Parramatta caretaker coach Trent Barrett wants club officials to make a decision on who will officially replace Brad Arthur as soon as possible after arriving to work on Wednesday unaware of his long-term future at the Eels.
Barrett said getting everything “out in the open” could also be crucial to ensuring NSW State of Origin centre Zac Lomax didn’t backflip on his decision to join the club next year.
The Parramatta board had a meeting on Tuesday night at which it’s been reported a decision was going to be made on whether Barrett, Jason Ryles, Josh Hannay or Dean Young would take the reins for 2025.
It’s understood the board will not make any public announcements until after Thursday’s clash with South Sydney and that can’t come soon enough for Barrett.
“I think so. I think for everyone, the club and the players,” Barrett said when asked if the club should make an announcement as soon as possible.
“But it hasn’t really affected the players too much. They are professionals. It’s not something you go through regularly, but they do have to go through it. Their job is to play and to play well.”
Barrett’s cause hasn’t been helped by three consecutive losses that have dropped the Eels to second last on the NRL ladder, with just four wins for the season.
But the caretaker coach is adamant his team is playing better than results suggest.
“We haven’t quite got the results we wanted over the last few weeks, but they are playing a good style of footy at the moment. We just can’t get over the line,” he said.
“We’ve been quite unlucky the last three weeks. We had that really good win over Cronulla and could have won the past three games, on the weekend in particular against Newcastle.
“There were three tries that we thought were tries and three of their tries came off our dropped balls and from 90m away.
“If you watched the games, I was pretty happy with the performances, we were just unable to get the win.”
Will Lomax stick with new Parra coach? | 05:14
Lomax signed a four-year deal to move to Parramatta when Arthur was still the coach.
Amid reports the St George Illawarra star was wavering, Barrett said a decision on the coach could help allay any fears, declaring “I hope not” when asked if he feared a change of mind.
“I know Zac very well, he needs to know as well,” Barrett said.
“He probably did sign here under the assumption Brad was coach. That’s always difficult for individuals when things like this happen. Once it’s all out in the open it will be better for everyone.”
Parramatta will be forced to play the next six weeks without star winger Maika Sivo, who has been ruled out with a hamstring injury.
After missing recent matches with a hamstring issue, the winger suffered a new injury in his return match against the Knights last weekend.