How Brad Arthur learned to sleep

Brad Arthur used to walk the streets of the Hills District after a Parramatta loss, unable to sleep as he pondered what had gone wrong.

“A loss was like hell for me,” Arthur said. “I wouldn't be able to sleep for days and days after a loss, just thinking about it over and over.”

The Eels coach still doesn’t get a lot of sleep. According to son Jake, the rookie Parramatta playmaker, Arthur wakes about 3.30am each training day but that’s to ensure he is prepared for the session ahead.

“He has gotten a lot better,” Jake said. “He used to just pace the streets every day, thinking about everything.”

Arthur has been in charge of the Eels for nine years and when he took over after Ricky Stuart quit to join Friday night’s semi-final opponents Canberra in 2014, the club had not reached the play-offs for five seasons.

Since 2017, Arthur has steered Parramatta to the finals on all but one occasion as he has developed a roster with a strong focus on local talent or players recruited to the club at a young age.

“I still don’t like to be out in public and especially after a loss, you feel like you have got to hide, but now I am confident in the group that we have got,” Arthur said.

“I know that they give it their best every week and some weeks that just might not be good enough, but I have also learned too that we have got to move on pretty quickly and get on with the next game.

“If I am walking around kicking stones, if I am the leader and I have got a sooky attitude or a bad attitude, that is going to filter down to the group.

“It has taken me a long time to get on top of that, but I can actually go to bed after a loss and have a sleep. I can handle it now. I know what we need to fix and just get on with it.”

A key to helping Arthur cope with the intensity of coaching the Eels was mentoring Jake’s junior team in the local Parramatta competition.

As part of the Hisense Perfect Pairs campaign, Arthur spoke to NRL.com about his passion for development, the enjoyment he got with the Rouse Hill Rhinos and what it is like to now coach Jake at the Eels.

"It is a great feeling but it is just part of the norm for me now," Arthur said. “He is just another player in the club and the squad, and the playing group and the staff just treat him as Jake, not Jake Arthur or Brad’s son.

“In the past the hard bit was having to make sure I wasn’t too hard on him. When he first came in and did a little bit of pre-season training Shaun Lane used to joke around if Jake made a mistake about me getting stuck into him.

“I struggled a bit with it early in the piece but the players have been really good. Guys like Gutho [Clint Gutherson] and Mitchell [Moses] have chipped me a couple of times and said 'just treat him like one of us'."

Coaching for fun

Arthur first began coaching Jake in under 12s after work commitments became too much for the previous coach and he enjoyed it so much he continued for several seasons as the team climbed from second division to first division.

“The best part of it was that you were coaching for the fun of it, whereas in the NRL it is a living and there are so many expectations. No one was judging me, and that was the bit that kept my love for the footy," Arthur said.

“It reminded me of how lucky I was to be coaching but it kept the fun element, especially when I first started because the first three or four years we weren’t a team that was in the top eight and playing finals every year.

“It could be a quite tough and a bit draining. No one likes losing, so the kids’ part of it was the fun for me - going to training on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

“I didn’t go there to try and be an NRL coach. I went there to have fun and I didn’t try to coach them like an NRL team. We kept it pretty simple and played a lot of games.

“I had a relationship with a lot of the dads. We went out on a fishing, camping, skiing trip with them on the Hawkesbury River and did stuff like that."

Developing local talent 

After coming through the junior representative ranks at the Eels, Arthur began his coaching career at the age of 22 on the advice of then Penrith coach Royce Simmons, who suggested he consider a captain-coach role in the bush.

A two-year stint at Batemens Bay was followed by eight years in Cairns before Arthur got the opportunity to join the Storm and Jake played Australian rules in Melbourne but switched to league as soon as his dad got a job with the Eels.

Arthur's involvement with Jake's junior team not only provided an outlet away from the stress of NRL coaching but also gave him an opportunity to get to know the best young talent in the Parramatta district.

Besides Jake, Will Penisini, Sean Russell and Sam Loizou have all graduated to the NRL, along with Canberra forward Trey Mooney.

Matt Komolafe, Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa and Peter Taateo are also at the Eels, while Caleb Tohi has joined the Raiders.

"I’ve got a fond relationship with a lot of those kids. I could walk past them in the street and know nearly all the kids in that age group," Arthur said.

“We have got a big area to service but I know all the good local talent that is in our competition. With our Harold Mats [under 16s] team this year, I think the whole squad of 25 players were locals and they made it through to the first week of the finals.

“Even in our semi-final team this week there are eight or nine players I actually handed their debuts to. Penrith have done an extremely good job with their junior nursery but that shows something about the club in regards to our development pathways."

Jersey presentation

Among the players who have debuted at the Eels under Arthur is Jake, who was called up to replace Dylan Brown in the 2021 Magic Round clash with the Warriors.

“My old man presented me with my jersey and it was emotional," Jake said. "He was just saying that he was proud of me, he just wanted me to do my job and he couldn’t wait for the game.

"Because of the COVID bubble I didn't know if I was able to play or not so I ended up only having one training session with the team. That was probably a good thing because I didn't over think it.

"I was training out of my garage at home with Jordan Rankin, Ray Stone and Joey Lussick because of the COVID rules and then I was able to get a flight [to Brisbane] to train with the boys at the captain's run."

Arthur said he had initially been reluctant to pick Jake but knew it was the right decision.

“When Dylan was out I knew that Jake was the right person to come into the team but I was very apprehensive of giving him that opportunity," he said.

"But after the game here [the previous week] Mitchell and Gutho came straight off the field and said to me, 'Jake’s in the team next week', so that is when I knew.

"I had Joey Johns who was doing a lot of work with us at the time ring me and say 'mate, put him in'. It was hard to pick him but he was the best option for the team and everyone at the club has been supportive."

Social media trolls

That support has not been universal, however, and Jake has also had to endure abuse from fans at games and on social media.

Initially it was tough for the family to deal with, particularly as Arthur's younger son Matthew is coming through the Eels junior ranks and they are bracing for him to receive similar treatment.

“He has had that since he was involved in the junior rep program," Arthur said. "It is a minority but the minority are the loudest. I’ve learned to not worry about it because if it’s not me it is someone else.

“You can go down to netball, and dads coaching the netball team and there are people who are unhappy because his daughter is in the team, so it is just life.

“My daughter and wife didn’t like it and they struggled with it at times early in the piece but we have all just had to learn to live with it.

“I am sure that when Nathan Cleary first started out the road was a bit bumpy for him too. I am not saying Jake is Nathan Cleary but there is going to more scrutiny on Jake than another young halfback in the competition.

“He does other things around mind strength coaching and isn’t real big on social media so he does a good job of being able to separate it."