. Matt Parish is the first casualty of the new coaching regime at Parramatta with the NSW assistant coach told he won't have a position at the club next year.
Fairfax Media understands Parish was told of the news by incoming coach Brad Arthur during the week. With Parish moving on, fellow assistant Dean Pay likely to follow Ricky Stuart to Canberra and under-20s coach Andrew Webster switching to the Tigers, the Eels are in the process of revamping their entire coaching staff following Arthur's appointment as head coach on Wednesday.
Arthur and new general manager of football Daniel Anderson have begun sounding out possible coaching candidates with former Wests Tigers assistants Peter Gentle and Steve Folkes plus St George Illawarra under-20s coach Justin Holbrook among the options. Folkes, a premiership-winning coach with Canterbury, worked as Steve Price's assistant for the past two years at St George Illawarra while Holbrook has had success at the Dragons and Canterbury in the lower grades. Gentle was sacked by Hull FC in September even though he took the side to a Challenge Cup final this year, after being the long-term understudy to Tim Sheens at the Tigers.
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Gone: assistant coach Matt Parish. Photo: Supplied
Despite Anderson's appointment, Arthur, who is on a family holiday in Bali, will control the first grade operations while Anderson will work on the club's pathways into the NRL and oversee the junior teams through to under-20s. While both have coached first grade at Parramatta, they have never worked alongside each other.
Arthur said Anderson's arrival has helped as he becomes a full-time head coach for the first time. ''It has been really beneficial,'' Arthur said. ''He wants me to have total control over the NRL side and he is there if I need to bounce ideas off him. He doesn't want to force my opinion, he is there to help with the operational side of things. He will also assist with the recruitment and retention of players.''
Arthur has toiled his way through the coaching ranks after playing lower grades at Parramatta. He spent eight years as captain-coach of Cairns Brothers before joining Melbourne as development coach for 12 months and going on to coach the Storm's under-20s team for two years. ''One of the boys that I coached, Clint Zammit - who is now a player manager - was involved with Melbourne,'' Arthur said. ''He did a bit of scouting and every now and then I would do some skill training and drills for the Storm boys given scholarships in Cairns and he put my name forward to Craig Bellamy.''
Arthur helped oversee the transition of the likes of Jeremy Smith, Adam Blair, Sika Manu and Will Chambers into first grade players in his stint as development coach before coaching the Storm's 2009 premiership-winning under-20s team, which included Gareth Widdop, Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor. ''It was a really good apprenticeship and grounding for me to develop my coaching philosophies,'' Arthur said. ''The work ethic which Craig demanded and required from the staff rubbed off on the players. They get all the little things right and there is a real sense of accountability and responsibility from everyone.
''The thing about Craig is that he isn't selfish. He provides you with all the tools to make you a better coach and he doesn't hold back any of his secrets or his knowledge and what it takes to be a good NRL coach.''
After spending one season as Bellamy's direct assistant he followed Stephen Kearney to Parramatta for two years before switching to Manly to work with Geoff Toovey this year. Having sat next to arguably the most intense mentors in Bellamy and Toovey, the fire has been lit for Arthur. ''I've seen some good blow-ups from both of them,'' Arthur said. ''The boys in Melbourne used to call me Tummy Ache because I was just as fiery as Craig sometimes.''
