NRL 2024: Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur sacked, to receive $1.5 million payout
Eels coach Brad Arthur has been sacked and will receive a $1.5 million payout following crisis talks with Parramatta bosses.Besieged Eels coach Brad Arthur has been sacked and will receive a $1.5 million payout following crisis talks with Parramatta bosses on Monday.
This masthead can reveal Arthur has become the second NRL coach fired this year after Souths’ Jason Demetriou in the wake of Parramatta’s heavy 48-16 loss to the Storm on Sunday.
It is understood Parramatta bosses were locked in meetings discussing the termination of Arthur, who was a dead-man walking following the Eels’ slide into the bottom four with a dismal 3-7 start to the season.
Arthur celebrates his 50th birthday on Tuesday, but it has become a sombre affair, with Eels management deciding to pull the trigger on the coach ahead of Saturday’s clash against South Sydney.
Trent Barrett will take over for the rest of the season. Barrett has had stints at Manly and Canterbury. He joined Arthur’s staff last year.
Arthur has presided over the Eels for a decade and went within 80 minutes of delivering a watershed premiership in 2022, only for Parramatta to be soundly beaten by Penrith in that year’s decider.
But this season has proved a disaster for the Eels and there is a view Arthur is running out of ideas at a time when Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett is a free agent and attracting interest from Souths.
Arthur is contracted to the Eels until the 2025 but Parramatta have opted to sever ties immediately - triggering high-powered meetings on Monday to bring the long-serving coach’s tenure to an end.
It is understood Arthur will pocket a seven-figure severance package given he had another 18 months to run on his Eels deal.
Arthur admitted after Sunday’s shocking loss to the Storm that he would be under fierce scrutiny.
“It’s happened too often over the last month or so,” said Arthur, who called the second-half performance “embarrassing”.
“Obviously when we get under a little bit of fatigue, we’re lacking that resilience to defend a set.”
Asked if he believed he was the coach to turn the club around after the Storm clash, Arthur said: “I do.
“(The pressure) is going to be the same.
“But I’ve never walked away from a fight and we’re going to keep fighting hard. I still believe in this team but they’ve got to start to believe in themselves, especially when they’re under a bit of pressure.”
Pressure on Arthur comes barely 18 months after he led the Eels to the 2022 grand final, which they lost to reigning premiers Penrith.
Arthur was not interested in considering whether the pressure was fair given the Eels’ 52 per cent winning record across his tenure.
“Nothing’s fair in our game,” he said.
“We can’t be sooks about it. We’ve just got to get on with it and we can only go on the facts and the facts are that we’re not playing well enough.
“I’m the head coach for the team and we’ve got to do something about it.
“All they want to do is get around us and support myself and the coaches and the rest of the staff and the team.
“But at the end of the day, what matters is what we’re doing on that field for 80 minutes and it’s not good enough at the minute.”
