The Cumberland Throw

The Tip Sheet – 2024 Ep 48: Bennett Rejects Eels, Search For New Coach Starts In Earnest

The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!

The Tip Sheet continues to explore a critical juncture for the Parramatta Eels in the week they sacked head coach Brad Arthur. Forty20 and Clint examine the latest developments on that front and beyond in another busy episode.

Wayne Bennett has rejeceted the Eels, choosing to stick with South Sydney…so where does that leave our club? Who sticks out as the prime candidates to helm Parramatta and which ones fit the criteria laid out in the club’s press conference on Tuesday?

For his part, Brad Arthur continues to be nothing but class after speaking to a host of media outlets on his 50th birthday.

Team List Tuesday yielded almost nothing new for fans in a surprising twist. Trent Barrett hasn’t rocked the boat in his first week in charge and the boys try to puzzle out the why of it all.

The Magic Round debrief covers a hugely successful weekend for the NRL as the boys look at a spread of closely fought games and terrific attendence. The pre-Origin carnage continues with Cameron Munsters and Kotoni Staggs now joining a galaxy of other stars on the sidelines.

Another negative news story is circling involving Taylan May and the show addresses the alleged situation before closing out on a positive note with a celebration of the upcoming Indigenous Round.

If you liked this article, you might consider supporting The Cumberland Throw.

41 thoughts on “The Tip Sheet – 2024 Ep 48: Bennett Rejects Eels, Search For New Coach Starts In Earnest

  1. Colin Hussey

    It should be interesting to see how Trent Barret files in for the first game.

    I would suggest that he may well have some amo up his sleeve for the first match, and how the players respond to their first match.

    Will be watching closely on the box.

  2. Noel Beddoe

    Was Wayne evrr any tealistic chance of coming to us? I don’t think so. We understand the delights of living in western Sydney but you’ve probably had to have experienced them to understand them. A club where he slready has warm associations, living reasonably close to work anywhere from Watson’s Bay to Maroubra – these things left us a very long shot in my opinion.

  3. pete

    When pressed on Bennett after 5 rounds of the season. The Eels Chairman said they won’t be rushed as they were still behind BA. They were giving BA a good chunk of the season to turn it around. They were called out for not speaking to Bennett. Then it was reported They had asked Bennett to be coaching director and Bennett refused. BA also refused to have someone holding his hand…this was all reported in the media April 12th. After the embarrassing Tigers loss at Commbank and the thrashing by Canberra.

    Also remembering,
    BAs management was in talks with another club leading up to 2022 finals. It was leaked to Danny Wiedler Gus Gould’s go to man. BA scored an extension after the 22 GF. But BA had a poor finals record exiting in straight sets and his management was doing work behind the scenes in case it was another straight sets exit. So we cannot be too critical of the club on sacking BA. He is a great bloke and he was given a long period of time.

    1. Prometheus

      Don’t know why anyone is sorry for BA , had 11 years at the club he loves, made him a millionaire, just didn’t know how to put the icing on the cake. His biggest mistake was believing the board was 100% behind him.

  4. Joseph

    Slater yes. I would prefer Billy over Wayne. Slater is a winner, he would introduce a club culture we haven’t see since the 80’s.
    Slater is a terrific man manager and has an astute footy mind. His success both as a player and the QLD coach will be respected by both our senior and younger players, Billy will be the tallest man in the room and we need that right now.
    I also think Billy would be perfect for Blaize, imagine being mentored by Billy Slater, why would Blaize sign anywhere else if Billy was his coach. He would also give the club the best chance to retain Matt Arthur, I think even BA would encourage him to stay under Billy.
    Billy would have the support of the best minds in the business and unlike Bennett, he could lead our once mighty club for the next decade.
    The club needs to literally make him an offer he couldn’t refuse, they need to make this happen, signing Slater could be the single biggest move in the clubs history.

