DANIEL Anderson's turbulent reign as Parramatta coach is again looking shaky.
Speculation is rife he will face the axe if the star-studded Eels fail to qualify for the finals
On the back of last year's incredible late-season surge, which carried them through to the grand final against Melbourne, the Eels entered the 2010 season among the title favourites.
However, while they have shown glimpses of the breathtaking rugby league that so captivated fans, the Eels' year has been plagued by inconsistency and with just four rounds left they sit in 12th place on the ladder.
With former Test coach Ricky Stuart on the lookout for a new job after parting ways with the Sharks and highly rated assistants such as Melbourne's Stephen Kearney waiting in the wings, the pressure will be on the coaches whose teams miss out on the finals.
However, having dealt with rumours earlier this year that suggested members of the Parramatta board wanted Anderson axed, Eels chief executive Paul Osborne was last night refusing to buy into any talk about who would be in charge next season.
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Fair dinkum if DA was allowed to spend at least 1.5m more than every other club this forum would knight him.
Bellamy cant coach. He is full of it. Consider it this way. He gets to spend the same cap as everyone else building his squad and the gets to add Smith Inglis and Slater on top. What would Kearney have learnt ? Nothing he would as bad as Stuart
So what does that indicate? I know journos are some times prone to making these sorts of things up or disguising 'speculation' as fact but there is enough smoke here to indicate there is a fire somewhere IMO. To me, it seems pretty obvious that these rumours and innuendo are being fed from someone within the club. That's the major difference between 2008 and 2010 in that there new faces around the footy and leagues clubs with different agendas and allegiances.
Anderson oversaw the team make the GF last year. Admittedly the team hasn't reached those heights in 2010 but with 4 rounds to go they are still a chance. He's already accomplished more than Hagan did and at the same time has made some hard calls and appears to be trying to shape the team in a mould he can work with. The only hard decisions Hagan ever made was whether or not to wear a suit or polo shirt to the post match press conferences.
Sadly, I am starting to get the feeling that DA's position may yet be defined by Cronk's future in Melbourne. Looking back at it now and the timings involved, it would appear that from the minute the Storm's salary cap cheating was revealed, DA made Cronk his #1 target for next year. As soon as the cap drama broke, Ossie comes out announcing no more negotiations with the likes of Mateo, Inu and Keating. And now in the last week stories abound that Cronk had agreed to terms with the Eels but the Storm are digging their heels in.
My gut feel is that I think that if we miss out on Cronk, in addition to losing the likes of Mateo, Inu and KK, DA will be in charge in 2011 and we will struggle. Ricky Stuart will be NSW coach in 2011. Some time after Origin period is finished, if we are going really badly, Stuart will be brought in whether DA likes it or not. Stuart looks a good bet to be in charge of the Eels in 2012.
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