Brad Arthur spoke to Triple M following him team’s rousing 28-14 victory over the Brisbane Broncos. The head coach of the Eels spoke at length about the win, the partnership between Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman, the meteoric rise of Nathan Brown, what Kenny Edwards is like off the field and switching Michael Jennings to the right edge. It was a fascinating listen, so much so that I have taken the painstaking steps to transcribe it out for you all!

If you would rather digest it the way Triple M intended, here is a link to the relevant podcast!

Tony Squires (TS): We are joined by super coach Mr Brad Arthur. G’day Brad.

Brad Arthur (BA): Afternoon boys, how you going?

TS: Very well thank you. We were just saying we spoke on Wednesday on Dead Set Legends (chuckles) and I said the prevailing feeling was no Clint Gutherson, no premiership. Suddenly you guys just played beautiful footy!

BA: Yeah I thought it was a good game but I thought both teams both teams played really well. The ‘Broncs’ started fast and we got a couple of tries at the death which probably wasn’t a true indication of how tight the game was. It was end to end footy and the ball in play time was 7min more than average so it was a really fast game.

Ryan Girdler (RG): Not just that BA, it was the quality! I mean obviously the boys were happy to spread the ball around but you guys completed almost 90% and the Broncos at 82%, I mean it was semi-final like football last night wasn’t it?

BA: Yeah, like you said completions were high but there was plenty of movement and passing of football. I think the average sets were 50m a set so that’s a fair bit of running in the game and a fair bit of passing in the game but I think both teams’ concentration levels were really high.

James Hooper (JH): BA congratulations, first time under your tenure that the Eels have won five straight and you’re headed for September. I wanted to ask what you think of the combination between Corey Norman and Mitchell Moses and how it’s developing for you?

BA: Yeah, it’s getting better. It’s just time is not on our side but it does take a bit of time and you’ve got to remember these blokes haven’t had a preseason together they’ve had weeks in terms of their training time and it was better again last night. I thought our kicking game was shared around, we had seven different kickers last night which took a bit of pressure off ‘Normie’ and in the past he has probably been our sole kicker. But they’re getting used to playing with each other and ‘Normie’ popped up a few times on that right edge and he’s really allowed Mitchell now to take control of that team and inject himself when he needs to.

Wendell Sailor (WS): Hey BA, it’s Dell mate! Look I know that you lost Clint Gutherson and some people were saying that the season might be pretty tough for you guys now but I’ve got to say, what Bevan French brings to a team is unbelievable! For his size and his footwork – I just love watching him play mate.

BA: Yeah, he’s just a footballer. He knows where to be. He can turn half opportunities into points. We’ve had our fair share of injuries this year and I have to give credit to the whole squad. All the boys that have had to come in have aimed up and done their job. Bevan was our first choice at the start of the year at fullback. He got injured which gave ‘Gutho’ a chance and ‘Gutho’ stepped up. We’re very happy with Bevan and long-term I still think fullback is his best position.

RG: Brad, a couple of parts to this question. Firstly, Nathan Brown – was he taken off last night? Did he cop a shot to the jaw? Is he okay?

BA: Yeah, no he is fine. He came off with concussion when ‘Taka’ went up to catch that ball right at the end, he hit him with his knee straight in the head. He’s fine, he’s 100%.

RG: Can you tell us a bit more about his game? Obviously he came to you guys as sort of a front rower and was it your decision to sort of put him in that middle and give him a bit more opportunity with the football? Because he certainly got nice, soft hands and he certainly hasn’t lost any of his aggressive style.

BA: Yeah when I watched him at the back-end of last year when he was playing for Souths and Souths finished last year really strong and I think a lot of their points come on the back of an offload or pass or something that he’d done in the set. So when we got him in the preseason, after a couple of sessions we could see he had a really good pass and he had a really good skill set. It was just a matter of getting him nice and fit and strong and the plan was always to try and get him to become an eighty minute player, which he wanted to do. He’s managed to that well now, he’s just got some parts of his defence that he has to get on top of but he’s working hard and he’s aware of that.

TS: Mate Kenny Edwards said that as he looked at the replay, if he had his time he wouldn’t have done that little hit on Jonus Pearson but he’s just an interesting character, Kenny Edwards. When you watch him from the outside he can be annoying to his teams – certainly to the opposition – and he’s in everything. What sort of bloke is he like off the field?

BA: He’s pretty relaxed, a bit of a joker off the field but he’s a competitor and he’s a winner. He wants to win and that tackle last night, that tackle wasn’t complete. He wanted to play with plenty of aggression and I don’t think he made – (corrects himself) well he didn’t make contract with the head and he probably didn’t see the hit before it anyway.

JH: What about Michael Jennings, BA? He made his name as a left centre but more recently he has been playing on right. Is that to help Mitch Moses in defence? What was your line of thinking there?

BA: There’s a few reasons around it. ‘Taka’ and ‘Bula’ have got a good combination on that left side and that left side with ‘Normie’ and Manu there is quite dangerous. We wanted to get them back together. ‘Jenko’ probably carries the ball on his right and a lot of his attack is probably better down that right hand side of the field. Then there’s the defensive part of it – I think he’s one of the better defensive centres in the competition and we were leaking some points early in the year down that right edge and since he has been put there, he just brings that real composure and calmness. Everyone’s on the same page over there on that side of the field.

RG: Well you’ve got obviously in the next couple of weeks; the Dogs then you’ve got the Titans and you got the Knights. They’re all winnable games, I mean the realistic goal now BA would be Top 4?

BA: (Chuckles maybe? Hard to tell) We still haven’t quite managed to get an eighty minute performance. Last night was our closest through eighty minutes. And that’s really the goal for us. If we can manage to get eighty minute performance together and win games of footy along the way – hopefully that gets us close enough towards a strong position for the semi-finals.

WS: Hey BA, just on the sideline last night. I don’t see you down there that much, riding that roller coaster mate! I love watching that.

BA: Yeah you can’t do a lot of coaching, you miss a lot of stuff down there but what you don’t miss is the intensity and the effort the boys are putting in and the real intent. You get to see the body language up front and personal and it’s a bit of change every now and then. I don’t mind it.

TS: And what about the junior footy we can hear in the background there? Anyone dominating behind you as we speak?

BA: (Laughs) The boys just won fifty to nil so (Triple M crew gasp/laugh/get too loud to hear BA) #$%#$^^@^@

TS: They are on fire! As are the Parramatta Eels, which is always good for footy when they are doing it. Congratulations on the season so far, thanks for having a chat!

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