Monday Buzz: Ray Hadley v Brad Arthur and origins of NRL’s ugliest feud
While Parramatta coach Brad Arthur and broadcastor Ray Hadley have been butting heads for years, PHIL ROTHFIELD reveals two incidents that have reignited the feud.
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Rugby league has always been a game of feuds as much as footy.
Your columnist has been involved in plenty.
Gus, Sterlo, Wayne Bennett and stacks of others.
This season is no different.
We might need an 8-page lift-out to publish the list of those who won’t be exchanging Christmas cards this December.
The ugliest stoush right now is broadcaster Ray Hadley and Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur.
It will be in the grand final of grudges with Andre Ponga and Dennis ‘Bullfrog’ Ritchie. Or even Kenty and Maroon.
On Saturday we phoned Hadley to get some background on his beef with Arthur.
He’s away on holidays and all he gave us was a terse “No comment.”
This feud has been going on for a couple of years.
After disposing of the Canberra Raiders on Friday night, Arthur spoke of the outside noises.
He didn’t name Hadley or journalist James Hooper, who broke the story last week around a leaked internal review that uncovered claims of nepotism in Eels pathways, among other issues.
“Someone’s got an agenda but they’re not going to break this group,” Arthur said.
“We’ve worked too hard. There was no need (as a group) to even talk about it.”
On Saturday we spoke to Eels chief executive Jim Sarantinos about the situation.
Like most people, he’s not keen on going to war with Hadley or saying anything that might inflame the situation. The broadcaster is too powerful.
I know that because I’ve had my own stinks with him over more than three decades and it’s not always pleasant.
“Would we like Ray Hadley in our corner? For sure we would,” Sarantinos said.
“We’ve tried to reach out a couple of times but not lately.
“I’m not sure I could change his mind anyway.
“I don’t know where he gets his information from but there have always been people outside of the Parramatta club who think they can do a better job than the people inside.
“We just need to be strong, support each other and block it out.
“You know the history at Parramatta. It’s a bit like Canterbury. People are willing to try to bring down those on the inside.”
Hadley claimed on radio on Friday that forward Nathan Brown has been frozen out of the team after questioning Arthur’s selection decisions.
“He can’t in any way get any reaction from the coach about anything. It’s monosyllabic,” Hadley said of Brown, who hasn’t played since round 17.
“There’s a group of players there – Gutherson, the halfback Mitchell Moses ... and Junior Paulo. They form a group of players who have the complete confidence of the coach and many others are largely ignored. They’re not in the clique, the other players, and when you’re not in the clique... it’s not the way it works.
“You’ve got to be all encompassing at a football club. If there’s people there you don’t want you get rid of them I suppose but you can’t have little cliques here and there. It doesn’t work and it’s never worked.”
Sarantinos says Arthur is coping well.
“Brad’s a tough man,” he said. “He’s had to ride a lot of bumps through his career.
“I’m really happy for him that he’s been able to guide us through for next week’s prelims.
“He’s only concerned about coaching the side. And he’s doing a very good job at it.”
Arthur silenced the critics with the magnificent win over Canberra on Friday night.
Nothing beats winning.
But Parramatta chairman Sean McElduff wants to sort it out.
He told me: “We will attempt to catch up with Ray Hadley post season to discuss his feedback.”
Not that Hadley will back away. Never has, never will.
When he returns from leave there will no doubt be further instalments.
As the great man would say: “Don’t touch the sets, don’t touch the dial, don’t go anywhere.”
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Originally published as Monday Buzz: Ray Hadley v Brad Arthur and origins of NRL’s ugliest feud
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