Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur reveals player welfare challenges
Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur has opened up on the challenges to prevent players behaving badly — and lifts the lid in a video about his personal life.
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur is confident he has ironed out the cultural issues which plagued the club last year, as he opens up on the challenges faced by NRL coaches in player welfare.
On the heels of a scandal-ridden off-season and a year from hell for his club, the Eels mentor says his players know “you can’t pick and choose when to have good standards and behaviours”.
“It’s about having acceptable behaviours and standards that you live by, all the time — and the players realise that,” Arthur said in an exclusive interview with the Advertiser.
“These players are under so much pressure. They’re just normal people — but they don’t get to live a normal life. In saying that, they get paid well too, so there are certain responsibilities that come with it.
“But people have got to understand that the players are everyday, normal people who have the same number of problems that the rest of us have.”
The 44-year-old father-of-three gave an insight into how much time the players’ off-field pressures took up for top-grade coaches in 2019.
“There is so much to this role now,” Arthur said from the club’s North Parramatta training base.
“About 10 per cent of it is (rugby league) coaching and the rest of it is off field. You’ve nearly got to be a full-time psychologist.”
Asked whether he stayed awake at night worrying about one of his players being in the next sex or drugs scandal, he said: “We’re at a stage now where we’ve got a lot of trust in them and the boys have got a lot of responsibility to the club, the fans and their families.
“But there are always things you are worried about. I’m the head figure of the club so their behaviour is a reflection on all of us here.”
The Eels are looking to turn around a year to forget in 2018, both on and off the park.
It took home the unwanted wooden spoon and was embroiled in sex and drugs scandals with offloaded pair Jarryd Hayne and Corey Norman.
And, to make matters worse, rising star Jaeman Salmon flipped his own vehicle after hitting three cars and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.068 while escaping injury.
The 20-year-old was convicted of drink-driving on October 13.
Arthur said he and the players’ focus was now on repaying the fans’ faith with on-field success.
He said he was not feeling any extra pressure himself to end the club’s 33-year premiership drought.
“I’ve been under pressure every year I’ve been here,” said Arthur, who has won 45 per cent of games in his past five years at the club.
“And every NRL coach will tell you the same thing: you lose two games in a row and you’re under pressure. That’s the nature of the job — and it’s not something I’m even concerned about.
“If I coach well and we play well, then everything will look after itself.”
The Eels kick off their season against the Penrith Panthers on Sunday, March 17.
Their first home game at the $360 million Bankwest Stadium will be against Wests Tigers on Easter Monday, April 22.
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