Brad Arthur’s future as Eels coach is looking more bleak by the round after revelations that club officials refused to allow star signing Zac Lomax to tie his contract to the besieged mentor.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Lomax requested a condition of his signing with Parramatta for 2025 onwards on a four-year deal was a clause that made him a free agent if Arthur was given the boot.
However, Eels officials refused the request and the St George Illawarra winger ended up inking the deal recently.
Arthur is contracted until the end of next year but with the team struggling and speculation swirling about Wayne Bennett potentially being targeted to take over at the helm, pressure is growing at Parra.
The Eels coach has admitted he needs to get the team winning again to keep his job with the side sitting 14th and questions being asked around Arthur’s future.
They went down in controversial circumstances to Manly on Friday night and have the bye this round before hosting the in-form Broncos next Friday night.
The charges to Daly Cherry-Evans and Haumole Olakau’autu for a dangerous throw, even though the skipper wasn’t sin-binned, frustrated the Eels, who were fuming over several key calls in their 32-18 loss on Friday night.
Parramatta are fuming at why Cherry-Evans did not join Olakau’atu in the bin for the first-half tackle, if he was equally at fault.
The match review committee report was good for Parramatta – Maika Sivo and Ryan Matterson can both accept fines for dangerous contact and a high tackle respectively.
Sivo was sin-binned for his dangerous contact on Reuben Garrick, while Matterson’s high hit on Luke Brooks in the first half went unpunished.
Jack Hetherington has broken his silence on his infamous tunnel confrontation with Canterbury’s Reed Mahoney, describing the Bulldogs hooker as a ‘little smart a–e’.
Hetherington was handed a one-match suspension for contrary conduct after shoving Mahoney in the Accor Stadium tunnel after the pair were sin-binned late in the Bulldogs’ win over the Knights.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Hetherington expressed regret for his ‘stupid’ actions, but also hit back at Mahoney and teammate Jaeman Salmon, describing them as on-field ‘pests’.
“I hate a little smart a–e who runs in like he does,” the Knights enforcer said.
“They [Mahoney and Salmon] were like little pests – like little Chihuahuas… but that doesn’t mean I should have done what I did.”
Hetherington admitted he was ‘actually expecting to get a bit longer than a week’ for the incident with Mahoney, confirming that while he was frustrated with the Bulldog, the shove was ‘lighthearted’.
“If I had my time again, I would not have done it. They could have made an example of me even if it was lighthearted,” he said.
While the 27-year old has a chequered history of on-field misdemeanours, this was his first suspension since 2021.
Hetherington will be available for the Knights when they take on the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.
(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
The already injury-ravaged Dolphins could be without the Bromwich brothers -Jesse and Kenny – next week after they were injured in the 18-14 loss to Newcastle.
Dolphins captain and prop forward Jesse Bromwich finished Sunday’s clash at Suncorp Stadium with ice on his right calf while second-rower Kenny Bromwich failed an HIA in the first half after sustaining a category two concussion.
Kenny faces a mandatory 11-day stand down unless the Dolphins appeal to the NRL and have that overturned, as some clubs have successfully achieved recently.
Queensland representatives Thomas Flegler (shoulder) and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (hamstring) won’t be available for Saturday night’s away clash with North Queensland. Neither will England international centre Herbie Farnworth (AC joint).
Jesse Bromwich confirmed his calf injury after the loss.
“It is a bit sore and tender but I will get scans. I haven’t had a calf tear before,” he said.
“It doesn’t feel like a tear. It is either a bad cork or a little strain. If not (I will play) next week or the week after.
“I’m hoping I will be fine next week but (injuries) seem to be the story of our season. We’ve had a few guys get injured and guys come in and do a great job.”
Veteran second-rower Felise Kaufusi (hamstring) has a chance of a comeback against the Cowboys.
In better news, Samoan international back-rower Connelly Lemuelu played his first game in two months for Norths Devils in the Queensland Cup on return from a medial collateral ligament injury sustained in round one of the NRL.
“I am pretty sure we get Felise back next week and Connelly Lemuelu and they are two forwards we could do with,” Bromwich said.
“I spoke to a few boys who went and watched Connelly play yesterday and he was looking really good and really fit.
“He’s been doing a lot of training on his own and has joined the (NRL) team (at training) the last week-and-a-half and looks lean and ready to go.”
The Dolphins are in sixth position after round eight despite their injury list, and although they started poorly against the Knights they did finish with typical conviction.
They are yet to lose back-to-back games this year and Bromwich said there would be much to play for against the Cowboys, after a dismal 43-18 loss in round one.
Bromwich backed coach Wayne Bennett to come up with a solution to the Knights loss.
“We put a lot of trust in Wayne. Next week we worry about ourselves and figure out how we get back to our best footy and sort out all the injuries,” Bromwich said.
“We are coming up against a pretty tough Cowboys outfit that put a score on us in round one. We are looking to bounce back. We have improved since then. We have shown that.”
with AAP
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The pressure continues to rise on Brad Arthur at Parramatta after his side slumped to a 30-14 defeat to Brisbane despite a mountain of…
Every sacked NRL coach can point to a string of injuries precipitating the form slump which eventually cost them their job. While he took…
Coaching jobs in the NRL don’t get much bigger than South Sydney. Jason Demetriou, sacked this week, knew that and accepted it at every…
Parramatta have suffered another body blow with the news that Clint Gutherson is to miss over a month of footy after having minor surgery…
Brad Arthur must wonder what he has to say to his team anymore. With his job under huge pressure, his Parramatta side managed to…
