Crawley Files: Paul Green’s perfect chance to audition for his dream job of coaching Broncos

He’s been told he won’t be offered a new deal next season and may have even played his last game for the club already. What’s happened to the Brad Arthur-Blake Ferguson relationship?

Paul Green and Kevin Walters

Plenty are starting to question what has gone on behind closed doors in relation to Blake Ferguson’s sudden demise at Parramatta.

One week Ferguson was in the conversation as a possible option to play on the wing for NSW in State of Origin I. Soon after he was dumped.

Three weeks later it looks as though the veteran winger might struggle to get back in the NRL team before he is pushed out the door, given Ferguson has already been told he won’t be offered a new deal next season.

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Blake Ferguson may have played his last game for the Eels.

Ferguson was initially demoted after back-to-back defeats to Manly and South Sydney to make way for youngster Haze Dunster against Newcastle, with Arthur saying he needed to work on his defence.

But even after Maika Sivo was suspended, Arthur still promoted rookie Sean Russell to debut against Canterbury.

In fairness to the two youngsters, who are in the early stages of their careers, it’s hard to comprehend how Ferguson can stay down in NSW Cup when Arthur picks his team to take on Penrith when the NRL returns next weekend.

They reckon Fergo was impressive playing NSW Cup last weekend, scoring a long-range try.

Arthur has not returned calls and last week even had the Parramatta media department ring to say he didn’t want to speak out of school about what has been said between him and Ferguson.

There has been some wild rumours doing the rounds but none can be confirmed or denied because Arthur won’t return calls.

Of course, it’s his prerogative to keep the reason for Ferguson’s demotion private, but it has certainly left everyone else in the dark.

As Anthony Mundine questioned recently: “No one gets dropped because of one game, especially after the season he’s had.”

Most would agree until recently the big winger was having a pretty good year.

Kyle Flanagan is determined to stand his ground at the Bulldogs.

Flanagan digs in as Dogs chase Johnson

Canterbury remain favourites to sign Shaun Johnson to a two-year deal after South Sydney and Canberra both ruled out any interest in the former Golden Boot winner.

But even if Johnson, 30, ends up at the Bulldogs next year, don’t expect that is going to automatically send Kyle Flanagan scrambling for a new home.

Flanagan still has two more years to run on his own contract Trent Barrett handed him after his shock exit from the Sydney Roosters at the end of last season.

And after recovering from a recent rib injury, Flanagan is back playing NSW Cup and hell bent on showing Barrett he deserves another shot in the NRL team.

The trouble is the Dogs have Matt Burton also coming next year, and the more Jake Averillo plays NRL, the more he shows what a player of the future he can be.

There is no question Flanagan had a tough start to the season in a team that was really struggling. But it is also worth remembering the young playmaker is still only 22 and has just 39 NRL games in the bank.

His best is still years away.

Not a good look for the NRL

The NRL has really embarrassed themselves with the bullying tactics used to force former referees boss Bernie Sutton to quit his consultancy position with Queensland over a perceived conflict of interest.

Bernie reportedly stood down after speaking with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo so his brother Gerard didn’t get the sack from refereeing at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday night.

Maroons coach Paul Green had every right to blow up given NSW has former referee Gavin Badger involved in their camp.

Bernie is also no longer employed by the NRL, so surely he has a right to earn a wage.

As Green questioned: “To actually ring a person and say if you continue to work for Queensland, your brother won’t get the job … you can’t say that. That questions his integrity straight away.”

Just as bad, it also questions Gerard’s integrity - and he remains the game’s leading referee. It is so outrageous.

Ikin’s tight bond with Green should worry Kevvie

Ben Ikin and Paul Green go back a long way.

That’s not me trying to start trouble ahead of State of Origin II, that’s just a fact.

Ikin and Green worked together when Green was cutting his teeth winning premierships at Wynnum Manly before he took a job at the Sydney Roosters in 2013 as Trent Robinson’s assistant.

Paul Green and Ben Ikin have a pretty tight relationship.

Ikin was then a driving force on the North Queensland board in 2014 that sacked Neil Henry to make way for Green, who guided the Cowboys to their maiden premiership the following season.

Ikin was also on the Queensland board that appointed Green to take over from Wayne Bennett this year (beating Billy Slater for the job).

The reason I bring this up now is because I reckon Green will be auditioning for his dream job when Queensland run out to tackle NSW at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday night.

Yes, it’s by complete coincidence it happens to be the same week Ikin stood down from his gig as host of Fox League’s NRL 360 to take on the new head of football role at the Brisbane Broncos.

But it also comes at a highly embarrassing time for the Broncos given they won’t have a single current player representing Queensland in this game.

