Monday Buzz: Cruel trolls take aim at ‘nepotism’ following Jake Arthur selection
Eels coach Brad Arthur has more to worry about than Parramatta’s poor form including cruel claims of nepotism, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.
Brad Arthur had more to worry about than Parramatta’s poor performance against the Cowboys in Darwin.
Cruel claims of nepotism around the selection of his teenage son Jake were the hottest topic on social media on the weekend as the Eels crashed to a 35-4 loss to the Cowboys.
There were some shocking comments from the keyboard warriors like: “As long as daddy keeps playing his useless son Parramatta will never be successful,” and “can we get a petition going to get rid of Jake Arthur?”
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It got to a stage where the Eels even used their own Twitter account to appeal to fans to back off.
“Guys. Give some confidence. Doesn’t always have to be neg!,” read the first, followed by: “The Arthur joke is enough. It’s not funny.”
The Eels later deleted the tweets.
However the club’s media and communications manager Kate Cardwell didn’t hold back.
“Sick of the shit comments,” she wrote, “It is football.”
To another critic Cardwell replied: “Sick of the bullying and negativity. I don’t think you know how much your words hurt.”
It didn’t help that the 19-year-old five-eighth had a quiet match and didn’t make one run metre.
Although CEO Jim Sarantinos wasn’t having a bar of it.
“Our fans are passionate and we understand the disappointment that comes after a loss,” he said, “However, it is completely unacceptable when comments become abusive and highly personal.”
To blame the youngster for the loss is out of order in a team that had 17 players that underperformed.
League Immortal Andrew Johns, who coached Arthur while he was an assistant at Parramatta, has gone in to support the youngster.
“The kid is still learning his trade,” Johns told me on Sunday, “The biggest lessons you learn are on the field.
“He’ll come back. In all my time playing and coaching, he’s right up there with any young player for his attitude, work ethic and effort. He can play too, don’t worry about that. He’s still a baby.
“The best thing is that he tries to create things and doesn’t play like a robot. He’s a really good kid.”
At this stage of his career Jake is a borderline first grader but has plenty of potential.
He has been playing in the number six jersey because of an injury crisis out wide that has forced Brad Arthur to temporarily move his gun five-eighth Dylan Brown to the centres.
There were few complaints from Parramatta fans when young Arthur performed solidly in the team’s 39-2 win over the Newcastle Knights the previous week.
Still father-son relationships in rugby league can sometimes be difficult.
I remember Bob Fulton, even in the pre social media days, used to be criticised over the way he used his sons Brett and Scott at various stages of their careers despite the fact they always held their own.
Kevin Walters is in a similar position at the Broncos where his son Billy is a fine player but never an automatic selection in the starting 17.
It was never an issue for premiership-winning coach Johnny Lang because his son Martin, a Queensland Origin player, ran the football as fearlessly as any player I’ve seen.
The same with Ivan Cleary at Penrith with his superstar son Nathan Cleary, arguably the best player in the competition.
Jake Arthur is off contract at the Eels at the end of next season.
His future and his negotiations will be handled by general manager of football Mark O’Neill and chief executive Jim Sarantinos.
There won’t be a rush from other clubs for his signature.
But rest assured, he has the potential to be a good footballer and deserves better than what the trolls were dishing out on Saturday night.
Replies
Not to throw fuel on the fire, just interesting reading Andrew Johns' comments on Jake.
Oh Fark off !!!!
Are these people serious ????
what a beat up how ridiculous
johns he can " learn his trade ", on your knights would you be loving that you numbnut
no one is saying he shouldn't he learning his trade but it should not be at the expense of a spine which works
and to think marketing and Jim support this rubbish
I am emailing tomorrow
appalling to put this back on the fans
gaslighting 101 for the coaching staffs poor and biased calls
well I'm not having it
Love the passion, Carlo!
They don't know who they are dealing with
clearly
😉
100% Carlo. Turning it around on the fans. While some comments are over the top and ridiculous, JA should not have been in that situation in the first place.
Yes he can learn his trade but in reserve grade.
100%
Sounds like it's time for the poo in the shoebox delivery again.
It's beyond time
So Buzz writes a coloumn saying lay off him and he will be good, but says he is off-contract and there will be from other clubs for his signature.
Right, if you are a 19 year old with 10 NRL games and considered a good talent teams would be circling him, saying there is no rush shows not many teams rate him. Not saying that is the case im saying that what Buzz has rationalised.
Yes O'Neill and Sarantinos will negotiate, but you cannot tell me BA has no word on players that are kept or not, he would have said i want Mahoney and leave it up to O'Neill and Sarantinos to get a deal done, he would say keep Jake and Jake would take little to no money to stay with his Dad as you would expect. That is human nature, but no other teams would sign him, some may express interest in taking a stab as a back-up but other than that.
Rothfield is senile.
Who is this bimbo Kate Cardwell? Communications manager? Use your big works Katie.
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