and has all the skills to be a future star of the NRL.

Part of the next breed of players coming through the Eels system, he is looking to become the next member of the club’s premiership-winning 2023 SG Ball Cup team to play in the NRL.

This would see him follow in the footsteps of Blaize Talagi, Ethan Sanders, Matt Arthur and Charlie Guymer. The team also included U19s NSW representative Sam Tuivaiti and Richard Penisini, the younger brother of centre Will Penisini.

Pryke, a Rouse Hill Rhinos junior, is also a former Harold Matthews Cup Best and Fairest Winner and has been a member of the Eels system since 2019 before progressing from the Andrew Johns Cup to the Harold Matthew Cup to the SG Ball Cup to the Jersey Flegg Cup and now to the NSW Cup.