Fresh coach Brad Arthur puts his stamp on Parramatta
Brent Read
The Australian
October 30, 2013 12:00AM
BRAD Arthur arrived back in the country yesterday morning from a family holiday in Bali. By lunchtime, he was behind his desk at Parramatta Stadium, having already conducted interviews with two potential assistant coaches.
When it comes to Parramatta, Arthur has quickly realised time is of the essence. A club that has won successive wooden spoons has placed its future in his hands and he plans to waste no time putting his stamp on the place.
By the end of the week, he expects to complete his coaching staff - the vacancies also include an under-20s coach. He also hopes to meet with a number of the club's senior players. Already, he has crossed paths with co-captain Tim Mannah, who dropped into Parramatta Stadium yesterday to greet the new coach.
"He was excited," Arthur said.
"He walked in and I thought he was going to kiss me. He's really excited about the place moving forward, being nice and positive.
"He can't wait to get back into training.
"He wanted to tell me he has been speaking to a lot of the boys and they're really excited about coming back to training, which is a real pleasant surprise because at this time of year, most of them aren't looking forward to coming back to training because it's a hard slog.
"But we're really excited about coming back and starting afresh. We're not worried about last year or two years ago or three years ago. That's all gone.
"There's nothing we can do about it. From here on, it's about what we can do better and the direction we want to take now."
Arthur has already spoken to some of the players he has inherited but he will hold one-on-one meetings with key members of the squad this week. Among them will be halfback Chris Sandow, whose career is at the crossroads as he deals with well-documented gambling issues.
"I am hopefully going to meet with him on Thursday," Arthur said. "It's just to sit down with him and see where he's at. I haven't seen him or spoken to him for 12 months now.
"I want to get a feel for where he is at and then we can move forward from there.
"I am hoping to catch up with a lot of them during the week. Everyone is excited. I have quite a lot of voicemail messages from players just wanting to rip in.
"It's nice that they're really keen to move forward. We're about a new direction and a new start for them. We need a bit of consistency and to show a bit of faith and belief in these boys."
As for his own emotions on returning to Parramatta, a club he coached in a caretaker capacity at the end of 2012, Arthur said: "It was a little bit strange at the start but from the time I walked in there there was a lot of smiles from the staff - staff I had worked with and some I hadn't met.
"There was just a lot of support and genuine excitement from a lot of people. They just want the place to do well. I am just real optimistic about what we can do in 2014."
