Parra's players deserved more but Brad Arthur has done enough to remain as Eels coach

I thought Waqa Blake played great since he moved to left centre. It was just the fact that him and Ferguson defending together on that right edge never worked out.

No MK, your coach is safe .... maybe a couple of X factor players but keep the coach

Assessing a coach's performance / future is a lot more nuanced than setting an arbitrary test (making week 3 of the finals) before the season starts. It's a 26 week competition. There are some very good teams. There are injuries. Suspensions. Dips in form. State of origin. Talent is unearthed. Teams have to play in a bubble. You'll never make it to week 3 if you don't get to week 2. Brad Arthur has done a great job building a genuine top 5 team with the roster he has at his disposal.

Hi Mary, I have been in and off the dump Arthur wagon a few times now, but am not 100% sure if that is the right option still. As has been mentioned, has he got the best out of the roster he has, or is this the best he can do with said roster? That is the tough question that I am not sure can be answered. We are definitely lacking that game breaking player though, and until we get one I think we won't do much better. Turbo, Teddy, Papa, those players take those games like Saturday night and turn them in their teamd favour. Joey Manu is the available player that would help, but can we afford him? Other than that the squad is good. Dylan Brown is starting to show what he can do and we saw what Mahoney was capable of earlier in the year. We probably play this Saturday if he isn't injured. Maybe another big body impact player in the bench too, we lose a bit when Junior and RCG go off, and Lane and Matto aren't middles. What I would like to see is a change in the assistant coaches. Kidwell needs to go as defensive coach. Ex Parra players like Cayless and Burt are highly regarded. Give Arthur the final year of his contract at this stage, but give him more help. If no improvement through next year look at a new head coach.

Parramatta fans also remember the Brian Smith years where consistently competitive was rather frustrating without ever winning the comp. Then we went through more than a decade of debacle after debacle. Kearny and Stuart spring to mind. It was through those years we would have traded back the Brian Smith years for anything. I’d rather see Parra stick with Arther and dump all efforts to find that missing piece. As above I think a Manu replacing Waqa would be the first one I’d try.

I can’t help but think that a trade of Waqa Blake for Joey Manu could be the missing piece of the puzzle. Doing so without blowing up the whole Roster, keeping he ones we want to keep without paying overs is also tricky to pull off.

Arthur had a good season. They played some nice footy, toppled the Storm on 2 occasions and were in the mix. They'd beat Penrith in a best of 3 series imo. I'd be excited about next season if I were an Eels fan.

If they stick with Brad, he needs to employ some assistant coaches with some clout. The top clubs and top coaches, surround themselves with people good enough be a head coach. The have an entire pre season to change a defensive system that hasn't worked for 8 years. They also need to have a look at their attacking shape, it's pretty one dimensional. They've got the roster, but I don't know if they've got the coach/coaches.

Mary thanks for your sensible article. I was gutted after the game last Saturday night but equally very proud of the team and Brad and his coaching group. I quit the Parra Facebook page earlier this year because I was sick and tired of the “sack Brad” brigade. When I look back over the season, I agree that Parra is on an upward trend. Something that has not been specifically mentioned is that Parra against Melbourne, beat them twice and when we fielded our strongest teams available, whilst we lost to Penrith, it was by a combined 3 points! We have a fantastic nucleus of experienced and emerging players which ensures I am already looking forward to 2022. I hope the players emulate the playing group of the early 80s and stay with the Eels in the face of bigger offers which are inevitable for 2023. Go the mighty EELS!

Gutho should be offered a contract downgrade, there is no question about it. If he is on 800k, then that puts him on elite player money. Offer him 600k, no more. Where are the counter offers going to come from? Manly, Melbourne, Souths, Easts, Newcastle, and Warriors are all no. Penrith couldn't fit him in. Sharks and Tigers have younger, cheaper fullbacks and using the money elsewhere. Canberra don't spend big money. Gold Coast have Campbell and Brinson, both on less. Brisbane have young players they have trying to fit in the role. Dogs have spent plenty elsewhere. No one knows Dragons policy. That leaves North Qld (only if they don't re-sign Holmes) and Parra. That leaves him with no offer but Parra. If someone wants to overspend and offer him more then let them. They did it with Nathan Brown, do it again Dufty had one offer, there are other players like him. You are offering them minimum wage, no more. It's not like you are signing them for 400 then dumping them to Wenty.

