Parramatta star Dylan Brown believes it was ‘unfair’ for Brad Arthur to be fired as the club’s coach at this point in the season, and he admits the players are to blame for his demise, with the Eels languishing in the bottom four.
Brown is the first Eels player to speak out about the experienced coach’s dismissal, with Arthur fired following a humiliating loss to the Storm in Magic Round, in which they conceded 48 points to a side missing some of its biggest stars. Arthur and Brown had a special bond since the Kiwis playmaker made his NRL debut in 2019, which is why he was devastated to see his mentor fired after leading the Eels to the grand final in 2022.
We’re all adults and things happen that we don’t want to happen. It was unexpected what happened and it’s disappointing to see him go because a lot of us are really close with Brad,’ he said.
We are disappointed but we’ve got to move on and get results because there are fans waiting for us to perform. Brad wasn’t going to perform on the field, it’s us players that have to.
‘It’s disappointing that results were the reason that he did get sacked, and that’s up to us.
‘A lot of us dwelled on that and we think it was our fault, but the only thing that’s going to get us out of this is each other. There’s nothing we can do about it except to perform, and we’re not doing that at the moment.’
The timing of Arthur’s sacking coincided with Parramatta’s secret mission to try to sign Wayne Bennett who confirmed the following day that he was off to the Rabbitohs in 2025.
The season is far from over for the Eels who will likely get key men Mitch Moses and Clint Gutherson back from injury on Thursday night, which is why some people were surprised that Arthur was axed rather than given more time with his stars back.
‘The decision has come from above and we don’t know the exact reasons as to why it was this timing, but we always knew there was pressure on him, and he knew that,’ Brown said after the 42-26 loss to Souths.
‘I felt like it was unfair, but there are reasons behind it that they’ve decided to do so.
‘We’re the ones that go out there every week. If you talk to anyone – not just the leadership group but players 1-30 – it’s our responsibility. It’s embarrassing.’
