Stephen Kearney: Dead man walking
Roar Guru By Curtis Woodward, 7 May 2012 Curtis Woodward is a Roar Guru & Live Blogger
- Tagged:
- Nathan Hindmarsh, NRL, Parramatta Eels, Rugby League, Stephen Kearney
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Stephen Kearney’s critics have been sharpening their knives for weeks as the Parramatta Eels continue to crumble. On Friday night, the Eels were horrendous against Canterbury, losing 46-12.
If Kearney’s head wasn’t already on the chopping block, he damn sure is in the kitchen.
Let’s get one thing straight. This is one of the worst Parramatta sides we have ever seen. The Eels are so far behind every other club in the little areas its quite scary.
At times, the players look like they don’t care.
There are a lot of things wrong with the Eels and some of them aren’t Kearney’s fault. But you get the feeling the Parramatta coach has run out of ideas.
Kearney is a dead man walking and he knows it.
“We lack toughness to be able to push through a bit of a setback” he said at the post match press conference.
“I think when teams play against us there’s a bit of carry-over from last year and they think, ‘just hang in there and we’ll get them. They’ll self-destruct’.
“For me that’s as plain as it gets, for sure. We’ve got to toughen up and get through those periods, for sure.”
Under pressure and struggling for answers, Kearney has limited legendary backrower Nathan Hindmarsh’s playing time. This is despite Hindmarsh still giving his guts for the cause.
The skipper has also announced he will be hanging up his boots at the end of the year. Wouldn’t Hindmarsh want to be out there for every last second of every last match?
With the Eels leading after 30 minutes and the Bulldogs offloading at will, Ben Barba saw a gap and hit the turbo boosters.
If it was any other Eel, Barba would have been through and off for the prize. But it wasn’t any normal Eel. It was Hindmarsh. The former International somehow scrambled across, closed the gap and dragged Barba to the ground.
Hindmarsh was then taken from the field and all hell broke lose.
It isn’t all Kearney’s fault. The players are clearly to blame too. But you can’t sack an entire roster.
Hooker Matt Keating, a possible future Parramatta captain, wasn’t happy post match either.
“I don’t know if we are trying too hard” Keating said.
“There seems to be some boys that are trying and some that aren’t. Steve talks every week about doing your job, but we don’t seem to be doing that. We look away for one moment and it burns us.”
Kearney was seen in the sheds pre-game idly doodling on a clipboard. Perhaps he was writing up his résumé.
- Explore:
- Nathan Hindmarsh, NRL, Parramatta Eels, Rugby League, Stephen Kearney
May 7th 2012 @ 7:40am
oikee said | May 7th 2012 @ 7:40am | Report comment
The Eels need to dig in, getting rid of another coach wont do them any good, and being subject to pressure over the coach wont help either. They need to not talk to the media if it is about the coach. Time they stood tall for their club.
They have other issues that need sorting, board level, and they bought a half back who is not performing.
The younger players are doing pretty good, alot better than the young broncos started out a couple of years ago. I remember Yea Yow and young Macullouck making numerous mistakes, yet they persevered.
Anyhow, whatever happens happens. If they get rid of Kearney they dont have alot of options.
May 7th 2012 @ 8:03am
Jeff McGinn said | May 7th 2012 @ 8:03am | Report comment
who would be brave enough to destroy their reputation with this mob?.
May 7th 2012 @ 11:18am
Curtis Woodward said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:18am | Report comment
Kearney should have stayed in Melbourne under Bellamy and waited for another job. God couldnt save this side.
May 7th 2012 @ 8:07am
Ogy said | May 7th 2012 @ 8:07am | Report comment
The club needs change and that starts with the coach. End of story!
May 7th 2012 @ 11:46am
Nate Hornblower said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:46am | Report comment
what rubbish, how many coaches are Parramatta going to cycle through before they realise there has been a losing culture at this club since the 90′s. I feel for Parramatta fans, they must be the most infuriating team to support, so inconsistent.
One thing that would be interesting, Will Hopoate signed with Parra only because of Kearney and his long term vision. It surely would suck if by the time Hoppa gets to the Eels the coach who wooed him over was long gone.
Where they need to start with is the players, the buck stops with them! It’s about time they rid their hands of Jarred Hayne, his weak as piss performance on Friday was the last straw. He showed no heart and commitment to put his body on the line. He doesn’t even deserve a SOO jumper at this point.
May 7th 2012 @ 8:11am
Andy said | May 7th 2012 @ 8:11am | Report comment
Stephen Kearney was always going to be a gamble, being unproven at coaching nrl level. Unfortunately for the eels the gamble has not paid off and i think because of his chop and change attitude he no longer has the players on side. The Eels should look for a more experienced coach next time.
May 7th 2012 @ 9:56am
oikee said | May 7th 2012 @ 9:56am | Report comment
The Knights have a more experienced caoch, and look at that rabble. Mate you would not pay half those Knights players, they had no ideas how to score points. I was yelling at the TV for Boyd to pass the ball, he ran with it all game and did nothing, so i was screaming for him to pass the damm ball, he had nothing.
No way, i would rather be in Kearneys shoes than Bennetts. the knights are hopeless, at least the Eels are showing promise.
I would stick solid with Kearney. And listen to no one, i would be prepared to resign and put my career on the line over Kearney. If they hold their nerve, the Eels will come good next year.
May 7th 2012 @ 11:20am
Curtis Woodward said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:20am | Report comment
The Eels are showing promise?
