The eighth Immortal Andrew Johns famously cost the Parramatta Eels the 2001 NRL premiership in a grand final boilover.
Now he’s been given the daunting task of helping to win the title that has eluded the club for 33 years.
Johns started work on Tuesday as a specialist halves mentor, hired by Parramatta coach Brad Arthur to help take Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown to the next level and work with younger emerging players.
It was a huge day for the Eels with Johns starting work and Brown signing a new three-year, $2 million contract extension, rejecting interest from at least half a dozen clubs.
The Wests Tigers, Canterbury Bulldogs and New Zealand Warriors were desperately keen. Johns will have the job of mentoring the boom 19-year-old five-eighth from this point.
“Joey’s played and excelled at the highest level and I’m hoping he’ll develop our spine and take them to the next level,” Arthur told The Daily Telegraph.
“We didn’t want to overload our younger players like Dylan and Reed Mahoney last year. Mitchy (Moses) and Gutho (Gutherson) are now around the representative scene.
“I’m sure Joey can fine-tune them and work on some areas to take them the next step.”
This is the insight Parramatta hope can end the drought. Arthur previously worked with Johns at Manly under Geoff Toovey.
Arthur was defence coach and Johns the halves tutor for Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran.
“I really enjoy working with the guy,” Arthur said. “We’ve spoken a lot throughout my coaching career. He’d often ring with ideas he thought we could work on and trends in the game. “We’ve always kept in contact. The boys will love having him around the place.” It is another reason for optimism in Parramatta.
Arthur is delighted to have Brown locked in long term.
“Dylan’s a really good kid who has come through our juniors” Arthur said, “He’s best football is still well and truly down the track. “Joey will help him to play with control and perform week in, week out.”
Johns told The Daily Telegraph he was looking forward to being part of Parramatta’s title campaign.
“I’m really excited to be working with the halves,” Johns said.
“Both have got incredible talent. I thought Mitchell was outstanding last year and Dylan is showing all the signs of being a lterm success story.”
Replies
This news is the best so far going forward for the eels, IMO, I have said previously that his signing is a key to locking in Brown and Mahoney, so now Mahoney becomes the target for a new contract.
One of the things in this signing not to overlook is that Joey had the smarts and knew/knows how to get the backs as a unit working together, and he can work with the spine players to get them and the centres working together in cohesion. Its a great signing for the club, and one that the NRL cannot look at as to the cap, although there are some restrictions/limits on clubs and what they can spend.
BuT bRaD dOeSn'T lIkE wOrKiNg WiTh GrEaT rUgBy LeAgUe MiNdS.
Well he has no choice now Super. Did you overdoze through the night?
Overdose? With a baby? I'll have you know I slept a whole, disrupted three hours last night.
CaN Someone ExPLaiN this NeW LoWeRcaSe and UpPerCaSe fUcKInG BS fAd. Is It Implying tHaT the PerSoN reFerrEd to The PoSt iS a FuCkiNg IdioT
It's an intermittent caps lock issue. Super, I think you need a new keyboard.
No, it's more a sarcasm thing.
This log is oing to be fun.
Super, you're right! This could go down like a fat kid on a see-saw.
What, the great Andrew Johns think both have incredible talent & Mitchell was outstanding last year. But Fong said it was nothing to get excited about, Brooks won half of the year the year before which means nothing in Fongs eyes. Lol again, the shit he writes is laughable as it is predictable.