Freshly-minted Parramatta chief executive Mike Rush doesn’t want his reign at the Eels to end with one premiership - he wants to end the most celebrated premiership drought in the NRL with a cavalcade of titles.
Rush, who presided over a period of dominance at St Helens in the Super League, has been anointed as the man to take over from Jim Sarantinos at the helm of the Eels after an exhaustive goal search headed by chair Matthew Beach.
If leading Parramatta back to the promised land isn’t the biggest job in rugby league, it is on the podium. This, after all, is a western Sydney giant that has gone 40 years and counting without a premiership.
Plenty have tried and failed, but Rush has a history of success - he won multiple titles during his time at St Helens - and he is wasting no time as he bids to bring success back to long-suffering Eels fans.
On a recent trip to Sydney, where his ascent to the Eels top job was confirmed, Rush started meeting player agents as he prepared to hit November 1 with all guns blazing.
Parramatta have already signed Spencer Leniuand Jarome Luai for next season and they are far from finished. They have money to burn and an urge to spend it.
Rush will now be in charge of that process, although the club remains in the mix for Newcastle recruitment guru Peter O’Sullivan as they attempt to strengthen their football department.
“Win more than one (premiership) - in both men’s and women’s,” Rush said when asked his plans for the Eels.
“I really just want to win it. And to leave the club in much better position than I find it.
“It’s in a good place now because commercially it’s a really good club, we’ve loads of members, great support.
“But we just need to get it right on the field because as you know, if you’re winning, everybody’s job’s easy.
“Everybody’s job is.”
When it was suggested that some people would consider a premiership a long way off, Rush shot back: “Jarome (Luai) will help for the 12 months that he is here, there is no doubt. “Spencer (Leniu) is signed for four years. Jaydn Su’A is talented and aggressive.
“We’ve got some good young players coming through and we’ve got one of the best halves in the country, Mitchell Moses.
“So although people say you’re a long way off, I’m sure they said that about the Knights last year.
You need to get the right people in the right spots to make a change - and that’s always the challenge.”
With their chief executive in place, the Eels‘ next priority will be to sort out their recruitment department.
O’Sullivan is the preferred target but they are locked in a dogfight with Brisbane for one of the best talent scouts in the game.
Rush already has connections at the Eels through assistant coach Nathan Brown - they won a title together at St Helens. He also interviewed coach Jason Ryles when he was in charge of Saints and Ryles was in the mix for the job.
“I think he’s a great young coach,” Rush said.
“He’ll be the first to admit that he’s still in the early stages of his coaching career as an independent coach - where you’re not an assistant coach - but that’s made easy if we can make sure that we recruit and get the best players around him.
“He’s obviously had a great background at the Roosters and Melbourne Storm.
“And so he’s a coach that’s learned from some of the best in Craig Bellamy and Frank Ponissi, and then you’ve got obviously Robbo (Trent Robinson) and the staff at the Roosters.
“So he’s had a good schooling in a similar way that Justin Holbrook had a good schooling. “There’s no right or wrong pathway, but Rylesy’s had a good one.”
Beach, who is overseeing significant change at the Eels, insisted the club interviewed some strong candidates for the position and Rush’s record made him a standout.
“We were looking for a football CEO: someone with extensive rugby league experience who understood how to align strong junior pathways with elite men’s and women’s programs while creating a high-performance culture that delivers long-term success,” Beach said.
“Mike’s record at St Helens demonstrates exactly that.
“As a club, we have a proud history and our ambition is simple: To build a club that consistently competes for premierships and delivers success for our members and supporters.”
“Mike is the right person to lead the club through its next chapter, and the board looks forward to working closely with him.”
Replies
I know they say it for fans and that, but it's actually one of the first times I can remember the chairman and CEO mention premierships heavily in their responses in a little bit of time.
You can tell Beach is over it and wants to win.
The big critique for years was we had no footy IQ in admin. Well we got one, let's hope we get another with POS.
Beach is also a lifelong Eels fan. People seem to forget that. He's not Chairman for shits and giggles.
Oh I know he is not there for fun.
This process alone and actually saying he wants us to be competing every year shows how serious he is. Going into the clubs budget to pry O'Sullivan out of Newcastle shows that intent as well.
His words LB make you buy into the narrative. Like JR, Rush gives me encouragement and enthusiasm about our prospects and future.
Yeah it is odd as i know most if not all say "I want to win comps" etc. But the way he went about it is he wants success not just comps. That is the thing we don't just want a comp, we want to be a team where we are making finals 20 times in 20 years and making GF's over half of those years. Be like Roosters, Melbourne and Penrith of the past.
I know for once i want Parra to be feared by fans. Even in early 2020's, fans didn't really fear us. I also oddly like the colloquial language in his responses, makes it feel genuine.
Nobody can put shit on this appointment, if this guy can't help the club then we best just withdraw from the competition.
100% - this is an experienced and successful operator who has already done the job and achieved sustained success.
For the first time in a long time there's actually no "oh wow, this is disappointing" narrative to this decision.
Rush is a great appointment. Credit to Beach and co for scouting and experienced successful operator.
If I have to be honest I'm more happy with getting Rush than Matt Cameron. Rush has succeeded in various positions on his own merits.
When you think of the panthers it's all Gus Gould and the fact they have had a once in a lifetime player in Clearly, Matt Cameron would of rejected Parramatta because it would of been too hard for him . Rush would not be uprooting his family to take on a job he thought he couldn't succeed at ,the guy clearly has confidence in his abilities.
I would also just slightly favour Ando for recruitment only because he is a Parramatta man .
Maybe move to an international country to expand the game? Maybe relocate to Taiwan Fong? Taiwanese Eels.
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