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Eels Appoint Brad Arthur as Head Coach (Part Deux)

Stagger eel

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Staff member
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65,419
Some of the things written about him from another website he s an absolute disgrace...
Not many coaches would of handled what he's had to endure in the past few seasons, the position on the table is a credit to him and the staff around him
 

Forty20

First Grade
Messages
7,677
When you look back at his coaching timeline at Parra the magnitude of the rebuild becomes apparent.

2014 - Inherits the 2012 and 2013 wooden spoon roster. Salary cap is officially a disaster after Projector Gate and unofficially a ticking time bomb. We miss the Top 8 on F/A.

2015 - Generational player and all-time talent in Jarryd Hayne leaves the club in the off-season giving us no chance to recruit a suitable replacement. The Sandow Meltdown happens. In a crazy congested Bottom 8 we finish 12th.

2016 - The time bomb goes off and we have to take our medicine. Peats, Paulo and Morgan depart mid-season. Watmough breaks down physically, Foran breaks down mentally and the board tries to break everything else. Norman gets an 8 week holiday for being a goose and we still finish the season with 13 wins.

2017 - Danny Wicks calls it a day in the off-season and Isaac De Gois is stood down indefinitely for concussion related issues. Our first choice spine in its various iterations has been lucky to string 2 games together and despite it all we are now sitting on 24pts with 7 games in hand.

I don't think BA is the best coach in the game by any means. He definitely is still learning as a coach and I think there are plenty of nuances and subtleties that you keep picking up on as you get more seasoned and grumpier in the role but he has done a heck of a job in the face of stupidly enormous adversity.

Wests Tigers' fans are whinging about how tough they have had it in 2017 and that is one season FFS! Barring the back half of 2009, Parramatta has lurched from disaster to disaster for the best part of a decade. Newcastle is the only other franchise that is even in the same post code when it comes to burning it all down and rebuilding and look how much Nathan Brown (the ex-St George bloke, not our Saint Brown) is struggling with the task.
 
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IFR33K

Coach
Messages
17,043
Look how quickly Bennett fcked things up in Newcastle. He knew what was about to happen and left just before the ship sunk. Would he of hung around at parra If he was faced the same scenario like BA has had to deal with? I think not.

We have a great coach that I believe is just as passionate about the eels like we fans are!!
 

Djay

Juniors
Messages
1,827
His turned out to be the best decision this club has made in the past 10 years.

His love, commitment and passion for the club is unrivalled he has a connection with Parramatta, just wait till things fall his way, he is building something special.

He deserves every bit of praise he gets for last years efforts, and getting us into a very good position at this time of year considering our injury toll.
 

Gronk

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73,967
BA has been a revelation BUT some perspective here. Why would he choose unemployment over $3/4/5/600k salary just bc the company he works for was going through dramas ?

Yes could have gone back to manly but they are a basketcase too and Bozo seems to tell the coach who to recruit.
 

Joshuatheeel

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19,602
Look how quickly Bennett fcked things up in Newcastle. He knew what was about to happen and left just before the ship sunk. Would he of hung around at parra If he was faced the same scenario like BA has had to deal with? I think not.

We have a great coach that I believe is just as passionate about the eels like we fans are!!

And that's one of the attributes that has been impressive about BA, NRL coaches don't get much much time to turn their side around, yet BA has made a few big decisions that I reckon will benefit our long term future rather then his should term career such as:

- refusing to increase offer to Hayne
- not buying a half during the offseason when there were several options, preferring to wait for the right option
- not paying "overs" for players, e.g. Peats
- not rushing into the player market
- putting faith in some youngsters Gutherson, French and Pritchard.
 

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
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19,602
BA has been a revelation BUT some perspective here. Why would he choose unemployment over $3/4/5/600k salary just bc the company he works for was going through dramas ?

Yes could have gone back to manly but they are a basketcase too and Bozo seems to tell the coach who to recruit.

Considering what he did we us in 2014/15, I doubt he would have been unemployed for long, I am sure a few clubs would have made him some nice offers for a head coach spot ( warriors, tigers, dragons, maybe Souths/dogs/manly)
 

Joshuatheeel

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19,602
BA started as a bush coach in South Coast country footy at 22 or so, I don't think some realise the effort and time that role takes especially at such a young age - and he made a success of it.

Pretty much success has followed him where ever he went.

As mention before he has had to deal with a bit at the eels, he won't fail here !!
 

ParraSteve

Juniors
Messages
718
He's done a great job in our mental toughness, 5 years ago we would have lost our last 2 games.

Its the first time in years that i can remember that if we play strongly in the first half that i have confidence we'll win the game regardless by how many .
 

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
148,741
He's done a great job in our mental toughness, 5 years ago we would have lost our last 2 games.

Its the first time in years that i can remember that if we play strongly in the first half that i have confidence we'll win the game regardless by how many .
Pretty sure we are 8 from 8 when leading at halftime.
 

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