If Brad Arthur had any decency he would step down and give Eels' fans some happiness.
What’s The Buzz: Brad Arthur rubbishes suggestions he is set to quit Eels
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur fires up over speculation he is set to depart the club and talk that his players lack the fitness to compete in the NRL.
Brad Arthur is fuming about constant speculation over his coaching future at Parramatta.
We had a terse exchange when I phoned him last week to ask if he would walk away from the job if his team failed to make the top eight for the second year in a row.
“You were on NRL 360 spraying the hell out of me,” he said. “You’re saying I’m not the right person for this job. If you don’t think I can coach, fair enough, but you need to own what you said.”
My comments about his future were made after the Eels’ capitulation in Darwin two weeks ago against an understrength Dolphins side – on a night he himself said “we gave up.”
So I put it to Arthur that there was talk he would quit if the team failed to make the top eight, taking the decision off the club administration.
“I don’t know who told you that rubbish,” he said, “I won’t be walking away from anything. Never.
“I’m not going to walk out on the team. We’ll fight our way out of it. The club can make whatever decision they feel is right, but I’m not walking away.”
Arthur’s Eels have been dubbed the NRL’s 40-minute footy team.
Fox Sports Lab stats reveal Parramatta would be running second in the competition behind the Broncos on a first-half premiership ladder this year. But they drop to 14th for second-half performances.
Arthur denied the players were not fit enough.
“It’s got nothing to do with our fitness or that we’re getting tired,” he said.
“We’re not managing the game properly. We’re beating ourselves with second-half fade outs and we’ve got to fix it. The bottom line is we’ve got to play for 80 minutes.”
The Eels have won just three of their eight games this year.
They have the bye this weekend but then two tough games against the Broncos and Melbourne Storm, both without skipper Clint Gutherson and halfback Mitchell Moses.
Replies
We have also not played any of the top teams the last 6 weeks or so. The next few weeks could be really bad. Our first halves haven't been that good, just been lucky the opposition weren't playing well for the 80minutes either.
So the dolphins go to Townsville with a reserve grade side. Massive injuries and lose Tesi Nui just after halftime... And take the biscuits.
Massive injuries but no excuses.
It's all about the coaching. Genius.
100% it is
This club has a roster most coaches would kill for. They're maybe short a few first grade standard players on the edges but they are holes that are easy enough to fill. The positions struggling clubs can't fill we have covered. BA massively under achieves with what he has and injuries to key players expose his flawed systems and outdated collision chasing style .
👍
We have a few needs. 2 wingers, a prop, edge back-rower and Utility. Get someone like Bennett and can get quality in all those.
Bennett actually coaches, gets the player to better and better. Doesn't let them think they have achieved everything and reached their potential. He expects nothing but 100% effort, if not you aren't playing.
Spot on, Milford was the perfect example of that on the Dolphins debut. He wasn't up to scratch so Bennett dumped him.
So true, our squad is solid. In a perfect world we could do with two speedy wingers (hence me hypothetically wanting the two warriors wingers from the other blog). But what we really need is a coach to get the best out of what we've already got.
Except for a bright spark that told me on a Parra group on FB that coaches don't matter, they all coach the same. Some people are idiots.
Arthur will need to be handcuffed and frog matched out of the joint. No way he leaves voluntarily. He knows his best chance as a 1st grade coach is at Parra, no other club would be as dumb as our board that's for certain.
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