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
Not getting our man so much as getting a target. Cameron was our #1 target, though Rush seemed to be our 2nd or joint with George.
There's no way of knowing that LB. Cameron was interviewed and asked if would consider taking up the role, but that doesn't mean he was first choice. I see that as the board doing due dilligence in looking at alternatives. When you go to buy a new car, do you only step in to the car you initially planned to buy, or do you have a close look at alternatives?
In any event, it doesn't matter because the club can now move on under Rush.
Well if Cameron said yes he would have gotten it, they even tried one last time to get Cameron after he said no twice before.
You have a list, go for the one out of the list that suits you best. Cameron was one we went for first.
As Finny explained you don't know this, just be happy summising it!
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