Parramatta have put contract negotiations with head coach Brad Arthur on hold until June, giving the embattled coach until mid-season to prove himself.
Arthur has been at the Eels for five years, but The Australian reports that CEO Bernie Gurr is not yet convinced he is the man to lead the club into the future.
โThe reality is that the board and I have considered what is fair and reasonable,โ Gurr told The Australian.
โSo we want to put a set time frame around that. That has been discussed with Brad.
โWhat we think is that by saying we will review it in June, that provides a fair time period to demonstrate improved performance in the footy team.
โThat is only fair to Brad, his coaching staff and the players. They have an opportunity to demonstrate improved performance.โ
Parramatta were wooden spooners in 2018, rooted to the foot of the table after managing just six wins.
However, some pressure will have been relieved from Arthur as the Eels begun their 2019 campaign with a win over the Panthers on Sunday.
Parramatta will look to build some positive momentum when they face the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium this Sunday.
Really great way to incentivise the coach to achieve in a positive and rewarding environment.
Arthur probably walked out of that meeting and immediately rang his agent to get him to look for another gig.
What did you expect them to do? It is a results based position and they have now given him the opportunity to get results for a potential extension of his contract even though most were surprised to see him survive the review of the football department at the end of 2018.
There is only two great coaches in the NRL , Robinson and Bellamy, the others are over the hill, has beens. or rookies.
Dangle the carrot don’t wave the stick.
I would have to agree woody however I would like to see what Robinson does when the chips are down. I would like to see him get a few youngsters or journey men and turn them into stars before putting him in the same class as bellamy. To date, he has simply bought the best money can buy.
A lot of clubs seem to be under absolute epic delusion on their status, these days. What do they expect from the Parramatta roster? There are only 8 finals spots available.
I agree and I have no problem in putting a season review into the contract of any coach but to come out and say we aren’t going to discuss contracts till June when we can see how your going is saying in a very loud voice “We have no confidence in you”
And I do not agree, Woody. There is only one great coach in the NRL and that is Bellamy.
His track record and the performances he gets out of players puts him far far above any other coach.
The roosters roster is good, it remains to be seen what Robinson can do when he is dealing with a transition period.
Didn’t realise you’d already said this. To me, Bellamy will go down as the greatest coach ever, the way he is going.
I will say that they probably should not have discussed it with the media, it should have remained in-house.
Also, they aren’t actually waving the stick as you say. They have said that if they see improved performance in the footy team they will restart discussions of a contract extension. That is a perfectly fair and reasonable path to take.
I remember a couple of years back when Paul Green was being touted as the best coach in the comp. That was before last year of course. You really need a decade to see what a coach is really made of and you rarely see that sort of continuity these days. Bellamy is best when he has a long term coaching position where he can build and motivate players to play how he wants. That is why he failed at Origin, totally unsuited to that sort of short term coaching with a given team. But put him in an NRL job …..
Griffen will lead the Eels in 2020, if not before!!!
WoodDuck, go away and give the site some credibility, you one eyed oxygen thief!
Rucky, I find your comments interesting.
“Really great way to incentivise the coach to achieve in a positive and rewarding environment”
“Dangle the carrot donโt wave the stick.”
What makes you think it’s a “negative”, other than the headline for this article, “Eels put head coach Brad Arthur on notice” and/or the writers interpretation?
Everyone, including BA knows he’s off contract at the end of year, how we performed last season etc etc, and the club has made it clear to him when they will review it. I think everyone, incl. BA, would understand the club hasn’t made a decision as yet, which probably should be seen as a positive, given he hasn’t already been judged on last year’s performance alone.
How often would the headline be “we stand by “x” (the coach/player etc), whilst the inks drying on their replacement’s contract?
I firmly believe, but admit I don’t know anything anyone else doesn’t, that our board are genuine when they say his contract will be assessed mid year, and I also believe they will be fair in their assessment (won’t be based purely on ladder position, but will be about BA’s potential to build a strong team from here).
I still back BA, and I back the board to perform a fair assessment, so I’m hoping we perform well enough to warrant an extension of BA’s contract, but bottom line, it’s now up to BA, and the team, to show us the light at the end of the tunnel.
He shouldn’t be the only one on notice, the achieve nothing McGregor has had 5 years to prove his mettle and we still struggle to make 8. Should have made a play for Madge last year, a hard man to stop the rot and not part of our system. Homegrown coaches have achieved nothing for us since the 70’s.
Do you remember 2016 when we had no players?
I would liked to have seen him coach an Origin team HE got to pick rather than being told this is who is playing
All Melbourne teams have been big name teams. My point is Robinson with good teams over the first 6 years of his career compared to Belemay’s first 6 years has him in the same greatness if not better than Bellamy’s record. Remember Bellamy coached during that period when they cheated the cap for 4 seasons. Robinson is defiantly one of the best.