    1. Shaun

      I’ve been saying Billy Slater for some time now. Mainly to annoy a fellow Eels loving mate but I have been impressed by his manner as an Origin coach. Club coaching is different but with the right assistants he’d make a good go of it.

      1. Joseph

        His name hasn’t been brought up in any media circle so I guess that’s not a bad thing.
        I can’t imagine Billy failing at antything he’d put his mind to.

    2. Namrebo

      I’m not sure Billy would come. A nice gig for Origin, earning a decent quid in the media, running his horse racing syndicate and him, the wife and kids have relative anonymity in Melbourne where an AFL players ingrown toenail knocks any major geopolitical event off the front page of the papers.

      The only reason I could see it happening is if there is something in his ego that would make him want to show he could do it at NRL level.

      That said, even though I don’t really like him, I’d be interested to see if he could do it well. I reckon he could.

  5. mike

    WB was never coming to our club, he needed some leverage to broke a better remuneration package and we just helped himput an extension on his house.

    1. Joseph

      We approached Wayne, credit to him, he never led us on but at least had the decency to listen to our offer.

  6. pete

    Just heard Warriors have refused Eels request to talk with Webster. CEO of Warriors was reporting.

    1. Joseph

      Well I guess we’ll have to wait for McElduff’s media statement.
      “We approached Cameron George for permission to poach his coach, he said no”

    1. Jerry Springer

      Yeah well why did South’s only record something like 3 wins from the last 24 odd games Brett. Something must have gone amiss with the playing group/coaching relationship. They weren’t playing for him it seemed like that.

    2. Spark

      JD is an excellent coach and I would hope he has reflected upon the reasons it went so badly at Souths. When you’re the boss at a NRL side full of big egos – you’re the boss. Never let the animals run the zoo!
      I wonder if he has learnt his lesson ?

      1. Brett Allen

        I’m sure he has, but I don’t think he got the proper support that he needed at the Bunnies.

        1. Spark

          Yes – a phone call to Rusty was only a ..phone call away but his attempts to placate Latrell boarded on the ridiculous and was rightly called out by others.
          When Sam Burgess left, the writing was definitely on the wall.

  7. Jerry Springer

    No changes means the club are going to show that there were players who weren’t putting in for the previous coach.

    And judging by how the team came out after recent half time speeches, I tend to agree that the players will come out of their slumber and give it to South’s by at least 20.

  8. Shaun

    Please not Madge. Please no.

    Unless Barrett shows a previously not noted ability as a head coach I’d like to think we either go after Ryles or possible Brian McDermott or try someone from the Super Leage like Steve McNamara. I’d leave any coach previously punted from a club alone.

    1. Joseph

      Shaun, we’re probably agreeing too much now but Madge would be my worst nightmare come true. I agree, red line through any coach that’s been sacked. I’d rather an unproven coach than a failed one.

      1. Jerry Springer

        It has to be Madge

        We’ve been down the Bellamy assistants before with Kearney and ba, why go there again ??

        Mcnamara hasn’t been in nrl systems so no

        Madge won a comp with a dead set rookie spine, not a bought comp, players he debut.

        He went to wests but who was successfully under that regime, even 3 time comp winner Ivan could win at wests.

        1. Noel Beddoe

          There’s this to like about Madge : at least we could be sure he’d come. What we don’t need is a string of well- publicised knock backs; we’ve already had one. We could expect the same from Billy; reputedly he said no to waiting in line for Bellamy to exit. If he wouldn’t go to Melbourne it’s hard to see why he’d want us. If he took a job you’d think it would be a Queensland club.

          1. Joseph

            Money talks Noel, even Billy likes money.
            Every man has a price, the price for Billy would unprecedented but a risk worth the reward.

        2. Joseph

          Did you watch Tiger Town? That was enough for me.
          We have an older roster, a chair throwing coach won’t work.
          Bulldog just mentioned Billy on NRL tonight. There is no one in our squad that has achieved more than Billy in the game, just that alone puts a leash on egos in our squad.
          We are restricted by the salary cap, we can however throw the kitchen sink at Billy.
          6 million over three years and a condo overlooking Parramatta river 😀

        3. Poppa

          “Steve McNamara has already coached Catalans to win a Challenge Cup. Now he has coached them to a place in a Super League Grand Final.

