Whilst Melbourne Storm assistant Jason Ryles and Cronulla Sharks assistant Josh Hannay remain the favourites to secure the head coaching position at the Parramatta Eels, another candidate has been endorsed by a Sydney Swans legend.
Taking over the reins from Brad Arthur in an interim role, Trent Barrett remains hopeful that he can continue in the role next season despite previously exiting early at former clubs he coached at for the Manly Sea Eagles and Canterbury Bulldogs.
While Barrett has declared that he wants to become the full-time coach of the Eels, he has earned the endorsement of former Sydney Swans premiership coach Paul Roos.
Although he is known in the AFL realm, Roos previously worked closely alongside Brad Arthur and has been advising Barret in recent weeks.
โWithout giving away too much about what was said, the way Trent spoke pre-game was very impressive,โ Roos toldย The Herald.
โThe way he described how the Bulldogs were going to play was exactly how it played out. I was super impressed. Very analytical, broke the game down well, and very calm. That's what stood out to me the most.
โI had a great relationship with BA [Arthur], but Trent has a real presence about him. And you can just see the respect he has from the players.โ
While Barrett has earned the endorsement of Roos and former New Zealand All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, current Parramatta Eels forward J'maine Hopgood has backed Josh Hannay.
Speaking toย AAPย after Queensland's victory over the NSW Blues in Game 1 of the 2024 State of Origin series, Hopgood was confident that Hannay would be comfortable in an NRL head coaching position.
"Of course I'm going to say that," he told AAP.
"I'm not too sure what direction (the Eels) are going. If that's one, then yeah, 'Head' is doing a good job. But it's above my pay grade."
"He's easygoing, he's easy to have conversations with, which is a good thing," he added.
"But he's also very footy-smart at the same time. He's spent a fair bit of time as an assistant coach at different places."
It is understood that Barrett and Hannay are among the shortlist of candidates for the Eels head coaching role, which also includes Jason Ryles, Michael Cheika and Brian McDermott.
