Eels Blogs

I’m sick of it’: Eels stars blasted over NRL rollercoaster that’s hanging Arthur out to dry

Eels premiership window closed?

Eels premiership window closed? | 04:55

Zac Rayson

Zac Rayson from Fox Sports

July 6th, 2022 9:56 am

The Eels are firmly in finals contention this season, but their ‘wide open’ Premiership window is closing fast – and their fatal flaw was exposed once again on the weekend.

A 30-12 hammering by the Rabbitohs was just the latest example of their maddening inconsistency this year, with the Parramatta club unable to replicate the kind of form that has seen them beat top teams like the Storm and Panthers this season.

The pressure is rising at the club to get things right, but there’s plenty of debate over who should wear the blame for their form wobbles.

In a passionate discussion on NRL 360, Fox League’s experts took the Eels to task, questioning the role of coach Brad Arthur and his players in the current situation at the club.

Paul Kent laid bare the worrying inconsistencies, saying: “The problem is, all year Parramatta have been going win-loss-win-loss. You can’t go through the finals win-loss-win-loss and win a competition! So until they do figure it out, they’re buggered.

“They’re the only team to beat Penrith this year, they’ve beaten Melbourne. And yet they’ve lost to the Bulldogs and Tigers who were both running last at the time.”

James Hooper replied: “There’s a little bit of Groundhog Day about this argument. We went down this road last year, around Brad Arthur and is he the coach who is finally get them back to the promised land.

“On current form, Paul’s right. You can never win the competition (with this inconsistency).

Hooper added: “The window is wide open at the moment, I don’t think the window is going to be open for the next five years. They’ve got to strike now.”

Recharged Rabbitohs slide past Eels 

Recharged Rabbitohs slide past Eels | 03:28

The Daily Telegraph’s veteran journalist Paul Crawley was full of praise for Arthur and his ‘fantastic’ work at the Eels, but said ‘the pressure’s on’ the head coach to get the best out of his team when it counts.

Crawley said: “The point is, we’re at a completely different level to (Justin) Holbrook or Trent Barrett or Michael Maguire or clubs that can’t win. He’s done a fantastic job.

“He’s hand built the roster brick by brick, to the point where it can beat Penrith and it can beat Melbourne. But for a couple of years now, for some reason or another, they have not been able to get it together when it matters most. And the problem is that consistency is just not there.

“Arthur said after the game on the weekend it wasn’t an effort problem. But then in the next breath he says we’ve got individuals out there who aren’t doing their job out there today, and we need 17 individuals doing it at once. That’s a coach’s job. A coach’s job is to get them up for that game every week. Brad Arthur has to be that person!

“He’s had nine years to get it right,” Crawley continued. “They’re not going to be a better squad next year when they lose [Marate] Niukore, [Isaiah] Papali’i, Reed Mahoney, Nathan Brown, Ray Stone. They’re not going to be a better squad.

“This is their year, they have to get it right now.

“I’m not saying Parramatta are even going to be able to find a better coach out there on the market to replace him. But the pressure’s on Brad this year to get it right.”

'How can you not call that?!' | 06:55

Kent agreed there was no coach available who would do a better job than Arthur, saying “there’s no doubt about that,” but took aim at the players for their inconsistency.

“When you talk about attitude going missing … that’s on the players,” he said. “I’m sick of [it]. It’s too easy for players to sit back and let all criticism get driven towards the coach. It’s almost like all care and no responsibility. Someone at the club has to stand up, whether it’s Clint Gutherson or Mitch Moses, who I see as the two leaders at the club, and say: ‘Boys, enough is enough.’”

Kent added: “I don’t think it’s the coach. I think it sits solely on the players. It’s up to the players to control their attitude. The attitude is the thing that’s missing.”

Host and former NRL veteran Braith Anasta said: “It’s been a similar core and nucleus there for a long time – for similar results. They can get it done, and the coach has got them in a situation where they can get it done, and they’ve done it a few times.

“The players are the ones that have got to go to the next level. They’ve got to take this team to Premiership glory … it’s up to the players now.”

“It’s up to the players to shut all of us up and prove us all wrong,” he added. “They’ve got the ability to do that, now they’ve got to deliver.”