Eels dodge player crisis as Jakob Arthur prepares for debut

Jakob Arthur, the teenage son of Parramatta coach Brad Arthur, will make his first-grade debut for the club under remarkable circumstances.

Jakob Arthur is poised to make his debut for the Eels Picture: Getty Images

Jakob Arthur, the teenage son of Parramatta coach Brad Arthur, will make his first-grade debut for the club on Sunday. Remarkably, he will do so having spent the lead-up at arm’s length to his teammates.

Rather than training alongside halves partner Mitchell Moses and picking the brains of his more established teammates, Arthur will be forced to keep his distance because he left the biosecurity bubble on Friday night to play for the club’s NSW Cup team.

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The 18-year-old has seemingly beaten Jordan Rankin to replace suspended Dylan Brown in the halves. Rankin – another of the club’s bubble busters – was named on the extended bench.

Arthur has been earmarked for big things at the Eels. In the pre-season, Moses described how it was hard to believe he was only 18 given the way he handled himself at training and in game situations.

Where possible, Moses said he had tried to help the coach’s son. For much of this week, he will be precluded from doing so after the Eels rolled the dice last Friday night and had their back-up players run out for their NSW Cup team. At best, the club is expected to fly to Brisbane on Saturday and Arthur will be able to take part in the captain’s run.

After losing Brown and Marata Niakura to suspension, there were concerns Parramatta may not have enough players to name a 21-man squad this week. However, they dodged a bullet when the NRL ruled they could use their NSW Cup players in Magic Round on the proviso that they passed COVID-19 tests and stayed away from training until the team arrived in Brisbane.

Brad Arthur ended up naming four players who represented the NSW Cup side on Friday night – all clubs had been given prior warning that those players who broke the bubble risked being frozen out of the NRL while level three protocols remained in place.

Hooker Reed Mahoney was also named although he will need to clear HIA protocols to play against the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.

“Players that have not been part of the level three protocols continuously since they were introduced last week will not be permitted to rejoin the NRL squad whilst still under level three protocols,” the NRL said in a statement.

“Therefore, the request by the Parramatta Eels to have players who played NSW Cup matches last weekend to immediately re-join the squad has been denied.

“Once a team has arrived in Brisbane, the applicable protocol will revert to level one. Therefore, all NRL clubs seeking to have additional players added to the squad in Brisbane for matches will need to comply with stringent biosecurity measures, including immediately commencing observing level three protocols in isolation from the NRL squad and returning a negative COVID-19 test on the day of departure.

“Players seeking to join the NRL squad in Brisbane are not permitted to attend training prior to departure to Brisbane. The team lists this afternoon will act as the deadline for naming potential additional players to the NRL squad but does not guarantee approval for the players to join the squad unless the strict biosecurity conditions are met.

“Approval will not be granted for any impacted players to train with the NRL squad or to travel to Brisbane until all conditions have been met, including negative COVID-19 test results the day before the relevant game.”

Brad Arthur welcomed back Nathan Brown and Waqa Blake for Sunday’s game. Ray Stone was named on the interchange bench and Joey Lussick was included in the extended squad.

They are both options if Mahoney is ruled out.

“The National Rugby League today gave approval for all 16 clubs to return to level one restrictions once they have arrived in Brisbane,” the NRL said.

“Clubs travelling to Brisbane will fly on commercial flights and must comply with public health orders which include wearing a mask in the terminal and on board the aircraft.

“Protocols for clubs returning to Sydney will be determined later in the week.”