Eels coach Brad Arthur has players convinced he can turn Parramatta’s fortunes around

SOME OF the game’s biggest stars continually rave about coach Brad Arthur — now long-suffering Parramatta fans are waiting to see if the hype is warranted.The Eels have just two wins after six rounds, and face tough road trips to Newcastle and competition leaders Brisbane.If they’re not careful, they could easily find themselves having to make up too much ground in the premiership race.Beau Scott will join the Eels in 2016.Internationals Kieran Foran and Beau Scott will head west to play under Arthur next year.So what is it about Arthur, the intense bloke with a career record of just 16 wins from 36 NRL games, that has his current crop of players convinced he can turn the club’s fortunes around, starting with this weekend?To be fair to Arthur, he did win 12 games last season, which was more than double what the Eels had chalked up the previous two seasons.But passionate Parramatta fans won’t cop another downward spiral on the ladder.High-profile recruit Anthony Watmough said Arthur “helps you as a person and as a player, and he doesn’t overlook a thing’’.Eels sign Beau Scott on three-year deal“You don’t want to be going into a game with doubts, and he’ll tell you what to work on and what you need to be better at for the team,’’ Watmough said.Chris Sandow said: “When he talks, you listen. You just want to play for him.’’David Gower added: “He’s honest and makes everyone accountable, not only to yourself, but your teammates and your coaching staff.“Brad is the first one to put his hand up to say, ‘is there anything I need to be doing better for us as a team? And it’s always ‘us’, it’s never ‘me’ or ‘you’.“He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he expects that from his players. You want to go to war with a bloke like that.’’Parramatta coach Brad Arthur during a training session. Pic Brett CostelloBut what about the Knights?How can a team dust the premiers, then two weeks later get flogged by the Gold Coast at home?“We stepped out of the game for three and four-minute stages,’’ Gower said of the shock loss to the Titans.“We threw two intercept tries, a couple of times they scored on our edges ... in the NRL, we shouldn’t be making those mistakes. We’ve done video and know where we went wrong, we understand every team in this competition can beat anyone on any given day — we have to respect every team we come up against, and more importantly, we have to respect ourselves and know what we’re capable of, and what we can do when we play ‘Parramatta footy’.“Good sides can play poorly and win, unfortunately for us we need to play well all the time to win, and that’s something we have to make sure we’re on top of every week.’’ttp://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/eels-coach-brad-arthur-has-players-convinced-he-can-turn-parramattas-fortunes-around/story-fni3ga7r-1227303919728

Hi Chief, when all is done & dusted, BA will write his own page in history or his own epitaph.

Eventually he will be judged on his performances, good & bad. Excuses & platitudes by fans will not be recorded & will be very quickly forgotten.

The real problem is that "IF" BA is not up to it, Parra will continue our traditional quest to fail. Parra has just extended BA's contract so it looks as if we r in for the long haul with BA, regardless of opinions or apprehensions. So lets hope that BA succeeds.

Before anyone takes exception to my comments regarding traditional failure, just consider, without bias or excuses, our history :

1. Last Title 1986, this is 2015

2. We have lost all GF appearances since then.

3. We have had the following coaches since John Monie who coached the 1986 side:

Mick Cronin(1990–1993)
Ron Hilditch (1994–1996)
Brian Smith (1997–2006)^[52]
Michael Hagan (2007–2008)
Daniel Anderson (2009–2010)
Stephen Kearney (2011-2012)
Ricky Stuart (2013)
Brad Arthur (2014

All have failed to win us another title thus far.

"wow you handled that post game report well , still doesnt excuse the fucked up decisions by the ref , sin bin Hopgood after 90 seconds and a wrong decision at that ,
from this weeks performance from the officials , they need to start a seprate…"

"This has been the problem. Our juniors are always 'not ready'. It shouldn't matter who we are playing. Playing inexperienced juniors with all upside is better than persisting with players that aren't doing the job. Ryles has done it with alot of…"

Replies

Fuuuuuui April 15, 2015 at 1:02pm

Cool. Now if he could just convince us fans with maybe a few back to back wins that's be awesome.
Frank The Tank April 15, 2015 at 1:08pm

Chris Sandow said: “When he talks, you listen. You just want to play for him.’’
Really doesn't sound like it in the pressers. Completions, giving away dumb penalties. I'm sure BA asked you guys to do that.

