I applaud Kearney for having the honesty and class to admit that he wasn't the right man for the job. In my humble opinion, the coaching position at Parramatta is THE hardest job in rugby league - our club can be poorly run at times, and its massive, passionate supporter base [rightfully] accepts nothing less than the best. It is a very big ask for a rookie coach to come into all this and have success in a relatively short period of time.
I think that overall, Kearney's tenure here was a failure, but he did do some great things for us. Possibly the biggest challenge he faced was trying to do everything himself at this nutcase of a club - it's tough enough to coach in the NRL, but factor in player management, lower grades infrastructure, etc. and it's a big deal, and the pressure undoubtedly got to him.
I agreed with Kearney's idea that the squad needs to learnt o play disciplined, grinding footy. I think the team tends to play better when they play ad lib football - however, teaching them to play simple, boring, mistake-free football, like Melbourne, is key to becoming successful. I don't think it's a secret that we've struggled to grind out games for some time now (with the odd rare exception). His tactic of trying to get us to learn to be disciplined and grind out games was correct, in my eyes, but for whatever reason, it didn't take.
For all the good and all the bad, Kearney is not an Eel anymore, but he did do some good things to help us and I appreciate it. He gave some talented youngsters a go, attracted some quality players to the club and began the clean-out of our playing ranks. I wish him the best.
