alright - it seems that some initial code changes corrupted the first builds but the good news is that r8169 opensource driver is working as expected
initial support code is in maurerr/openwrt at radxa-e25 (github.com)
compiled builds (both ext4 and sqashfs) - https://oshi.at/KzkU - select one - extract the img and burn it on an uSD card (tested) or on the eMMC (untested)
kernel modules (if needed) - https://oshi.at/dtrV
imagebuilder - https://oshi.at/BvBT
links should be available for 90 days - hopefully by the end date the support will be merged in mainline
I’ll need to reformat the commits/description before I send the MR (hopefully next week)