Leeds: Former Parramatta coach Brad Arthur says he’s a better coach now than the one who was sacked by the Eels last year, admitting it was time for both him and the club to go their separate ways.
“A lot of people said I looked relieved and happy, and I felt like I was at the time,” he said about his mid-season sacking
“I was grateful for the opportunity they gave me. Eleven years, it was a great life and my family got to live a great life. There were negatives with it, but there were plenty of positives with it. I wouldn’t change any of it at all. Probably there’s some lessons there that I maybe knew or some things that I knew I needed to change or got wrong. But sometimes you don’t make those until you get sacked or terminated.
“I’ve looked at it from a perspective of ‘it is what it is, I’ve had a good life and enjoyed it, but what can I learn from it’? So if I got any opportunities again moving forward, is there anything that I could do differently? But I feel a lot of that just comes with time and experience. You don’t learn from anything unless you make mistakes. It’s just making sure you don’t make them over and over.”
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/i-needed-it-arthur-reflects-on-eels-sacking-and-his-desire-to-coach-in-nrl-again-20251104-p5n7sk.html
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Look BA had his time and for me he did a lot of good stuff during the cap era, and for me showed too much loyalty to some players. There were also rumblings he did not get along with MON and co and hey this probably was close to the mark, who knows.
Our juniors for me did not come as they should have and we needed to keep building from within. Some players got paid heaps for SFA and at times we looked stale in the end.
Hope he does well, but not sure where he fits in the NRL and who with.
There were good and bad things. The bloke can coach. You do not make a gf, no matter how much of a fluke it all was, if you cannot coach. He finished with more wins than losses as well. Issue was he could be stubborn and didn't evolve with the game.
He trusted players too much and many might disagree but I will say how I feel, he pushed both Jake and Matt into those squads. Yes Matt didn't debut under BA but he was pushed through the grades quickly. The way JA was forced in was awful, he deserves the wrath of the blame not Jake. Kid was just doing as he was told. He learned from that with Matt. Plus I know this would get hate but I'll say it anyway, many people I trust plus in media have said the path was cleared for Matt with Mahoney going. He was offered 2 years, then 3 later with an eye on MA being the future. They signed an ageing Josh Hodgson instead of a younger Hooker so when Hodgson moved on MA would take over. That back fired so Lussick and Hands were the stop gaps and that was back firing.
Arthur at the end was what he admitted, being there too long and both parties needed change. It was a matter of both parties waiting for the other to jump and Parramatta made the move.
Though I feel a premiership under Ryles, if I feel there is to be one, would little to no remains of the BA era, he should be shown some respect in that he can coach. Is he a great coach? Maybe not but he is a capable coach.
Ive said it a lot of times, BA coach Perth or now PNG would be perfect having a veteran coach like him. Or even Wests Tigers to get relevant, have a coach who can win over the media and handle to chat to wins some games.
You can kinda argue that making a GF isn't really a marker of whether or not someone can be considered a good NRL coach.
All of professional sports revolves around achieving the highest honour of that particular game or competition, winning the GF is very different to making one. And sustained success with a positive and impactful legacy. That's probably more valuable than anything. Leave it better than it was when you got their and walk away when you are ready. Not pushed out. I think BA did a lot of good but ruined it all, tarnished himself and his era. He was too proud and headstrong to admit he was wrong at times and was afraid to ask for help.
We won't even be able to dream of premiership success until we get a decent recruiter. If we don't find some success in 2026 , I think you'll see MON sacrifice his mate Ben Rogers .
I just hope Ryles being more of an Alpha then Arthur , he won't be too scared to vent his frustrations publicly should they keep failing at landing his targets. Arthur was a cuck in this dept , hence why he lost his job. MON is terrible at his job, but he seems quite good at playing the corporate politics game.
On another note LB , what the difference between what Ryles has done now with signing Peasant for a year waiting for Lorenzo ? And what you claim they did with MA ? If Matt's last name was Lorenzo and not Arthur , it'd seem like the correct move yeah ? He had big wraps on him and we aren't exactly renown for landing signings . Personally I'd have chosen we signed a representative Hooker , but as I said , our history dictates this wasn't possible.
Yeah Mitchy , I hated how he kept flogs like Gutherson on after he showed his colours at the negotiation table. I also hated how he refused to drop some players . But sometimes I think he had no choice due to our lack of depth and poor recruitment. But yeah overall I agree , he was too stubborn and it clouded his vision.
I have spoken to a few people that are of the opinion that MON and Arthur didn't get along and MON torpedoed a few signings that Arthur had lined up , on purpose. MON was outright against the Lomax deal hence why Arthur went around him and lined it up. My assememnt is there was an equal share of blame to go around between MON , BA and a few senior players. MON managed to rid us of two of these parties.
I think your opinion on this is perfect Wiz. BA had flaws that really made eels go downhill quickly. But he wasnt the only one to blame.
I liked Arthur. His time had come to an end and we needed to evolve, but he built a top 4 side twice (13-17 and 19-22), and the first time with all the cap bullshit.
I never really rated Brad Arthur as a great coach..He definitely seemed like a caring person but as for coaching below average. Ryles is far better in my opinion
For all the praise BA gets for taking on the job when we were a mess in the early days .. no other club was giving him a gig . Our job wasn't very enticing but those years are a pass mark for him because they were impossible to succeed in. I think the salary cap stuff while a mess at the time was a blessing in disguise as it cleared out books . Personally I would've sent him packing then as we were out the other side but can be argued the club showed some loyalty for him taking on a hard job .. but geez didn't they show some .
He should've been punted 2018 but was given another chance with a revamped roster in 2019 and from there until 2022 we had one of the most stable rosters in the league . Covid was causing havoc with the comp but we had a really consistent team make up and I feel that more than anything else kept us around the 8. It was a good mix of experienced players, rising stars in the game and guys that had underachieved at other clubs. We were hit and miss within games all season .. certain teams like souths would pump us every time we played , we were mostly shocking on the road and we copped some absolute pastings but for what he reason .. maybe because they played a grinding style rather than put teams to the sword with expansive play , we gave a good account of ourselves most times v Penrith. To me it never felt like we were contenders we had flaws in our play every season but we had a side that could overcome a tonne of them .
Without getting into the nepotism stuff which showed he couldn't separate his profession from emotion .. I think a strong forward thinking club fires BA end of 2022 . It would've been shot down by the media but at the time we had key players not buying into our future and leaving , blokes copping suspension over small fines , options galore to retain our stars that came back to bite .. and we gave an absolutely shithouse account of ourselves in the GF. We lasted about 7 minutes with intent and effort then we were done . Maybe the worst GF performance of the Modern era. We were shocking. 2023 and 2024 were complete write offs from every stand point and our culture was in the mud . The club should've been more ruthless with BA and seen through his rubbish but his results always seemed to be just good enough for them to not show initiate and keep him around. Today's articles just prove to everyone he was all about himself , he was never walking away no matter how bad things got despite saying he would if he felt he wasn't the right guy for the job .. it was himself and his family first the club 2nd . The chapters finally closed and we can move forward but I think today's interviews are bitter sweet for fans who sat through his 'love the club ' bullshit for 11 seasons .
I disagree a club sacks a coach straight after a GF. Sacking him after 2023? Yeah that could happen at another club.
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