Eels coach Brad Arthur has been sacked effective immediately and in a stunning twist it can be revealed that Parramatta entered talks with Wayne Bennett but were turned down.
Parramatta was secretly talking to Bennett over the last four weeks in an effort to flip him from signing with the Rabbitohs. The club’s approach to the master coach was rejected.
Bennett was having conversations with Eels chairman Sean McElduff, while also continuing negotiations with the Rabbitohs.
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During the top secret talks, Bennett told the Eels that he had “unfinished business with the Rabbitohs”.
The master coach told Parramatta he would prefer to link with Souths as he is familiar with the club after coaching them for three years from 2019-2021, finishing up with the Rabbitohs after narrowly losing the 2021 grand final to the Panthers.
Bennett is a free agent in 2025 and has been open with his interest in returning to Souths, who have offered him a three-year deal.
The talks with Bennett started as pressure mounted on Arthur, Parramatta’s long-term coach, with the Eels deciding to cut ties with him after a heavy Magic Round loss to the Storm.
On Monday afternoon the club released a statement, dropping a bombshell on the NRL.
It said Arthur’s contract had been terminated “effective immediately”.
“It was the view of the Board and CEO that the progress of our NRL team has stalled,” the statement said.
“Our goal is to win premierships and it is time for the club to go in a new direction.”
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Assistant coach Trent Barrett, who has previously coached Manly and the Bulldogs will take Arthur’s job in an interim capacity.
The Eels are now on the hunt for a coach for 2025 and beyond and their pursuit of Bennett indicates that only a top quality candidate will do.
However, it wasn’t long ago that the club was convinced Arthur was the man to take them back to the promised land for the first time since the 80s, and he put them on the precipice less than two years ago.
Arthur had the loyalty of many of his players and in the end it was perhaps two cruel injury blows to his biggest stars that sealed his fate.
First Mitchell Moses went down with a fractured left foot, then captain Clinton Gutherson was sidelined by a knee injury.
With their two best players off the field, Parramatta were always likely to struggle and struggle they have, sinking to 14th on the ladder with just three wins after 11 rounds. Their finals ambitions for the 2024 season have just about sunk and their premiership window, at least for now, appears closed.
Arthur though, was defiant to the end, saying after Sunday’s capitulation to the Storm that he would “never walk away from a fight”.
“I still believe in this team, but they’ve got to start to believe in themselves, especially when we’re under a bit of pressure,” he said.
“We’re five minutes after the game, but there hasn’t been any indication from the club towards me. All they want to do is get around us to support myself and the rest of the coaches and the team.
“But at the end of the day, what matters is what we’re doing on the field for 80 minutes and it’s not good enough at the moment.”
It wasn’t good enough and ultimately the club stopped believing in the coach.
– Additional reporting by Ben Glover