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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/n...tta-eels-top-job/story-e6frfgdx-1226433378989Brad Arthur's incredible journey to the Parramatta Eels' top job
- Josh Massoud
- The Daily Telegraph
- July 24, 2012 12:00AM
New Eels caretaker coach Brad Arthur and his road trip to Parramatta. Source: The Daily Telegraph
EELS caretaker coach Brad Arthur knows the lot about seasons from hell. And believe it or not, his most excruciating lesson didn't come at Parramatta this year.
Appointed for the final six games in the wake of Steve Kearney's axing, Arthur overcame a nightmare initiation to earn this brief chance at the highest level.
It came in 1997 - his season as captain-coach of the Batemans Bay Tigers.
"We didn't win a game all season," Arthur revealed yesterday. "I remember I was out for a few weeks with a busted knee and we even got beat 100-something to four."
He was just 22 years old at the time; with the Eels junior having abandoned his dream of reaching first grade the previous season.
"I played lock or second row with Parramatta SG Ball and U21s, but I was probably a bit too small and slow," Arthur said. "Royce Simmons was coaching Penrith and I went there for a few seasons, before he advised me that I probably wasn't going to make it in first grade. It was tough to hear, but I prefer honesty.
"He organised the captain-coach job with Batemans Bay, but I was probably too young and didn't have the best attitude. The second year I felt a bit more comfortable and we turned things around and ended up making the finals."
It was the reversal of fortune that set Arthur on a trajectory to the top - via Cairns Brothers and Melbourne Storm. Brothers patriach Bob Mulley recalled how Arthur paid his own airfare to the far north for a personal reconnaissance after the club advertised for a new captain-coach in Rugby League Week.
He got the job, hung around for eight seasons and delivered four premierships from six grand final appearances.
"Brad was such a tough player who never expected anything from his players that he wasn't personally prepared to do," Mulley said.
"He even played in our 2002 grand final win on one leg with a torn hamstring."
Arthur, now 38, added: "It was in Cairns that I started dreaming of making it as a first grade coach.
"I might not have been good enough to make it as a player, but I thought I might have a chance as a coach. "I didn't really have anything to fall back on, all I'd done is a horticulture apprenticeship."
Arthur cracked the NRL system in 2007, when a mutual friend recommended him to Craig Bellamy as Melbourne's inaugural Toyota Cup coach.
He won the NYC title in 2009, before being elevated to Bellamy's NRL staff alongside Kearney the following season.
A year later the two Storm assistants were in charge at Parramatta and now Arthur, whose sons Jake and Matt are also the first grade ball boys, has completed a full circle.
"I addressed the players and said I just wanted two things from them for the last six games," he said.
"They need to be able to look at themselves with pride and make our fans proud too."
Arthur said he never considered joining Kearney out the door, but understands there's no long-term guarantees despite being contracted as an assistant coach next year.
"Steve actually apologised to me, but there was no need for that," Arthur said. "We owed him the apology."
