‘Didn’t take his dropping too kindly’: Recalled Eels star’s rift with coach, player revealed
Paul Kent and James Hooper have lifted the lid on a rift between out of favour Eels winger Blake Ferguson and coach Brad Arthur as well as centre Waqa Blake.
Ferguson who is off-contract at the end of the year and has spent the last six weeks out of the team was recalled on the wing for Round 19 against the Raiders.
However as he fights to earn a new contract at a rival club for next season after being shown the door by Parramatta, Hooper and Kent revealed he didn’t take his demotion very well, thus why he has been on the outer so long.
“Blake Ferguson is back for the Eels this week and we haven’t seen him for six weeks. He hasn’t gone around since May,” Yvonne Sampson said on NRL 360.
“What happened to him?”
“He was dropped based on some defensive decisions we were told at the time that Blake was making,” Hooper said.
“We know the Eels have had a lot of problems down that right edge and Waqa Blake was also positioned on that side of the field at that stage of the season.
“There was a bit of talk that Fergo didn’t take his dropping too kindly. I think he might have had some pretty stern words with the coach about it and expressed some strong views.
“We see him back this week and he gets another opportunity.”
Kent revealed it was not only the coach that Ferguson fell out with as he wasn’t on speaking terms with Waqa Blake at the time, which perhaps suggests why they defended so poorly as a pair.
“There was also a bit of a problem with Waqa Blake too between the pair of them,” Kent said.
“Right, communication-wise?” Sampson asked.
“Yeah well they didn’t speak, so I’d say yes,” Kent said.
However Paul Crawley and James Hooper couldn’t understand why the former representative winger was left out so long given the value he could bring to the team as they push for a drought-breaking premiership.
“But in the fair dinkum stakes up until a couple of ordinary games he had a pretty fair year,” Crawley said.
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“It just seems strange as you say something has happened because he has gone for a long spell.”
“He was in the Origin frame,” Hooper said.
“Until they went with Brian To’o if they didn’t go with To’o then Fergo was absolutely in the frame to win selection for the Blues.
“So there has been a few different theories about what went on inside the dressing room, but Fergo is back this week so we will see what he can bring.”
Replies
if i was outside Waqa, i wouldnt talk to him either. The lack of quality ball, actually the lack of any ball when Waqa is on his inside, coupled with diablolical decison making, and consistant air grabbing.
Nah, im on Fergos side a touch here. Hope he stands up and smashes it for us for the rest of the year.
Me too BE. Had to carry the flack all last year, could count on one hand how many times he received it for most part of last year. Old Fergo looked like he was enjoying himself just fine with Nuikore and Dylan out there then party over.
That whole right side was v.awful v Souths including JA and Opa.
Not surprised there’s more to it really. Brad said he was injured so why wasn’t he rested.
We've deadset conceded 9 points per game in the 5 games he's missed . He's been an absolute liability for the last 2 seasons .
No different from when Jennings was inside Semi
‘Didn’t take his dropping too kindly’
That line in itself says a lot about why he isn't having his contract renewed.
He was playing poorly, making really poor defensive decisions, dropping more high balls than he caught and wasn't making the metres he was previously - and he didnt think he deserved to be dropped?????
Hopefully his ego has receded a bit and his attitude has improved so that he can get back to something resembling his best.
I think most of his on field issues were due to Bleak.
We would have been better off leaving Fergo on the wing and dropping Waqa.
Is that a typo BEM lol or not 🤔
No typo Carlo.
The play looks Bleak when Blake gets the ball.
Hooper and Kent. I honestly wouldn't believe a word those two imbeciles said.
Yeh and it doesn't bother me if Fergo didn't take his dropping too kindly at the time. He's an elite athlete, represented his state and country, you'd hope he has the fire in the belly to fire up.
It seems pretty clear though that Kent and Hooper have heard nothing but rumours because they haven't attributed anything to a proper source.
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