The Parramatta Eels have finally secured their first win of the 2025 NRL season, and head coach Jason Ryles said it was simply a feeling of 'relief', while also heaping praise on young fullback Isaiah Iongi. The blue and gold took golden point to get over the line in a thrilling encounter against the St George Illawarra Dragons, with Zac Lomax eventually stepping up to the plate to kick the winning field goal. "Honestly, it's relief because I see how hard the players have worked and I see what they have put into it, and I see everyday that they are working really, really hard. There are parts of the game where we look really good, and then there are individual lapses that happen which I spoke about before the game," Ryles said during his post-match press conference. "To see them finally get what they deserved was just relieving more than exciting." The Eels had to fight their way back from 20 points to 8 down to take the win, and Ryles said it's what his side have shown over the first month of the year without the reward they finally earnt on Saturday in front of their home crowd. "That [the fightback] is something they have shown all pre-season. In the first five rounds, the fight and the effort they have played with, they just haven't got the rewards," the coach added. "Today, down 20-8, they got back to their strengths and worked their way back into it, found a way and that's the NRL. Sometimes it's not pretty, but you just have to find ways to do things and they did." While there were plenty of bright spots for the Eels, it was difficult to go past fullback Isaiah Iongi, who finished the game with 222 metres, a try assist, two line break assists, a line break and six tackle busts to go with a try of his own. Despite almost inviting the Dragons to run away with the contest after a horror ball over the sideline late in the game, the fullback was in everything for Parramatta, and coach Ryles said he has been the most consistent player outside of captain Junior Paulo through the first five weeks of the season. "Apart from Junior, I think he [Iongi] has been our most consistent player by a bit over the first five rounds. He is everything we not expected, but hoped he'd be, but he has a long way to go on the journey," Ryles said on the club's off-season signing from the Penrith Panthers. "He is learning every week and he is a talent, and I'm glad we have got him. "He is part Cyprian, part Tongan, so he is a pretty relaxed kid. He is dilligent, has come out of a super system at Penrith and timing is everything. We lucky we got him, and he is a contributor more than what I've seen players of that experience be, so I encourage that and so do the boys. They enable him to do it. He is a pretty relaxed kid. "A lot of the stuff you wouldn't notice, but he doesn't get credit for. That's the culture we are building here. "There's culture away from it all in how we act, and culture with how we play. He personifies it and we try to reward him as often as possible. "It's just a small step today and hopefully we can continue to build on that."