Heard this article mentioned on the radio today.
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The Australian said:
Stephen Kearney will need lots ot luck swimming with Eels
By Brent Read
Melbourne Storm assistant coach Stephen Kearney is walking into a political mire at Parramatta Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun
SO Stephen Kearney is the new coach of Parramatta. Well I have a message for him. Good luck.
Kearney has entered the vipers nest. Hes gone from one of the most stable clubs in the premiership, even allowing for the salary cap crisis which engulfed Melbourne this year, to one of its most volatile.
Over the past eight years, the Storm has had one coach Craig Bellamy. Kearney is Parramattas fifth coach in the same period. The Eels treat coaches like the rest of us treat disposable nappies.
They use them up and throw them out. Their ruthless attitude to coaches reached its nadir with the sacking of Daniel Anderson, Kearneys predecessor. Anderson took the club to a grand final last year. Less than 12 months later he was shown the door.
Shabby doesnt do it justice. The treatment of Anderson was a disgrace and had nothing to do with his coaching. And therein lies the other problem for Kearney dealing with Parramattas politics.
Regardless of what has been said, Andersons greatest crime was being appointed by former chief executive Denis Fitzgerald. The clubs toxic board, which deposed Fitzgerald, never got over that fact.
Chairman Roy Spagnolo has shown his colours. He promised Anderson his contract was safe and then presided over his sacking only five weeks later. Either Spagnolo was being flexible with the truth or he has little influence over his fellow directors.
The elastic use of the truth permeates the front office. The Australian had a suspicion Kearney was about to be confirmed as the Eels new coach on Friday.
So we rang chief executive Paul Osborne. We asked him directly whether the deal had been done. The answer was no. Was it close to being done? Again, no. Would it be complete before the grand final? You guessed it, no.
Lo and behold, the Storm sent out a press release on Saturday afternoon announcing Kearney had resigned to take the job at Parramatta. By my calculations, that was less than 24 hours after Osborne said nothing would happen until next week.
Either Kearney has seriously jumped the gun or Osborne and the Eels were being disingenuous. Most likely the latter I think.
This is the same chief executive mind you who went behind Andersons back to speak to Kearney two months ago. Then justified it by saying he didnt want to hurt his friendship with Anderson. With friends like that ... you know the rest.
The worry for Kearney is he could yet find himself in a similar position to Anderson. There is a group of former players at the Eels who are vacillating over whether to make a move on the existing board.
If they press ahead, and seize control, Kearney will suddenly be the coach appointed by the former board. Kearney is an honourable man and from all reports a quality coach. Lets hope he gets the respect he deserves. Anderson sure didnt.
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