Parramatta Eels star Mitchell Moses has revealed that he felt "helpless" on the sidelines while his mentor and coach for the past seven and half years, Brad Arthur, found himself sacked by the club.
Returning to the field from injury on Thursday night, Moses delivered a masterclass performance to take down the first-place Cronulla Sharks. However, as Moses and the Eels rejoiced in their first victory in nearly two months, one of the most important individuals in the halfback's football career was nowhere to be seen.
After making the 2022 Grand Final, Brad Arthur was terminated last week by the Eels after failing to reach the finals last season and having a turbulent start to this year - losing seven out of ten games.
Joining the Eels from the Wests Tigers in 2017, the relationship between Moses and Arthur was not just strong on the field but was even stronger away from the rugby league field.
"It was really hard, especially with what happened," Moses said on Arthur's sacking.
"I was helpless pretty much. The coach that I had for almost seven years, or however long it was since I'd come to the club.
"I had such a good relationship with him, and he taught me a lot about footy.
"I'm probably not the player I am today without him and it was pretty tough watching on the sidelines and being helpless and not being able to help at all and then to see what happened.
"But you know what, that's footy, and I just had to move on. We had to move on as a club...we're moving forward, and we've got to keep winning now that's all it is."
Insisting that the Eels now have to move on without Arthur, they recorded their first victory on Thursday without him for the first time in eleven seasons.
As many on the Eels roster try to cope without him at the helm and start a new path under interim coach Trent Barrett, Moses is not new to the situation. While still at the Wests Tigers, he was involved in a similar situation as the club moved from Mick Potter to Jason Taylor.
"Yeah, I had a chance to chat with him, but we had to move on quick. That's footy, and those things happen," he added.
"I've been in that situation before as well at the Tigers. It's tough, and you don't want to be in that situation, but you got to move on quick."
As Barret looks after the club in the meantime, it is understood that Jason Ryles and Josh Hannay have emerged as the likely front-runners to coach the Parramatta Eels for the 2025 season.