          The time that Steve spent as assistant coach to Trent Robinson at the Sydney Roosters was probably important in making him the excellent coach that he is today.”

          Now what qualifies people to select a coach when they do not know simple facts? hence the comment here that he does not understand NRL.

          McNamara’s qualifications are the best outside of the fantasies some want to have with Slater etc.

          It is absolutely imperative that the coach has to be able to bring players to the club…. nobody is going to get excited about a “perhaps”

          McNamara will be the best to do that and all of a sudden guys like Bevan French may want to come back….. the game is now all about speed and agility…..essentially where BA failed. French would never have come back under BA.
          We are pretty unlikely to get the depth we need at both ends of the spectrum, I will bet London to a brick on, that McNamara will have the knowledge and understanding of the ESL system that can give us the depth until our pathways finally show up.
          Interesting thing is that if Josh Hodgson, had not been so abject a failure as a player “for us” then I think he would have been groomed as a future coach.

          We can only wait and see but I think people throwing their opinions in have no real understanding of the prerequisites.

      2. Shaun

        It is scary how much we agree! I know some like Madge because he is old school but I say that approach does not really work anymore. And yes, what I saw on Tigertown is enough. We’ve tried premiership winning coaches before and that didn’t work out well.

        1. Stubbyholder

          I had the opportunity to listen to Kristian Woolfe at an event recently and amongst other things he discussed players, egos, man management etc. I can assure you, Shaun, that you’re 100% correct re the old Madge approach not working anymore. To start with there are just too many personalities and cultures that need to be taken into account. Lose 1 from a “click” and you’ve lost them all.

          1. Shaun

            Yes, I was having a conversation this morning about motivation in sports and that the “day of the spray” is coming to a close. I see some former players are supporting Maguire but they are living in the past. I’d like a coach that would I still belief in the squad get the best out of the playing roster without the need to kicks chairs across the dressing room.

    2. Noel Beddoe

      I’ve got nothing against Trent Barrett, whom I’ve encountered but never met, but he does seem to have a shy, even withdrawn personality. I don’t think that’s ideal un a head coach

      1. poppa

        Noel it is not Trent’s personality that has the shortcomings, its his record!

        Trent would nearly have to win every game from hereon to establish credibility and it aint gunna happen.

  9. Big Nige

    How would Eels fans feel if Luke Burt was a candidate? He’s killed it for the Burleigh Bears in QCup

    1. Noel Beddoe

      I thought Luke did a great job when he had the under 21s. Players who shone for him vanished under others – I think Ray Stone and Sean Keppie are the only ones in the NRL; Dylan got a run in the GF but only because the regular half was injured. He may need a run as assistant in the big stuff to finalise preparation but he’s certainly got ability.

  10. Spark

    I know we are known as a risk adverse organisation but I’m telling you there is one coach that will go very very close to getting the gig and that is Michael Cheika.

    The club will consult the players and Mitchell Moses will gush about Cheika. Moses will have a lot of sway in the decision.

    Cheika just has to (a) want it and (b) get an interview.
    If he gets an interview, he will be out next coach.

    1. Spark

      What an amazing bit of synchronicity, I’ve just read Brent Reads column saying exactly the same thing !! I assure you I’m not Brent Read but it’s good to know that one of the journalists has picked up on the potential.

      1. Shaun

        I’m warming to the idea if Chieka as well. The Lebanon players speak highly of their time with him. Granted a NRL comp is a longer campaign but with right assistants he’d be a good choice.

        1. Spark

          They are saying that he does surround himself with capable assistants and that’s essential.

  11. Al

    Not sure if anyone followed his Wallabies stint much, but player slumps will still be ignored. If a guy makes him laugh, then he’s in the team.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: