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Opinion
The Eels are long-time losers of the ARL/NRL era of rugby league.
They have never even won a modern premiership, and thus they have never tasted victory when the stakes have been highest.
The club has remained forever impotent in the modern, fully professional and national epoch.
Of course, the Titans and Warriors have also never won a premiership among the existing clubs. These are expansion clubs with less concrete resources and without the lofty expectations historically.
The Eels are privileged historically as a prehistoric heartland super club, perpetually hyped by the NSW media advancing their folklore legends of the past.
In the last Eels’ premierships, which were semi-professional local competitions, there were no dominating Broncos, Cowboys or even Knights, for instance.
Comparable Queensland teams could have beat them in 1981, ’82, ’83 and ’86. Even the Sharks and new merged teams like the Dragons and Tigers have captured glory in the modern epoch.
Any Eels fans objecting to this reality must ask themselves would anyone but a deluded fanatic argue that the pre-Origin interstate battles between Queensland and NSW were equivalent to the glorious State of Origin victories of either state? Arthur Beetson was even playing heroically for NSW.
Even when the Eels last won, the players were semi-professional. The Eels’ glory existed when it was not ARL or NRL, and all the players worked full-time. Peter Sterling himself even worked at the leagues club and ran bingo halls full-time.
Is Brad Arthur the man to direct this organisation toward its maiden glory in the professional, full-time, modern powerhouse era? Or will he continue to deliver mediocrity not up to the standard of the modern NRL?
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
A classic Parramatta Eels joke perfectly captures their compounding pressure – a pressure felt heaviest by head coach Brad Arthur.
The Eels supporter says “we are told that the premiership glory is already seen at the horizon. What then is a horizon?”
Brad Arthur says “horizon is an imaginary line, which moves away each time you approach it.”
Unfortunately for the Eels, is Brad Arthur not a classic example of the famous Peter principle?
The Peter principle argues a competent employee will end up in a position of incompetence eventually. This outcome is inevitable, given enough time and enough positions in the hierarchy to which competent employees may be promoted.
Is the formerly great assistant coach Brad Arthur not a perfect example?
The Peter principle famously states a competent worker (or coach in Arthur’s case) will earn a promotion to a position requiring different skills.
Which promotion could be greater than from assistant coach to the head honcho as head coach? It is something requiring a whole new set of skills.
If this promotion provides an incompetent worker at the new level, then they will not be promoted again.
Self-described academic Anthony Seibold was a clear example of the Peter principle manifested in a candidate failing to live up to their hype as the initial objective choice.
Can Arthur escape his Peter principle fate and deliver glory? Only the Parramatta faithful believe so.
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