Meanwhile back in the real world
AS Ricky Stuart returns to his Suncorp Stadium graveyard Friday night with one hand on the NRL wooden spoon it is hard to believe the Parramatta coach is not a dead man walking.
For all the coaches under the microscope this season, Stuart has been the protected species.
This is despite failing to find any improvement in a Parramatta side almost certain to become the first club since South Sydney in 2003-2004 to claim back-to-back wooden spoons.
Sandow headed to Barba clinic
In fact, if not for last week’s 26-22 win over the equally inept Wests Tigers, Stuart would have created unwanted rugby league history by becoming the first coach ever to lose 11 consecutive matches at two different clubs.
Talk about spreading the Midas touch.
Is Ricky Stuart a protected species? Picture: Mark Evans
Former coach Stephen Kearney copped the blame of Parramatta’s woes in 2012 but as we have seen this year - with five 30-plus floggings - the Eels are no better off with Stuart at the helm and are still two wins shy of the six victories they produced last year and in 2011.
His overall NRL record is now 120 wins, 120 losses and 1 draw from 241 games.
But since 2009 Stuart-coached football teams have won just 14 of their past 61 games.
To stop the slide and buy time from a dysfunctional board, Stuart plans to sack half the roster and start again.
But his biggest name signing next year is Bronco Corey Norman, who is now struggling in Queensland Cup, while the likes of Gareth Hock, Josh Papalii and Israel Folau all agreed to joint the Eels but subsequently changed their minds.
Parramatta Eels focused on avoiding the wooden spoonParramatta Eels players say they are focused on making sure they avoid winning the 2013 wooden spoon.(0:53 / 5.3MB)
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Two years ago he was labelled NSW’s messiah, but he never delivered a trophy and returned back to the NRL where his coaching record now stands at just one finals appearance in his last seven seasons.
In four years at Cronulla, Stuart got the Sharks to the finals just once, flogged by Melbourne in the 2008 preliminary final.
A decade ago Stuart was considered a coaching genius.
He took the Sydney Roosters to the premiership in his debut season after inheriting a star-studded team that had made six successive finals and were runners-up under Graham Murray two years earlier.
He won a 2005 Origin series with NSW but it all fell apart when sacked as Kangaroos Test coach for presiding over Australia’s shock 2008 World Cup final loss here at Lang Park.
Ricky Stuart says player contracts are sticky situationParramatta coach Ricky Stuart has called for the NRL to act quickly to stop the growing trend of players wanting out of contracts on compas...(2:27 / 13.8MB)
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It was the first time since 1972 Australia had not won the World Cup, but it was his verbal abuse of referee Ashley Klein that made his job untenable.
It proved what Queensland fans have long known, that Stuart is the biggest whinger in the game.
That reputation only grew with an expletive-laden spray of referees on the Gold Coast in round six and after a repeat outburst in round 15 his coaching career fines total almost $100,000.
The game’s deepest thinker might have deep pockets but success has been shallow pickings in Queensland, his last trip to Suncorp ending in tears thanks to Cooper Cronk’s miracle field goal in the 2012 Origin decider.
It was the seventh straight loss Stuart had suffered coaching in Brisbane, his last victory coming as Test coach in 2007.
He might have missed the Origin pain with NSW four weeks ago, but on Friday night the Broncos can hand Stuart his own eight straight Lang Park defeats.
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RICKY'S RECORD
Roosters
02 Premiers
03 Lost grand final to Penrith
04 Lost grand final to Bulldogs
05 11 wins, 13 losses (46%, finished 9th)
06 8 wins, 16 losses (33%, 14th)
Sharks
07 10 wins, 14 losses (42%, 11th)
08 Prelim finalists
09 5 wins, 19 losses (21%, 15th)
Eels
13 4 wins, 16 losses (20%, currently 16th)
NRL career: 120 wins, 120 losses, 1 draw (50%)
NSW
05, 11-12 4 wins, 5 losses (44%)
AUSTRALIA
06-08 10 wins, 1 loss (08 World Cup final)
1 finals appearance last 7 years
http://m.couriermail.com.au/sport/n...uart-untouchable/story-fniabng4-1226698016315
