Brad Arthur has been with us for 9 years now and appears to be on top of his game in so many aspects. It appears to me that he has developed and learnt from some of his past mistakes, and has our team sitting in a good position., playing some great footy. We had a top 4 finish last year and now sitting second on the ladder beating some top teams in Storm and the Raiders this year. My opinion is that Good NRL coaches apart from the obvious winning games , are able to attract and keep top notch players that they want to keep at their club, sometimes on unders due to salary cap constraints. With Moses, Brown, Matterson off contract and not signing as of yet, is BA able to take that next step and have his best players stay, signing for less then their Managers want, and in turn keeping our Salary cap in shape, allowing us to sign other better support and depth players. Whats peoples thoughts, is BA a good NRL coach and has he done enough to convert the sack BA brigade yet.
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Yes, he is.
This is BA's 8th year. No doubt in my mind he can coach.
Coaches are given time to either build a competitive side or time to win a premiership. The problem is many wanted BA to win a title when it was still building time.
We'll keep the players we want to keep
In his press-conference, which was long for BA's standards, he mentioned how he brings players from the outer into his team. He is probably only behind Bellamy in improving players. Obviously he has brought through some juniors such as D Brown, Kafusi and Mahoney, but he has improved the game of N Brown, Carty, Papali'i, Paulo, Gutho, etc.
Very well considered piece Blue Eel. His decision to pull on fresh reserves and rest his middles was a masterstroke.
Last week the teams went to the sheds with Eels narrowly ahead 12-10. It was BA who cut through with his players. Eels went on for a big win, Raiders failed to score another point
Second week in a row the Eels have shut out the opposition in the second half
I said in another blog that the argument about BA is over. He's improved so many outcasts from other clubs. He's developed juniors through to regular first graders. Good coaches make players better players. Sounds obvious but it's true. You can't always just buy the best players, you have to coach and develop them. The club has made some really astute signings and BA is developing those players really well. Cartwright and Papalii could both be critical players for us at the pointy end of the season. This side is so well balanced.
His use of Will Smith from the bench tonight is proof alone that he knows what he's doing. When you watch it again tomorrow (I know many fans will) take notice of will smith. Sure, he ain't the best player of all time, heck he isn't really "that" good, but you know what you're gonna get from him and Brad throwing him in the middle in a game that was obviously not suited to big players was perfect.
I think will smith is the most important player on the bench for us. He covers so many positions and has the ability to take advantage of tiring forwards.
He learns from mistakes yearly and has been given a long time to prove his wares.
Still need to show he can orchastrate game plans against the top sides and get the team to peak at the the right time of year. He's shown he can do enough to consistently beat the 5th -16th teams.
Starting to get results and they have slowly come every year bar 2018. Tonight's attack looked so slick and dangerous. I can't bet a lot of supporters were pretty scared what they seen from us tonight but they would never admit it
He has developed and assembled the best Eels team we've had in years. And for the first time, a team with a heap of depth. No doubt he is a top 4 coach. Time will tell if he cam take the next step.
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