May 7th 2012 @ 10:19am
hindy said | May 7th 2012 @ 10:19am | Report comment
get rid of hayne!
May 7th 2012 @ 10:23am
B.A Sports said | May 7th 2012 @ 10:23am | Report comment
To correct one point from your article;
“Let’s get one thing straight. This is one of the worst Parramatta sides we have ever seen”
On paper this is very wrong. There are six guys who have played International rugby league, Roberts, Moi Moi, Hayne, Hindmarsh, Maitua and Tonga. Mannah and Poore have played for NSW.
Here is an Eels line up from a random round in 2004;
Backs: McKinnon, Ben Smith, O’Dwyer, Burt, Peterson, Wagon, Thorman
Forwards: Pearson, Muspratt, Vella, Hindmarsh, Stapelton, Hopkins
Bench: Widders, Afamasaga, Peek, Tsoulos
And a random line up from 10 years earlier
Backs: Wayne Simonds, Iva Ropati, Buettner, Keith Blackett, Crnkovich, Darrell Williams, Galbraith
Forwards: Dunn, Tollett, Paul Clarke, Cameron Blair, Marty McKenzie, Chris King
Bench: Howlett, Casey, Roberts, McPhail
(first names used for starting players whoreaders conceivably never heard of)
This Eels team may not be a premiership callibre team but they should be a top 8 team.
So to the coach.
Why do you pull your best defensive player, a forward, from the field after 20 minutes when the opposition is walking through the middle of the field using short passes to move the forwards around. And your one player with over 12,000 career tackles, who you know never dies on the play and who, most importantly is the one player in that team who has some pride in his performance. He sits on the bench while the opposition rack up 30.
Why do you start on the bench, the guy charged with being the on-field organizer, the guy who has more to prove than anyone after being embarrassingly dropped. And you sit him on the bench until you are down by 30?
If Kearney has any spuds in his duds, using the criteria that he sent Sandow to the NSW Cup, he will send Hayne to Wenty as well. The guy ran for over 150m on Friday night. That sounds good, but the two underlying facts from that are: – He is out of position on kicks so has to return the ball back further and two, he had one tackle bust. If Hayne is running the ball 17 times in a game, he should be breaking 10 tackles – if he is having a go.
And finally to sum up the Eels situation. – I also heard Keating referred to as a future captain of the club. The guy would be a bench hooker at just about every other club in the NRL. Is slow to far too many rucks and throws loopy passes.
May 7th 2012 @ 11:23am
Curtis Woodward said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:23am | Report comment
Those other Eels side you mentioned would beat this Eels side.
May 7th 2012 @ 12:34pm
B.A Sports said | May 7th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
The team that had Hopkins, Stapelton and Peek in it would, but not because they are better players, but because they had a lot of pride in their performance. That 04 team also used players like the corpse of Adam Dykes, Michael Witt, Jake Webster Mal Kaufusi, Junior Langi and Wise Kativerata in the centre’s. I think Daniel Tracey and Ben Duckworth may have even got a start in that team… or that may have been the following year, not sure.
They also had a better, although also much maligned, coach…
May 7th 2012 @ 1:28pm
Renegade said | May 7th 2012 @ 1:28pm | Report comment
After having a look at B.A sports post….no i don’t think the other sides would beat the current mob.
This is the strongest competition the NRL has ever seen and there has to be a team that finishes last and as a result of that unfortunately someone has to cop the blame.
May 7th 2012 @ 10:30am
Matt F said | May 7th 2012 @ 10:30am | Report comment
It’s getting harder and harder to defend Kearney now. That being said it would be extremely naive to pin the blame completely on the coach. The playing roster that Parramatta have is seriously poor and theredoes appear to be some serous attitude problems as well. A club can only go through so many coaches before the players need to step up and take responsibility.
May 7th 2012 @ 11:08am
Jeff McGinn said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:08am | Report comment
Wow Matt… sense at last.. the last three coches ‘died’ at Parramatta, the problem is far deeper than ‘The Coach’
May 7th 2012 @ 11:15am
LeftArmSpinner said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:15am | Report comment
I don’t think that the recriminations will do any good or achieve anything.
League is a simple game, but requires everyone to do their job. So, the previous game was the final game of the 2012 season. The first trial of the 2013 season is this week end. Now, they must start building for the 2013 season.
All bets are off. So, you either do as I ask and coach you to do, or you will not be selected next week.actually very simple. Players will be released mid season if they continue to fail. Surely the parramatta juniors and players out of the other Toyota cup teams coming off contract can provide a base of youth from which to fashion and build a dynasty.
Make it clear to to the fans that this is what you are doing and then get on and do it. Be tough on the no dickheads rule and have one standard for all. Just ask sir Alex ferguson if this is the best approach and if it works”…………..,
May 7th 2012 @ 11:31am
Andrea said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:31am | Report comment
Soulnds like a good plan. May wake up some of these boys and get their attitudes readjusted. Drop the whole team and bring up their under 20′s . Make them realise that they are part of the problem. Just may see a win!
May 7th 2012 @ 11:36am
turbodewd said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:36am | Report comment
The first thing Kearney needs to do is ensure Hayne is not at fullback, his defense is terrible. Its no wonder Parra has been bad for 3 seasons in a row, he is lazy or has poor game sense. He is never in the right place to pull of some sort of defensive effort. Im sure the guy can tackle…hes just never around to do it.