From the Daily Telegraph
The axing of South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou turns the blowtorch onto another struggling mentor in Parramatta’s Brad Arthur, adding a layer of intrigue to the Rabbitohs’ pursuit of Wayne Bennett.
Demetriou and Eels coach Arthur started the week as the NRL’s most under-pressure coaches.
Now, Demetriou no longer has a job.
Arthur has the unwavering support of Parramatta powerbrokers but with the Eels facing another season of finals oblivion, the coach’s job security is looking tenuous.
The Eels are languishing in 14th on the NRL ladder and now have to turn their season around without both general Mitchell Moses (foot) and skipper Clint Gutherson (knee).
It feels like an uphill battle for Arthur. One he must conquer to not only silence detractors but the rumours – which refuse to go away – about Bennett lurking in the shadows waiting for a chance to pounce.
The axing of South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou turns the blowtorch onto another struggling mentor in Parramatta’s Brad Arthur. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly has made Bennett the No.1 priority and has already started work to get the deal done and Bennett has declared his interest in taking over from Demetriou.
It leaves Parramatta at risk of missing out on the coach that is arguably best suited to replace Arthur if the club does eventually part ways with the coach.
Interestingly, South Sydney are also monitoring Arthur’s situation at the Eels.
For many pundits, Bennett returning to South Sydney on unfinished business, after taking the side to the 2021 grand final, is a foregone conclusion.
But Bennett, who has won seven titles, is a shrewd operator – one that would know Parramatta is actually the more attractive proposition.
The situation at South Sydney is dire.
The side has only won two games since late August last year, there is speculation the playing group is fractured and talk management is not on the same page.
The best football appears to be behind the likes of Cody Walker and Damien Cook while Latrell Mitchell remains an enigma and the club is betting on an untried NRL commodity in St Helens halfback Lewis Dodd to lead a revival.
Parramatta are in a far better shape overall. Ironically, a lot of that is on Arthur.
Boasting the likes of Moses, Gutherson, Junior Paulo and youngsters like Dylan Brown and Will Penisini, the Eels should be in a premiership window.
No one is better at taking an experienced, but balanced side that is ripe for the picking to the next level than Bennett.
The club identified the outside backs as a position that needed strengthening and have now added Zac Lomax, arguably the form outside back in the NRL, to the mix.
It took over 12 months to land the right player, but the club managed to achieve what it set out to do.
Unlike South Sydney, Parramatta also have a seriously promising crop of young talent coming through.
The likes of playmakers Blaize Talagi and Ethan Sanders lead a cohort of impressive youngsters that also includes hooker Matt Arthur, centre Richard Penisini and forwards Charlie Gymer and Sam Tuivaiti.
The lure of winning a title at the Eels and achieving a feat no other coach has been able to since 1986, is hard to refuse for a coach like Bennett.
The option of choosing Parramatta is likely to be taken from Bennett with Parramatta unlikely to make a move on Arthur any time soon.
It begs the question, if not Arthur or Bennett, then who?
Jason Ryles is an option but is unlikely to leave the Storm even if Craig Bellamy does coach for another season. Michael Maguire is committed to the NSW Blues for at least two seasons.
Cronulla and Queensland assistant Josh Hannay is highly regarded and seen as the next NRL head coach in waiting.
But given the pressure the Eels gig comes with, and the very big personalities in the roster, the job is better suited to someone with plenty of experience.
While Arthur is safe for now, the club can’t deny that serious consideration must be given to a change of personnel.
Not at the coaching level but in the roster.
Once a formidable proposition, Parramatta’s forward pack is well below the mark in 2024.
The Eels rely heavily on the likes of Paulo, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Joe Ofahengaue to generate go forward momentum and less on outside back carries out of yardage.
But the added workload is denting the effectiveness of the side’s power game, especially in the second half of matches.
Instead of big middles bending the line, it has exposed the Eels of lacking agility and mobility in the forward pack – a cornerstone in the modern game.
Replies
I tend to agree. The Director of Football would be the one who oversees getting players ready to be selected in the NRL, and this is what we seem to be missing. That shouldn't be the Head Coach's job, but obviously the 2 work closely together. It's certainly not about holding the hand of the head coach, which is where some confusion has set it.
I think what we are seeing at Souths is a prime example of a rookie coach who's had the best of the best apprentiship under Bennett and is still failing. The modern player is a huge ego and it takes plenty to manage these egos.
Look how many coaches are going on the scrap heap , Now Todd Paytens also having the microscope put over him after being the cherry on everyone's ice cream 2 seasons ago. . The Newcastle blokes copping it as well.
Well Demetriou has failed at the man managing side of coach. Sulley said it was his tactics, it was more so his managing. The amount of word on how he treated Latrell annoyed the playing group, but he also feared getting them offside would make it worse.
I commented this not long ago but is relevant. Demetriou would start training while Bennett would take the leadership group into the sheds, this is where he would berade them if they needed it. But then afterwards he would come out with his arms around them and laughing etc. Demetriou only saw that side of Bennett's management it seems, where he was oblivious to how Bennett handled them behind the scenes.
But added to that, Bennett instantly gets respect over someone like Demetriou due to his Premierships. Simple as that.
I'm not sure you can say all that LB, your making assumptions and the facts are unknown. If you think JD didn't know what Bennett was doing, I think you would be naive.
Man management is pretty subjective, to say he failed is again a situation that maybe something didn't work that he was blamed for and did not execute. i.e Latrell having a brain snap, is that a failure of man management.
My guess is that Souths must have produced some evidence to him, as either a warning or a reason why they did not want him to complete his contract. If JD did not break any rules or was not guilty of KPI's he would have a wrongful dismissal case, What if they had said to Latrell we do not think your behaviour is acceptable to our standards and we are immediately ending your contract.
The only reason to substantiate these circumstances is that Souths see a match winning asset as being more important than their coach?
Contracts will not become a relevance because JD will get a good payout and not cause any trouble. Latrell would not get a payout because he was distrustful and most definately would not have completed his KP!'s. If this was a serious sport properly managed, all these things would be addressed. Mitchell should be dismissed by Souths.....Roosters knew what they had in his ability but it was outweighed by them also knowing what a "pratt" Latrell is!
Walker, Mitchell and Wighton should all be on notice with regard to a set of KPI's with the threat of their contracts being torn up.
This what happens when you bow down to players based on their skin colour. South's is just a small version of what's happening in Australia. Only a fucking idiot would argue that the black fellas don't get special treatment by both Souths and the NRL. South's are the poster club of what happens when you go woke.
They tire their own heart out when they punted Reynolds to give Fatrell the big dog ststus . What we are seeing at Souths is as much an onfeild leadership issue as a coaching issue. Reynolds transformed Brisbane's attitude. We have a similar predicament. No surprises Cronulla transformed with a decent leader too.
The most upsetting thing about not getting Bennett is that he would shake our bludgers up and no doubt his first point of call would be changing of the guard .
I watched Freddy & the Eighth last night and all the reasons Rabbitohs supposedly got rid of Demetriou were exactly all reasons why a lot on here wish BA to go.
https://youtu.be/BX2FuED1s44?si=sp3BXEI-fYjV10_B
https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/nrl/south-sydney-to-offer-bennett-...
Article basically says south's to offer Wayne a 3 year deal and our board wants to give BA more time 🤣
How f___ing long does he need after 11 years???!!!
-
4
-
5
-
6
-
7
-
8
of 8 Next