Eels coach Brad Arthur fires latest shot at Craig Bellamy, inviting NRL referee Gerard Sutton to training
BRAD Arthur has fired the latest shot at Melbourne rival Craig Bellamy’s wrestling tactics — by enlisting the help of a leading NRL whistleblower.
BRAD Arthur has fired the latest shot in his war with Melbourne rival Craig Bellamy, enlisting the help of leading whistleblower Gerard Sutton to gain an edge over the Storm in Saturday’s qualifying final.
Arthur and his former mentor have provided an entertaining sideshow to this week’s opening round of NRL finals by criticising each other’s side’s defensive tactics.
Just two days after Bellamy took his grievances to referees boss Tony Archer, Arthur rolled out the blue and gold carpet for Sutton to help run their main training session.
While it is not uncommon for referees to provide assistance for clubs at training sessions, Sutton’s cameo out west could not have been more timely — and no doubt picked up by Bellamy and his mates down south.
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The idea behind referees lending a hand at training sessions is to help players understand certain rule interpretations, including how far they can push it when it comes to slowing down the ruck.
The NRL is happy for referees to assist clubs whenever possible, provided they are not officiating that club’s game the following weekend.
Parramatta players welcomed the whistleblower’s insight, saying they barely realised Sutton was there after a while.
“It’s more around the ruck area and getting clarification of the rules there,’’ winger Kirisome Auva’a said.
Centre Brad Takairangi added: “You don’t realise they’re there, but it’s good, just to get a feel for the 10 metres.’’
Arthur said he wanted officials to make sure his team could “play a bit of football’’ during the finals after South Sydney slowed down the ruck last Friday night.
It was also a swipe at Bellamy and his Storm who are the masters of the wrestle, but also used to rival coaches trying to highlight the issue every September.
Bellamy returned serve at Arthur on Saturday night when he said “he should be looking at his own backyard before he looks at us’’, and how the Eels “just lay all over opposition attack inside their 20-metre zone’’.
Takairangi said one way to get around it was “to run hard and find the front, and we’ll get those quick play-the-balls, so it won’t matter’’.
“Nobody is giving us a chance, but the unity here and our belief is second to none,’’ Takairangi said.
“We’re confident we can go down there and do a job.
“We should have been in the finals last year, but due to other reasons we weren’t there. We’ve been building for this the past couple of years, we’ve been a bit patchy, but we’re looking forward to the finals, which is the first finals for a lot of us.’’
Fullback Will Smith said: “We need to run hard, tackle hard, and play our footy.
“If our forward pack brings that same mentality they had against the Broncos, getting in their face and running the ball hard, we can trouble them.’’
Originally published as Eels coach Brad Arthur fires latest shot at Craig Bellamy, inviting NRL referee Gerard Sutton to training