07/10/2010 7:47 AM
Incoming Parramatta boss Stephen Kearney is excited at the opportunity to work with the talents of Jarryd Hayne but is determined to ensure the Eels are less dependent on the superstar No.1 in 2011.
Over the last two seasons the Eels have relied heavily on the brilliance of Hayne to, at times single-handedly inspire them to victory.
The club qualified for the 2009 grand final, where they were defeated by Kearney's former club Melbourne, on the back of probably the greatest run of individual form ever seen in the NRL by Hayne.
Quite simply, if the 22-year-old is firing then the rest of the Eels side have tended to follow his lead but if he is off his game then the Blue and Yellow's have struggled.
"At stages of this year when he played well the team played well on the back of Jarryd but for me it's about having everyone contribute and certainly not having to rely on one player," Kearney said.
"If we've got a group of 25 guys which are contributing I'm sure it will make Jarryd hopefully an even better player."
"You talk about players at Melbourne like Billy (Slater) and Greg (Inglis) that I've had the opportunity to work with and you can put Jarryd in that category."
"I've seen him (Hayne) do things that other players can't do."
Kearney said one of the features he saw with the Eels in 2010 was they had the knack to be untouchable one week, but equally as woeful the next.
He knows if he can add some stability to their game they have the ability to return to the finals and possibly beyond in 2011.
"For me in this position now, I know the potential's there it's just a matter of harnessing that and make sure we're doing that every week," Kearney said.
"I do have a lot of confidence (for next season)."
"But it's not just going to be me, there's a team of us in terms of the footy staff and I'm going to rely on their expertise also."
"I am confident that we'll be able to perform consistently and that's certainly going to be what I'll be striving to do at the football club."
Eels CEO Paul Osborne and his board have come in for criticism for their handling of former coach Daniel Anderson, who was sacked last week with a year to run on his contract.
Anderson guided the club to the grand final in 2009 but missed the finals this year and it cost him his job.
Asked if that meant the expectation on Kearney was to make the finals immediately, Osborne said: "There's expectations on all of us."
"We had a very disappointing season this year having made the grand final in 2009 and we started the season as premiership favourites and ended up missing out."
"We finished 12 or 13th and at a club like Parramatta and with the playing roster we have there is a level of expectation."
"We just want to see improvement and we didn’t see improvement this year."
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