The problem continues to be our attention to detail, or to be more precise, the lack thereof, and that’s on BA. Little things like poor passing out of dummy half from our wingers or tacklers being left on the ground and not hauling arse back into the line or poor kick chase. These little things all add up and we are still one of the worst in the league at them. I love BA, but I’m sick of hearing about effort, effort is a prerequisite for having an NRL contract, you don’t get extra credit for that. What I want to hear from BA is demand for better execution, and not just the stock standard “We need to be better”, I want to see the improvement in execution, I want to see players held accountable for the same poor execution, I’m looking at you Shaun Lane and your feet for hands, and in reality we haven’t seen that under BA. I won’t hold my breath.

The Eels were in a position for most of the year to comfortably finish in the top 4 and get a shot at automatically qualifying for the preliminary final, and to get the crucial week off ahead of that game. But they blew it. The coach has to take some measure of blame for that. The inconvenient truth is that the Eels fell off a cliff towards the end of the season, losing 5 of their last 7 games of the regular season, including 4 consecutive losses between rounds 19 - 22. Their aggregate score during that period as Opposition 202 vs Eels 92. In 3 straight weeks against the Roosters, the Rabbitohs and the Sea Eagles the aggregate score was Opposition 124 vs Eels 22. Losing games so close to the finals is not the preparation required for premiership success, but losing 28-0, 40-12 and 56-10 indicates a side that was never in the contest and not in calculations for the premiership title. Again that IS on the coach to a very large extent but shared with the players as well. You can't just turn that around in a couple of weeks with two decent performances against the competition leaders. The Eels need to realise that they have to build to finish the season at their best. The Eels have the spine and the forwards to get the job done but their halves in particular are more flat track bullies who like to play to the best of their potential when sides have rolled over and gone belly up, but they go missing when they are needed and that leaves a team badly in need of direction in tatters. Moses is talented, but he lacks the focus and motivation to impose himself on games when the going gets tough against the best teams in the competition. Goodness knows the Eels forwards gave their playmakers enough of a platform against the Panthers, but their halves never fired a shot. That plus the fact that Reed Mahoney was a HUGE loss, and it showed. But WHY, WHY, WHY play a fringe back rower with only 24 first-grade games under his belt into dummy half and submit him to that kind of pressure? Surely Will Smith was the player that had to fill the void left by Mahoney? THAT call is on Brad Arthur. It could well have been the single biggest contributing factor in the Eels loss to the Panthers... after the Panthers cheating, which the officials chose not to notice.

All I'm saying is that we should stick with the core group of players, sure if we could get a good outside back then yeah cool, but expecting Gutho to take a contract downgrade and stay and then buying Dufty and if he doesn't work then send him to Wentys....... did you used to recruit for St George, anyway I don't know who's going to come through as I don't have a crystal ball and there has been plenty of talent through the club in the last decade :thumbup:

Yep, plenty talking about x-factor players, but the Eels have one. He just happened to be injured for last weeks game

I think Dylan Brown needs to get a better feel for when to run/pass/kick in the crunch moments. He loses his head a little under pressure, maturity should help with that though...

I reckon this year was the perfect year. If Mahoney was there the window would have been even more open.

Mary, my comment re "something went wrong so sack the coach" wasn't exactly aimed at Parramatta but a more general comment to describe those clubs that constantly make the coach the scapegoat and sack them on a recurring basis to paper over other cracks in the club. I guess I was thinking more of clubs like the Tigers and Cronulla though Para have been guilty of this in the past. A good coach needs time and security of tenure as a minimum if a club is to secure long term benefit. As I said, I think Brad is doing a good job and the Eels would be crazy to get rid of him.