Pakenham Eels
Rugby League Club

The Pakenham Eels Rugby League Club and Touch Association Inc. began operation in the Cardinia Shire region in South-East Melbourne in 2016 and was formed with the vision of creating a year-round operation, providing both Rugby League and Touch Football sporting opportunities.

The Pakenham Eels field teams in the metropolitan Melbourne competition within the NRL Victoria ‘Melbourne Storm Junior League’ and ‘Melbourne Storm Premiership League’ competitions. The Eels also focus on a strong affiliation with Touch Football Victoria, delivering NRL League Touch competitions.

Throughout the Pakenham Eels Rugby League Club’s initial development years, the Rugby League club had no real permanent home in South Eastern Melbourne for rugby league training, rugby league games or touch football competitions until 2022, where the club moved to its permanent home at Comely Banks Recreation Reserve in Officer.

The Pakenham Eels Rugby League Club’s home facility of Comely Banks Recreation Reserve is a purpose-built Rugby League facility in South East Melbourne and was designed as a regional Rugby League facility. Comely Banks has quickly facilitated the expansion of the club, featuring national and interstate events, hosting New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition matches for Melbourne Storm u17 Harold Matthews, Melbourne Storm u19 SG Ball and Melbourne Storm u21 Jersey Flegg and well as hosting training for the Melbourne Storm NRL Squad.

Comely Banks Recreation Reserve has also seen host to Touch Football Victoria VT League Competition matches and the Touch Football Victoria Junior State Cup as well as the NRL Victoria semi-finals and grand finals, and the most recent NRL Victoria u20s grand final.

The Pakenham Eels Rugby League Club are also strongly investing into specific programs for female rugby league development, female rugby league coaching development, female rugby league training systems and structures, as well as ensuring the club is at the forefront of female rugby league in South East Melbourne and Victoria.  This investment also focuses on key infrastructure including the club’s gym facilities and training equipment where speed and strength for female rugby league is the main goal.

Being a dry club (meaning the club does not sell alcohol), this has become one of the key pillars in ensuring there is a strong focus on junior sports, junior rugby league and junior touch football here in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne., and in creating a safe space for all junior rugby league players to learn, to improve their health and fitness, to establish strong friendships, as well as having real pathways for those aspirational players as they progress through the sport. This inclusive family environment is sustained and developed between both rugby league and touch football, and the Pakenham Eels takes immense pride in creating a positive club culture.

The Pakenham Eels Rugby League Club's success story has continued writing itself, and in 2023, the club embarked on numerous Rugby League programs to cater to the wider South Eastern Melbourne community through rugby league and touch football. The introduction rugby league coaching development resources has seen a real focus on upskilling our volunteer coaches to improve the outcomes for Rugby League players, and to reward and retain quality volunteer coaches within our organisation. This has led to the establishment of a female rugby league development program, designed to work specifically with female players and coaches, to ensure they have the full club staffing and resources provided to drive their development in the game.

Our rugby league preseason training schedule has been meticulously mapped out for our competition grades (ages 12+), to provide rugby league specific programs, and the club has also introduced a player development squad for leading aspirational players to further mentor and guide them through high-performance training.

For our younger rugby league players in our non-competition grades, the club is focussed on providing a fun environment to play and learn, while also equipping all players with the key mechanical and fundamental skills to be able to really enjoy playing the game and continue to grow as they move through the younger grades.

In 2024 the Eels will launch our All-Abilities program after a very successful initial pilot session, with the aim to provide opportunities for players with diverse learning and physical capacity to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to enjoy the game of rugby league and touch football, through the delivery of non-structured sport.

In addition to our junior non-competition grades and our junior competition grades, the Pakenham Eels Rugby League club have set a clear objective for our senior rugby league grades for the future. 2025 will see the inaugural female first grade team enter the competition and the club has set the aspirational goal to be promoted to the Storm Premiership League Men’s First grade in 2024. Our senior rugby league teams set the standard for the club and hold true the values of ‘One Club’ and are role models for our junior teams on and off the field.

As the clubs Rugby League department drives forward, our Touch Football department has continued to expand, delivering NRL League Touch competitions with over 20 team across three grades and launching an elite touch football competition for 2024. With the continued growth, the club’s vision will be to expand its junior capacity with development clinics and junior competitions, and to build the capacity for player development into touch football pathways and participation.