David Gower added: “He’s honest and makes everyone accountable, not only to yourself, but your teammates and your coaching staff.
Yeah so accountable in fact, that its the same players picked every week regardless of performance. If thats being accountable I should've played for Parra.
- Trini Lopez calling Go Go Gomez > Frank The Tank April 15, 2015 at 1:28pm
  
  Your last paragraph’s spot-on Frank, but I’d be keen to know the unknowable - If we had all players at our disposal, would BA have stuck with the players he has?
  
  We know 2nd tier cap stuff is complicated, and I’m sure this is something he has to bear in mind every week that our numbers are down.
Trini Lopez calling Go Go Gomez April 15, 2015 at 1:16pm

It’s interesting that Gower’s commonly the spokesman for team-perspective interviews. I can’t imagine this is just chance.

Edit : Can’t say I’m overly keen on his wording in the last paragraph : “Good sides can play poorly and win, unfortunately for us we need to play well all the time to win”...

He’d probably like a chance to re-phrase that lot.
- Mapik > Trini Lopez calling Go Go Gomez April 15, 2015 at 5:51pm
  
  I think with the current roster (especially with injury list) he is telling the truth. Can't knock him for that.
michael picklum April 15, 2015 at 1:28pm
Hi Chief, when all is done & dusted, BA will write his own page in history or his own epitaph.

Eventually he will be judged on his performances, good & bad. Excuses & platitudes by fans will not be recorded & will be very quickly forgotten.

The real problem is that "IF" BA is not up to it, Parra will continue our traditional quest to fail. Parra has just extended BA's contract so it looks as if we r in for the long haul with BA, regardless of opinions or apprehensions. So lets hope that BA succeeds.

Before anyone takes exception to my comments regarding traditional failure, just consider, without bias or excuses, our history :

1. Last Title 1986, this is 2015

2. We have lost all GF appearances since then.

3. We have had the following coaches since John Monie who coached the 1986 side:
- Mick Cronin(1990–1993)
- Ron Hilditch (1994–1996)
- Brian Smith (1997–2006)^[52]
- Michael Hagan (2007–2008)
- Daniel Anderson (2009–2010)
- Stephen Kearney (2011-2012)
- Ricky Stuart (2013)
- Brad Arthur (2014
All have failed to win us another title thus far.
- FME > michael picklum April 15, 2015 at 2:39pm
  
  That list does bring it into perspective. History of failure indeed.
- Kenny was the King > michael picklum April 15, 2015 at 4:09pm
  
  Anderson did not fail & should never have been sacked. He took us to a GF where we were robbed by a side that cheated & were disqualified.
  
  Since then we have had SK & BA signed despite no experience while Stuart's single glory was a side that was a mile better than the other's due to cap rorting.
- Mapik > michael picklum April 15, 2015 at 6:13pm
  
  While it is fact that all those coaches have failed to win a title I think it is harsh to lable the Anderson (re cheats stealing our title) and Smith coaching eras as failures.
  From the era of Pay Smith and Dymock through to that magnificent 2001 season and beyond while we failed in the big dance and on the big stage we were always competitive under Smith and you could turn on the game each week with genuine anticipation rather than a genuine apprehension about which tv/foxtel remote was going to be demolished!
  During Smiths time you were disappointed if we missed top 4. Today we would be delighted to scrape into the 8. I personally don't see those years as a failure. We won Minor Premierships and were always competitive.
  A lot of big comps around the world don't have 1 GF. It is a premiership like in EPL or playoffs like the American Sports. Otherwise a knockout like the FA Cup.
- Sir Col "THE NODDY MUSHROOM" > michael picklum April 16, 2015 at 7:39am
  
  You forgot JT for 11(?) matches after Smith (2006) and Brad for 6 matches (2012) after Kearney Darkz.
  
  10 coaches in 25 years = 2.5 years each.
  
  Take Smith out of the equation and a coach at Parra lasts about 18 MONTHS (average)
  
  I like stability change.
  
  Now if you look closely at the figures you should be able to see that BA is now in a better position that Smith, and should last at least 18 years at the Eels.
  
  Smith = 3rd coach and lasted 9 years
  
  BA = 6th coach after Smith, so double Smith's reign.
  
  Ah the joy of being an Eels supporter.

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