Parramatta wanted to wait until after the finals to make a call on coach Brad Arthur’s future. The Eels wanted to see improvement and evidence that the squad was still responding to his coaching.
They wanted a reason to offer Arthur an extension beyond his existing contract, which expires at the end of next season. Parramatta may have fallen short against Penrith, but Arthur walked away with his reputation enhanced and an extension in his future.
The expectation is that Eels officials will look to get a deal done with Arthur sooner rather than later as they back their coach to take the next step in coming years.
Arthur’s future has been a burning topic of debate for much of the year given the Eels had fallen short on a number of occasions on his watch.
They fell short again against the Panthers, but the nature of the loss suggested the players are still buying what Arthur is selling. They had several calls go against them against Penrith and had hooker Reed Mahoney been fit to play, there is every chance Parramatta would have won anyway.
As it was, the side showed enough to suggest Parramatta has the right man in charge. Arthur is about to enter his ninth year at the helm and he will now be offered the chance to coach the side into a 10th season.
The Eels hinted at their satisfaction with Arthur in a letter to members from chair Sean McElduff and chief executive Jim Sarantinos this week that reviewed the season.
“There is a strong sense of pride in our team given the way they responded to a period of adversity in the latter part of the season, and the brave performance against Penrith in week two of the finals,” they wrote.
“While we fell short of our goal this season, the club has qualified for the finals in three successive years which is an achievement worth recognising.
“Our players and staff demonstrated a commitment to each other and the blue and gold jersey and a level of connection as a group that has us all looking forward with optimism to 2022.”
The Eels are unlikely to tinker with their squad much next season but there is room to make some changes the year after given the number of players who are off contract at the end of 2022.
Parramatta has resumed negotiations with some of those players and chances are it will lock them away in coming weeks as well as its looks to secure their futures before November 1, when other clubs and potentially an expansion side can start picking them off.
Mahoney is among the priorities given expansion looms on the horizon and the Dolphins — the team expected to win the bidding process — are keen to sign as many Queenslanders as possible.
Mahoney also hails from the Sunshine Coast, one of the areas that the Dolphins plan to use as a feeder for their NRL side. The Dolphins’ first priority will be one of Queensland’s guns — Cameron Munster, Kalyn Ponga or Harry Grant.
If they land Munster or Ponga, don’t be surprised if Mahoney is next cab off the rank. The Eels are aware and ready to put up a fight as they look to get an extension done before November 1.
Replies
I'm ok with this as long as it's only a 1 year extension on top of next year.
HKF only a coach hanging on by his fingernails gets a new 1 year desl
It will be a two year extension till the end of 2024 maybe even 2025
Not many coaches get to last 8 years at the one club without a premiership, 1 year at a time is the right move. Every year he reaches expectations he gets another
What's the expectation HKF, semis? Because that's what it sounds like to me.
Make the semis back door it and you can still get an extension. Minimum expectations this year should've been prelim without excuses. That run of 4 losses cost us that opportunity this year, I could care less how unlucky we were against Penrith or how well we played. We got rewarded in line with how we finished on the ladder.
If that's the culture Parra want to cultivate then expect the premiership drought to continue past 40 years.
Frank do you have a job
If you do Woukd you think it's fair if your boss sacked you after doing a good job?
Your reasoning doesn't make any sense... every year 15 coaches fail by your standard so should 15 cosches get the sack?
Hes doing a good job and not winning a comp or making a preliminary final isn't reason to be sacked
Madge maquire now there a guy who should be sacked but he gets another year????
Mate of course I've got a job and it's a cut throat game.
I have budgets and I can tell you unequivocally, that if I missed my budget once, I may get another chance the next year or two, but if I missed mine continously I would be unemployed no doubt.
It's called business and the NRL is no different to any other. We get measured by results, it's that simple.
Deliver and you get rewarded (payrises and bonuses) miss and you run the risk of being moved on.
It's not personal it's business.
You can't lump Parra in with other clubs, we run our own business separately from all other clubs and their results are all irrelevant when measuring ours.
Embers are you a public servant? Your reasoning would imply this. BA has failed again. We have not improved, we have not progressed into the finals any further than before, this is not an improvement. Why would you compare yourself to those below you? You strive to be at and above the level of those ahead of you.
My Bob over the years I've found myself in agreement with pretty much every post of yours on here, football related or otherwise.
But I think on this one, the other "lifers" on here (Muttman, HKF, Wizards “Prof Dobber”Sleeve) have summed it up well.
Like most of us here, I wanted BA gone immediately after that disastrous period. I thought he'd completely lost them. However, that dramatic turnaround proved me wrong. He showed us all that he does have what it takes. He managed to get them playing for him and believing in him again, practically overnight. It took a complete rort to keep us from overcoming the fucking Cheetahs.
I honestly don't know that many other coaches could've achieved that in such a short period of time. I'd say that is Bellamy/Bennett level coaching. Am I overstating that?
I also had making a preliminary as the pass mark for the season, again like most of us here. Yes, we should've finished in the top 4, so we would've been in a better position to achieve that. So looked at from that perspective, he did fail.
But, we honestly still should have been in Penrith's position right now. Everybody knows that. Notwithstanding the disgusting robbery of last week, we had such terrible luck with dummy half injuries at the worst possible time.
As Mutt says, we need to keep this playing group together. We've invested so much time into BA and the players and on form it looks like it really is finally starting to happen. I mean look at Waqa the last few games!
BA started here as essentially a rookie coach, but he has learnt from his mistakes over the years. Of course we wanted that sooner, but it is what it is unfortunately. Hopefully the main lesson he learnt this year was not letting his emotions and dreams for his son cloud his judgement (and I'm not saying that would've been easy for any of us in his position).
We need to do what the players did and have faith in the guy and I think that's what the board are doing. If we don't do that we risk destroying what we've built so far and it will set us back years.
And as Mutt says, if it doesn't work out we can always just punt him and pay him out :)
I agree with you for the most part and until the last few weeks I was all for moving on from BA, but after our recent performances and the fact we can't replace him with a proven better option i would extend him another year with the expectation we get past week 2 of finals next year, no excuses. Top 2 has to be the target with top 4 a minimum.
Here are the facts.
We were entrenched in the top 4 all year until we shat ourselves week 18-22.
We won 1 semi again this year and didn't progress past week 2.
Yes we played extremely well last week and we were extremely unlucky but we have a history of bad luck in semis. Such as:
Storm in Melbourne 2017.
Rabbits last year losing 4 players before the game.
So what happens next year when we drop out of the semis because we lose a few key players? Unlucky aye, so let's extend BA into 2024.
There needs to be a point where we have to move in a different direction to find a different result.
9 years for BA next year and I wouldn't be rushing to make it 10 or 11.
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