The Eels are firmly in the finals this season but their ‘wide-open’ Premiership window is closing fast – and their fatal error was exposed again at the weekend.
A 30-12 hammer against the Rabbitohs was just the latest example of their insane inconsistency this year as the Parramatta club have been unable to repeat the kind of form top teams have been in this season Beat Storm and Panther.
Pressure is mounting at the club to get things right but there is much debate over who should take the blame for their instability.
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In a passionate discussion about NRL 360Fox League pundits questioned the Eels and questioned the role of manager Brad Arthur and his players in the club’s current situation.
Disclosing the worrying inconsistencies, Paul Kent said: “The problem is that Parramatta has been playing win-loss-win-loss all year. You can’t win-lose-lose the final and win a competition! So until they find out, they’re screwed.
“They are the only team to have beaten Penrith this year, they have beaten Melbourne. And yet they lost to the Bulldogs and Tigers, both of whom were running last at the time.”
James Hooper replied, “There’s something like Groundhog Day about this argument. We walked this path for Brad Arthur last year and he is the trainer that will finally bring them back to the promised land.
“In its current form, Paul is right. You can never win the competition (with this inconsistency).
Hooper added, “The window is wide open right now, I don’t think the window will be open in the next five years. You must strike now.”
Veteran Daily Telegraph journalist Paul Crawley was full of praise for Arthur and his “fantastic” work at the Eels, but said the head coach is “under pressure” to get the best out of his team when it counts.
Crawley said: “The point is we’re at a completely different level than (Justin) Holbrook or Trent Barrett or Michael Maguire or clubs that can’t win. He did a fantastic job.
“He built the squad by hand brick by brick to the point where he can beat Penrith and Melbourne. But for a few years now, for some reason, they’ve been unable to pull it together when it matters most. And the problem is that the consistency just isn’t there.
“Arthur said after the weekend’s game it wasn’t a strain issue. But then, in the next breath, he says, we’ve got people out there that aren’t doing their jobs out there today, and we need 17 people doing that at once. That is the job of a coach. A coach’s job is to motivate them for this game every week. Brad Arthur has to be that person!
“He’s had nine years to get it right,” Crawley continued. “They won’t be a better team next year if they lose [Marate] niukore, [Isaiah] Papali’i, Reed Mahoney, Nathan Brown, Ray Stone. You will not be a better squad.
“This is their year, they must get it now.
“I’m not saying Parramatta will even be able to find a better coach on the market to replace him. But the pressure is on Brad this year to get it right.”
Kent agreed there was no coach available who would do a better job than Arthur, saying “there’s no doubt about that” but took aim at the players for their inconsistency.
“If you’re talking about losing attitude… it’s on the players,” he said. “I’m tired of it [it]. It’s too easy for the players to sit back and let all the criticism focus on the manager. It’s almost like all due diligence and no responsibility. Someone at the club needs to stand up, be it Clint Gutherson or Mitch Moses, who I see as the two leaders of the club, and say, ‘Guys, enough is enough.’”
Kent added: “I don’t think it’s the coach. I think it’s entirely up to the players. It’s up to the players to control their attitude. Attitude is what is missing.”
Host and former NRL veteran Braith Anasta said: “It’s been a similar core and core for a long time – for similar results. They can do it and the coach put them in a situation where they can do it and they did it a few times.
“The players are the ones who need to get to the next level. They must lead this team to Premiership glory… it’s up to the players now.”
“It’s up to the players to shut us all up and prove us all wrong,” he added. “They have the capability, now they have to deliver.”