And while no one is saying Kevvie Walters is a dead man walking as Broncos coach at this point, it sure isn’t looking good for one of the game’s most likeable characters.

I don’t know of a single person involved in rugby league who doesn’t love and respect Kevvie and want to see him succeed.

But these stories that emerged last weekend revealing there is growing unrest among the Broncos playing group should be of considerable concern to everyone at the club.

Kevin Walters is under enormous pressure at the Broncos.

Not least of all the new head of football who has now been charged with trying to turn around what has gradually (from pre-Walters days) become a Titanic-sized disaster.

Usually by the time these stories reach the media it is almost always too late to salvage the coach.

And worryingly for the Broncos right now is that this conversation is not just coming out of the mouths of certain journalists, but is also travelling through playing groups at rival clubs.

What the Broncos can’t afford is to have rival players also questioning their coach’s credentials, given the club is so desperate to bring in fresh faces.

Then you go back to why Sunday night is also so incredibly important for Green — because he has by no means salvaged his own coaching reputation just yet.

While I would have him in the box seat if Walters is ultimately moved on, it would be incredibly difficult to try and justify that decision if the Maroons produce another performance like they did with that debacle in Townsville.

How in the world could the Broncos sack a club legend to bring in the coach who has just suffered one of the all-time worst Origin humiliations (a year after Green was himself let go at the Cowboys where speculation of player unrest also followed him out the door)?

But if the Maroons can somehow conjure up another Origin miracle on Sunday night (or at the very least give a much improved performance) then Green’s coaching stocks will be back on the rise.

Paul Green has plenty riding on the result of Sunday’s game.

It is important to remember he only took on the Origin gig for this year.

While it is probably the furthest thing from his mind counting down to Sunday’s game, those who know Green will tell you coaching the Broncos has always been at the top of his career bucket list.

It was only in February that Green came out publicly and spoke about what it felt like to miss out initially to Walters.

While he conceded he was “disappointed”, he also knew he was never going to beat Kevvie given the circumstances of the catastrophic Anthony Seibold failure.

“I knew what Kevvie brought to the job and I knew what I brought to the job,” said Green, who was apparently exceptional at his interview.

“We had different strengths, so it was always going to come down to what the Broncos were looking for at the time.”

But that was then, and this is now.

Certainly, there will be massive pressure on Ikin and new chief executive Dave Donaghy to persist with Walters for next year at least. To give him a fair chance to fight his way out of a mess he didn’t create.

Paul Green celebrates winning the 2016 premiership with Johnathan Thurston.

But will that be possible if the Broncos’ don’t show some significant improvement before this season finishes — especially with this talk of player unrest?

Make no mistake, Ikin is a good man who is committed to doing what is ethically right like few men I have ever met in the game.

And he will challenge himself to go in now and find out exactly what is truth and what is fiction.

There is also no question he will do everything in his power to try and help Kevvie succeed.

But that is not to say Ikin is scared of making tough calls.

He gave up a great job as the NRL 360 host this week to challenge himself in an incredibly competitive environment, where he has never held a position like this previously.

So he has courageously committed himself to making this a success — or else it will be his reputation that is on the line.

Another factor in this is that when you look at the potential coaching options that would be available if Walters wasn’t to survive.

The list is not nearly as deep and rich as you might imagine.

The Broncos are at an all-time low ebb.

Craig Bellamy is still keeping everyone guessing about his future and if he was to put himself up for the Broncos job, he could name his price.

But after Bellamy, who else of the current NRL coaches could handle the day-to-day scrutiny that comes with being the face of the game’s biggest club?

Trent Robinson is no chance of leaving the Roosters and Ivan Cleary looks pretty settled at Penrith. Any chance of Bennett returning has been well and truly put to bed now Ikin is there, it’s well known their once close relationship is no longer.

Brad Arthur is committed to Parramatta. Of the rest, who would stand out ahead of Green?

Without naming them all, I can’t think of one that would be better suited at the Broncos than Green.

Shane Flanagan is another premiership-winning coach looking for a job but you can’t imagine Brisbane supporters accepting him at the expense of their own legend getting the sack.

Over in England, Adrian Lam is doing a great job at Wigan and so is Kristian Woolf at St Helens.

But again, there is no way the Broncos could risk having another coach without long term NRL experience after Seibold’s failure.

Green is not only the standout candidate but perhaps the only serious challenger.

But I will say it again, not if Queensland get lapped again on Sunday night.

As cruel as it sounds for a bloke who loves everything about Queensland, that might be a blessing for Kevvie.

Originally published as Crawley Files: Paul Green’s perfect chance to audition for his dream job of coaching Broncos