{"id":395734,"date":"2024-05-20T20:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T20:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=395734"},"modified":"2024-05-20T22:06:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T22:06:23","slug":"strange-axing-baffles-gus-as-eels-timing-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=395734","title":{"rendered":"'Strange' axing baffles Gus as Eels' timing questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phil Gould<\/a> has declared he is puzzled by the timing of Parramatta's sacking of coach Brad Arthur<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The long time \ufeffEels coach was axed effective immediately on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Parramatta was secretly talking to Dolphins coach Wayne \ufeffBennett over the last four weeks in an effort to flip him from signing with the Rabbitohs<\/a>. The club's approach to the master coach was rejected.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gal swings axe, makes 12 changes in NSW shake-up<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Much-loved' cricket star suffers stroke in Hawaii<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Halfback carried 20m in viral schoolboys video<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Hours after news of the sacking broke, Gould questioned if the Eels move was based more on emotion than fact.<\/p>\n

"I found it strange (his sacking), because we're on the verge of Mitchell Moses coming back," Gould said on Nine's 100% Footy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"We've been saying for a couple of months, 'things will turn around when they get their halfback (back).'<\/p>\n

"It's the funny thing with this competition, there are some teams, when their main man is down, they can't score a try, let alone\ufeff win a game. That's been the case since Mitchell Moses has been out."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Gould said he was confused as to why the club didn't wait until Moses – who has missed two months with a fractured foot – returned, to see if his inclusion would turn the team's fortunes.<\/p>\n

"I thought they might have given him (Arthur) time\ufeff (to coach) once Moses comes back to see if there was any improvement," he said.<\/p>\n

The nail in the coffin for Arthur was the Eels' 48-16 Magic Round loss to the Storm<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Parramatta's<\/p>\n

"On the weekend, I can imagine that left a sour taste in officials mouths and that's why they'd made a decision when they did," Gould said.<\/p>\n

100% Footy is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"I don't know how this decision is going to fix it in the short term, it's not going to fix it in the short term, that's for sure.<\/p>\n

"Parramatta's got some thinking ahead of their next decision for head coach and direction of the club\ufeff, I guess."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/NRLonNine\/status\/1792452027181674854<\/a><\/p>\n

The attention of Eels officials now moves to finding a permanent coach, after confirming that Trent Barrett would take over until the end of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"The one that is floating around is … you look at the NSW coach, Michael Maguire," 9News reporter Danny Weidler said.<\/p>\n

"He's desperate to coach first grade again.\ufeff You'd imagine he'd be eyeing off all of this action.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"He has first grade coaching in his blood. He loves the stress, he loves the challenge of it all."<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon the Eels released a statement that pointed to the lack of growth at the club over the last 18 months as the reason for Arthur's downfall.<\/p>\n

"It was the view of the Board and CEO that the progress of our NRL team has stalled," the statement said.<\/p>\n

With Barrett in the hot seat in an interim role, the club will now look to bounce back against the Rabbitohs on Saturday.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phil Gould has declared he is puzzled by the timing of Parramatta's sacking of coach Brad Arthur. The long time \ufeffEels coach was axed effective […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":365272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=395734"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395738,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395734\/revisions\/395738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/365272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=395734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=395734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=395734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}