- The Eels officially sacked their coach on Monday
- The club made the decision at a board meeting on May 1.
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The music stopped and the latest round of NRL coaching musical chairs ended, leaving Parramatta without Wayne Bennett or Brad Arthur, so why did they sack their current mentor without an incoming replacement?
The Eels sacked Arthur after 11 years as head coach on Monday, but it can now be revealed the decision was made three weeks earlier.
The decision to sack Arthur was made internally by Parramatta top brass after the Eels were humiliated 44-16 by a Dolphins team missing Herbie Farnworth, Tom Flegler and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow in Darwin in late April.
On Monday, club president Sean McElduff and chief executive Jim Sarantinos terminated his contract after the injury-hit Eels were crushed again, this time by Melbourne in the Magic Round.
The Eels were chasing Wayne Bennett (pictured) while Arthur was still under contract, even though the club had privately decided to terminate that contract.
Arthur (pictured) had a good record with the Eels in his 11 years but was unable to give the club the premiership it craves.
Parramatta has had to endure most of the season without injured star halfback Mitch Moses
While the Storm’s loss was difficult for fans to accept, it came with key players Mitch Moses and Clint Gutherson sidelined with injuries.
Eels management had already made their decision and authorized Arthur’s dismissal at a board meeting on May 1.
It was decided that the club would aggressively target the signing of super coach Wayne Bennett, despite South Sydney already being in the box to get him back into the club.
In the end, the Eels were left without either Arthur or Bennett and few options on the open market for 2025.
So why was the club so hard on Bennett while delaying falling the ax on Arthur?
I wasn’t going to perform this in public.
Eels president Sean McElduff
McElduff told the Sydney Morning Herald It was to prevent negotiations from taking place in public in the best interests of the club and its long-suffering supporters.
“My job is to take care of the club,” McElduff said when asked about his decision to pursue Bennett while Arthur was still contracted.
‘What I really said was that I wasn’t going to perform this in public and I didn’t do it in public.
‘I wasn’t going to jeopardize any chance of the deal going through. “My first obligation is to the club and I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I hadn’t gone to speak to Wayne Bennett.”
Bennett himself respected that stance and refused to discuss his negotiations with the Eels until his future with South Sydney was secured.
“I promised them I would keep it confidential, so I’m going to keep it that way,” Bennett said Monday night.
“All I will say is that I was impressed with the club and the way they ran it.”
It leaves the Eels in a precarious situation, with Trent Barrett under immediate pressure as interim coach and a difficult decision to make about who will coach the club in the future.
Trent Barrett will take over as Eels interim coach for 2024 and is under immediate pressure to deliver results.
Former Gold Coast Titans coach Justin Holbrook is a leading candidate for the Eels job now Bennett has signed with South Sydney.
Jason Ryles has worked as an NRL assistant and with the Wallabies and is highly recommended for a head coaching role.
If Barrett can take the Eels from near the bottom of the NRL ladder to final contention, he could resurrect his head coaching ambitions beyond 2024.
Former Gold Coast Titans coach and Sydney Roosters assistant Justin Holbrook figures to be one of the few experienced options on the market, while Storm assistant Jason Ryles has big details on him.
NSW State of Origin coach Michael McGuire may consider a return to club soil, while sacked Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou will be out of a job by 2025.
Or the club could take a chance on an unproven amount, as the Bulldogs did with Cameron Ciraldo and the New Zealand Warriors with Andrew Webster.