The leaders of the Eels playing group have launched a passionate defence of coach Brad Arthur as they look to rebound from a demoralising loss to the Dolphins in Darwin.
Parramatta were blown off the park in the second half on Friday night, conceding 40 points in just 25 minutes to fall 44-16 and leave speculation mounting as to the future of Arthur as coach after 10 years at the helm.
The blue and gold's leadership group – Clint Gutherson, Junior Paulo, Reagan Campbell-Gillard – fronted the media on Tuesday to publicly back their coach and declared the pressure is on them to turn things around.
“I’m more than happy for the media to come at us players instead of Brad,” experienced prop Campbell-Gillard said. “He’s the head of the club and will always put himself out there before the players but the onus is on us as players. We get judged on our performance every week.
“Hold off Brad. It’s not nice seeing him get fed to the wolves. We’re more than happy for the media and reporters to come at us players instead of him.”
Arthur was scathing in his criticism of his team on Friday night, labelling them “part-time players” and conceding they threw in the towel as the points piled up.
Having reviewed the disastrous outing as a team, Campbell-Gillard declared the game as a line in the sand moment for the Eels' season.
Dylan Brown Try
Parramatta play Manly at 4 Pines Park this Friday, with captain Clint Gutherson saying his players must back up their support of Arthur with their actions on the field.
“Him and his staff do a fantastic job to get us ready each week and give us the tools we need to be ready,” Gutherson said. “At the moment the players aren’t delivering on what they signed up for or what they want to do.
We’re letting him and the staff down – the whole club down.
Eels captain Clint Gutherson
“We’re 3-4, it’s not the end of the world at the moment but we need to be consistent. We’re not consistent at the moment. We’re not being the team we know we can be and that’s the frustrating bit.”
The Eels have been hampered by a serious injury to halfback Mitchell Moses, with Arthur weighing up his third halves paring in four weeks.
Blaze Talagi had started alongside Dylan Brown in the losses to the Wests Tigers and Raiders while Daejarn Asi stepped into the role for the last two weeks before suffering a head knock against the Dolphins.
Highly touted rookie Ethan Sanders trained in the halves on Tuesday and is in the frame for an NRL debut.
“He’s been great,” Gutherson said. “He’s a young kid coming through the system, doing what halves do, which is controlling and learning.
“He’s got a great half to learn off with [Moses], so if he does get a crack, if it’s this week or throughout the period Mitch is out, I’m sure he’ll do the job for us.”
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