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'I've got no reason to leave': Eels coach stands his ground

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Parramatta coach Brad Arthur says his commute to work would be the envy of most people in Australia as he laughed off reports linking him with a move away from the Eels.

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“I’ve got no reason to leave,” Arthur said on Tuesday. “I drive seven minutes to work. I think everyone would love to drive seven minutes to work and work for Parramatta.”

Reports surfaced on Monday that Arthur’s management firm, Pacific Sports Management, had offered his services to a rival NRL club despite the fact he is contracted to the Eels until the end of 2024.

Arthur labelled the speculation as “funny”.

Canterbury remain without a head coach for next year while there is long-term uncertainty about the head coaching positions at St George Illawarra, Gold Coast and Newcastle.

Arthur has been at the Eels since 2014 but has yet to break the club’s quest for their first premiership since 1986.

“I’m nine years into my job and at some stage every year there’s a question mark around whether I’m the right coach moving forward,” he said.

“It’s just part and parcel of a job that’s results driven.”

Exploring his options now could be a smart move for Arthur. His stock is still high given he has finished in the top eight in four of the last five seasons.

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When they are firing Parramatta are one of the most entertaining and dominant teams in the competition.

This season they have a 11-6 record and sit in sixth spot.

Improving on that beyond 2022 could be more challenging with Isaiah Papalii, Marata Niukore and Reed Mahoney all leaving the Eels at the end of this year.

“This (2022 season) is our best opportunity (at winning a premiership) that I’ve had since being here,” Arthur said.

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“Does it mean it (our premiership window) is shutting? I don’t believe so. We’ve got a lot of good young blokes coming through.”

The knock on Arthur has been his inability to get his side peaking at the right time of the year and that the Eels have often floundered in the big games.

Ahead of Thursday’s home game with Brisbane, the Eels coach has taken his side to the Central Coast to recharge ahead of the remaining six weeks of the season where they will hope to jump into the NRL’s top four.

“We’re in a better position right now than we were this time last year,” Arthur added.

“We still haven’t played our best footy, our besty footy is ahead of us.”

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J
JW 58 minutes ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

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