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Another NRL game, another loss for the Parramatta Eels. The Eels are now four losses from four games so far this year, the only NRL team yet to win a match.
They are coming off a season where they finished third last, just one point from the wooden spoon. Their record under Stephen Kearney is six wins, one draw and 21 losses.
For a traditionally strong and proud club with a huge junior base, this is unacceptable.
While Parramatta has been without the impact of their talismanic fullback Jarryd Hayne this season, this does not explain their weak defence and tepid tackling.
The Eels have been devoid of ideas in attack and demonstrated woeful defending on the edges, the team letting through more traffic than the Harbour Bridge on a Monday morning.
Parramatta’s insipid displays are mounting up, and so is the frustration of its large fanbase. The Eels are playing with a poor attitude, leading to questions over Kearney. Has he lost the trust and belief of the playing squad?
It is reported that Kearney will be telling long-term and experienced icons of the club, Nathan Hindmarsh and Luke Burt, as well as veterans Shane Shackleton and Justin Poore, that their services will not be required in 2013.
Shackleton, apologised to Kearney after he criticised the coach on Facebook, posting: “Kearney is F******” when asked why he wasn’t part of the NRL side.
Parramatta has a recent history of firing coaches. Daniel Anderson was punted after leading the club to the 2009 grand final after his first year at the helm. He got the axe a year after the Eels went down to the Storm in that match, with former Storm assistant Kearney taking over for the 2011 season.
Kearney had started his coaching career as an assistant under Craig Bellamy in Melbourne in 2006. In 2008 he was named as coach of the New Zealand national side, and in that year with Wayne Bennett at his side he led the Kiwis to a Rugby League World Cup win. In 2010 New Zealand also took out the Four Nationals final against the Kangaroos.
Kearney has been unable to replicate his success at international level in the NRL. Whether it’s the absence of Wayne Bennett or a weaker playing squad, his NRL results have been woeful.
The losing situation under Kearney cannot continue. Some fans are already clamoring for the appointment of legendary former Eels five-eighth Brett Kenny. He coached the Penrith Panthers under 20 Jersey Flegg Cup side to a premiership back in 2006, before being axed. In 2010 Kenny became the coach of the Wentworthville Magpies, the Eels feeder club, in the NSW Cup competition.
The Magpies finished sixth in that season but Kenny was later sacked as coach. Some insiders pointed at him “losing the dressing room” at Wentworthville. Kenny is passionate about the Eels and revered by fans when he was a player, but is of course unproven at NRL level.
Parramatta’s dramas at board level in recent years and the trouble tenure of Paul Osbourne as CEO has hardly help. Neither has some shocking recruitment. I believe since the defection of Noel Cleal to Manly, the Eels recruitment has gone backwards.
Many talented juniors have gone to other clubs, Trent Hodkinson and Jamie Buhrer among them, while Parramatta have made some shocking signings. The ill-fated trio of Carl Webb, Chris Walker and Paul Whatuira was a case in point last year.
A loss this weekend, when the Eels face Manly, could surely signal the end of Kearney’s Parra career. The club must soon decide if it can give Kearney a bit more time, or put its 2012 semi finals aspirations clearly to bed and start planning for the future.
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