BRAD Arthur has been — and is still going — through the wars.

He’s the head coach at an NRL club devoid of leadership at management level, slapped from pillar to post from years of salary cap cheating, and with a number of top players embroiled in personal dramas.

But over the past six months Arthur has been a shining light for the embattled Eels.

He opened up to On The Couch with Sterlo about what has been the toughest period of his rugby league career.

Round 20

‘LETTING PEATS GO WAS A MISTAKE’

The cost of the club’s salary cap rorting runs deeper than just an NRL-imposed financial and point penalty.

As a result of the NRL’s investigation into the Eels — which found extensive salary cap cheating since 2013 — a number of players had to be culled from the roster.

Nathan Peats speaks with coach Brad Arthur during Parramatta training. Source: News Corp Australia

Nathan Peats was the first casualty, being pushed out the door barely a week after the governing body handed down its findings.

The Eels also let Junior Paulo and Ryan Morgan go, as well as pushing through the retirement of injured veteran Anthony Watmough.

Since then Kieran Foran has walked away from a four-year contract and left the club short a marquee player.

Arthur admits letting Peats go is one of his great laments.

“You grow really close to the players, especially a player like Nathan who busted his backside for us each week, played games when he shouldn’t have when I needed him to play, played on when he probably needed to come off,” Arthur said.

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“Looking back how things have panned out now and some other players have moved on, it’s a really big mistake I suppose, him not being at our club but at the end of the day it was what was needed at the time.

“No one could foresee the future. He looks like he’s happy and playing some good football. That’s the more important thing than my needs, it’s what he needs.”

Peats went straight from Parramatta to the Gold Coast where he is helping the Titans fight for an unlikely finals berth.

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‘I TRIED TO HELP FOZ’

Arthur took another kick in the guts when star playmaker Foran informed the club he wanted to tear up his contract.

Foran had signed a four-year deal with Parramatta and was barely half a season into it when he chose to walk away due to personal issues.

It was revealed this week Foran could be on the verge of joining the Warriors for 2017.

Arthur, who also calls Foran a close friend, says football was never the priority throughout Foran’s struggles.

“All the players at some stage have some difficulties away from the field and a lot of it stays behind closed doors,” Arthur said.

“Kieran was no different, he had a few things in his personal life he needed to work through. I tried to help him to the best of my ability.

“I’m not qualified in that area. I was a mate of his and it ended up unfortunately he’s not at our club.”

Arthur denied he had been “blindsided” by Foran requesting a release from his contract.

“Kieran was honest with me throughout it,” he said.

“I knew he was struggling and he lacked a bit of desire to be around that team environment. He told me all the way through.

“We just kept it between ourselves and tried to see if we could see it out.

“It got to a stage where he wasn’t able to fulfil his commitments to the team and we couldn’t jeopardise our standards and expectations of the rest of the playing group.”

CONTROVERSY ON TOP OF CONTROVERSY

Parramatta didn’t need any more bad headlines this year ... and probably for a couple of years down the track.

But the club’s players have been lightning rods for attention.

Star winger Semi Radradra was rumoured to be leaving the game mid-season for a defection to overseas rugby.

Then he had a domestic violence charge levelled at him which is going through the courts.

Halfback Corey Norman hasn’t been able to avoid the press either thanks to a string of off-field misdemeanours.

Kieran Foran, Corey Norman, and coach Brad Arthur during Parramatta training. Source: News Corp Australia

He was pictured with then-teammate Junior Paulo in an Instagram post with alleged crime figures, was charged with drug possession, then had a lewd video leaked to media.

He’s been suspended for eight games and won’t play again this year.

“I can only go off what the players tell me,” Arthur said.

“Semi’s the same as Kieran and a lot of other players, they have other things going on people don’t know about.

“… he’s a private person. He comes from a different culture. There were concerns at times but every time I spoke to him, he reassured me that he loved the club, he loved his teammates, he just needed to sort through some issues and he’s right now.

“He’s as happy as I’ve ever seen him.”

THE PLANE DOESN’T LAND

As much as Jarryd Hayne wanted to return to his former NRL club, it wasn’t to be.

The cross-code star instead signed with Gold Coast and is contracted there until the end of 2018, when the Eels are sure to make a play for him.

“We had some healthy conversations around him playing in our team,” Arthur said.

“It didn’t work out that way. We couldn’t run the risk and jeopardise losing a lot of our young players that we’ve developed and put a lot of time and effort into and that I owe a bit of loyalty to as well because they’ve been through these tough times and I want to make sure we can keep them at our club long-term.

“It would have been nice to have Jarryd there but at what expense?”

The writer is on Twitter @SimonBrunsdon

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