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Eels Appoint Brad Arthur as Head Coach (Part Deux)

Forty20

First Grade
Messages
7,677
BA loves his assistants. Bags not telling him that they have to go.

Steve Murphy actually drops a funny little anecdote along this line dating all the way back to the 2014 trials in our sit down interview with him (dropping tomorrow).

Given how bumpy the road has been for fans from inheriting the scraps of the 2013 season to our current success it is easy to forget how invested the entire coaching staff has been throughout. Peter Gentle and Steve Murphy have been there every step of the way with BA and definitely deserve a good chunk of the acclaim for getting us here.
 

El Diablo

Post Whore
Messages
94,107
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...s/news-story/ec9828fc19f72394b896bf8ca8064417

Cairns Brothers members back Eels coach Brad Arthur against Cowboys

ROBERT CRADDOCK, The Courier-Mail
an hour ago

YOU know a coach has left his mark when the north Queenslanders he left behind are happy to cheer for him to beat their beloved Cowboys.

It will happen on Saturday night in a tiny pocket of rugby league heartland where many members of the Brothers Rugby League Club in Cairns will cheer for their life member Brad Arthur when he coaches Parramatta in the semi-final against the Cowboys at ANZ Stadium.

Arthur was 24 when he took on a captain-coaching position at Cairns Brothers in 1999, a couple of years after failing to crack first grade at Parramatta and Penrith.

The four premierships and six grand finals he made before his eight-season stint ended in 2007 established the club as a competition powerhouse and were priceless building blocks in his journey toward Saturday night’s clash.

Former teammate, now Brothers president Paul Fowler, remembered his friend Arthur as a coach ahead of his time.

“He would do the video on Monday and break down your game — he would do colourful graphs on a piece of paper,’’ Fowler said.

“The best one he did was a green graph if you completed a set of six.

‘‘He would show you how if you put a bunch of greens together you would get a red dot and that was a try.’’

Fowler said Arthur was such a favoured son many Brothers members would cheer for the Eels against the Cowboys.

“Most people are Parra now ... there are a lot of Parra fans in Cairns,’’ Fowler said.

‘‘Everyone had their club which was the Cowboys but now everyone at Brothers supports Parramatta now because of BA.’’

Fowler said that despite being a young captain-coach Arthur had the ability to switch from mate to mentor mode when it counted.

“He could be your mate but he would lay down the law and say the home truths,” he said.

“He gave everyone a serve in the heat of battle but he would not ask you to do anything he would not do.

“He copped plenty because he was the star player.

‘‘He was a tough man.

‘‘In his last grand final he tore his calf in the semi-final and could hardly walk but he still played the first half of the grand final.

“He was the best player up here by a country mile.

‘‘Royce Simmons was his coach at Penrith and he told him he had all the talent but was not quick enough and said, ‘You are probably not going to play first grade so you should look at a coaching career’. That started him.

“As a player he got two gold medals up here for player of the competition.

“He was our goalkicker and back-rower. He set tries up. Put kicks in. And tough.

“Everyone’s pleased for him. It’s a great story.’’
 

Eelementary

Post Whore
Messages
56,107
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...s/news-story/ec9828fc19f72394b896bf8ca8064417

Cairns Brothers members back Eels coach Brad Arthur against Cowboys

ROBERT CRADDOCK, The Courier-Mail
an hour ago

YOU know a coach has left his mark when the north Queenslanders he left behind are happy to cheer for him to beat their beloved Cowboys.

It will happen on Saturday night in a tiny pocket of rugby league heartland where many members of the Brothers Rugby League Club in Cairns will cheer for their life member Brad Arthur when he coaches Parramatta in the semi-final against the Cowboys at ANZ Stadium.

Arthur was 24 when he took on a captain-coaching position at Cairns Brothers in 1999, a couple of years after failing to crack first grade at Parramatta and Penrith.

The four premierships and six grand finals he made before his eight-season stint ended in 2007 established the club as a competition powerhouse and were priceless building blocks in his journey toward Saturday night’s clash.

Former teammate, now Brothers president Paul Fowler, remembered his friend Arthur as a coach ahead of his time.

“He would do the video on Monday and break down your game — he would do colourful graphs on a piece of paper,’’ Fowler said.

“The best one he did was a green graph if you completed a set of six.

‘‘He would show you how if you put a bunch of greens together you would get a red dot and that was a try.’’

Fowler said Arthur was such a favoured son many Brothers members would cheer for the Eels against the Cowboys.

“Most people are Parra now ... there are a lot of Parra fans in Cairns,’’ Fowler said.

‘‘Everyone had their club which was the Cowboys but now everyone at Brothers supports Parramatta now because of BA.’’

Fowler said that despite being a young captain-coach Arthur had the ability to switch from mate to mentor mode when it counted.

“He could be your mate but he would lay down the law and say the home truths,” he said.

“He gave everyone a serve in the heat of battle but he would not ask you to do anything he would not do.

“He copped plenty because he was the star player.

‘‘He was a tough man.

‘‘In his last grand final he tore his calf in the semi-final and could hardly walk but he still played the first half of the grand final.

“He was the best player up here by a country mile.

‘‘Royce Simmons was his coach at Penrith and he told him he had all the talent but was not quick enough and said, ‘You are probably not going to play first grade so you should look at a coaching career’. That started him.

“As a player he got two gold medals up here for player of the competition.

“He was our goalkicker and back-rower. He set tries up. Put kicks in. And tough.

“Everyone’s pleased for him. It’s a great story.’’

Holy shit...
 

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