Stephen Kearney. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Many a coach would love to win an NRL premiership or a World Cup or a State of Origin and, just like players, coaches dream about the delights and highs of being a professional coach.
Rarely do professionals think about the bad side of coaching and I'm sure Stephen Kearney
never dreamed of the nightmare he was to endure.
The success Parramatta fans experienced during the 1980s has embedded a culture that it is their destiny to be successful and their right to be in the play-offs...every year. The fans are the most demanding in the competition and, dare I say it, the most passionate.
Sometimes this passion is a burden for the coaches and administrators when times are not good as the previous five coaches testify. However, I think Stephen Kearney was bearing more than just the burden of the fans; the turmoil of the administrative issues have compounded on to the coach with the inability to coach to the extent he wanted - like no extra coaching resource to assist him in his role. Once his appointment to the club was confirmed, the wheels were in motion to axe the then CEO, Paul Osborne, who appointed him. Straight away he had lost an ally and, as he would come to find out, you need as many as you can get in this club. If Osborne had stayed for a little longer, Kearney would have received some of the resources he needed to extract what was necessary out of his players.
Parramatta was a club under a dictatorship during the years of its success and up until about five years ago. Dennis Fitzgerald for years battled numerous attempts to oust him from his role within the leagues and football club - but the connections he had made within the NSWRL before the NRL was established secured his position of influence within Parramatta and his place at the Eels. Now the board of Parramatta are due for an election and they need to be seen to be acting on the lack of performance - to hold on to their seats.
