Brad Arthur is facing an uncertain future at the Parramatta Eels – but according to Phil Gould, there could be a much deeper issue facing the club.
In the wake of Parramatta’s worst performance in recent memory on Friday night, pressure is mounting on the coach, who has been in charge for over a decade and is yet to deliver an NRL premiership to the long-suffering fanbase.
Arthur has been a mainstay at the Eels since taking over as head coach in 2014, helping rebuild the club and taking them to a grand final appearance in 2022.
However, with the absence of Mitchell Moses and a horror performance against the Dolphins in round seven, the blowtorch has firmly been applied to Arthur, as the status of off-contract coach Wayne Bennett for next year remains unclear.
“He [Arthur] has got a contract until the end of next year,” Danny Weidler told Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday night.
“He’s putting it on the players and I believe there was a meeting today at Parramatta where Brad Arthur spoke, but he left most of the talking to his senior players. The players are going to have to face the music.
“The officials are saying this is a big week for the club and for Brad Arthur, to see how they respond. It won’t be long before we start hearing scuttlebutt or rumours – there will be links for Brad Arthur to another club, maybe South Sydney.
“Wayne Bennett is in the background circling, seeing which club he wants to go to.”
Bennett will depart the Dolphins at the end of 2024, handing over the reins to Kristian Woolf, and the rumblings of a return to Sydney have grown in the past month.
But in a damning revelation from Gould, there might be more than meets the eye at the Eels, who haven’t tasted premiership success since the 1980s.
“Brad Arthur is not the trouble with why Parramatta are where they are now,” he said.
“In all the time that I have followed Parramatta, they have never really set up their pathways properly and never produced a culture or character of their own.
“In the end, that becomes the problem for the head coach, who is trying to win games today when no one has really planned adequately for the future.
“Someone has got to take that responsibility – that’s not Brad Arthur’s responsibility.
“It’s become exhausting for him now.”
Parramatta will take on old rivals Manly in a must-win clash on Friday night.