'Strange' Brad Arthur sacking baffles Phil Gould with Eels star on the verge of return

Phil Gould has declared he is puzzled by the timing of Parramatta's sacking of coach Brad Arthur.

The long time Eels coach was axed effective immediately on Monday afternoon.

Parramatta was secretly talking to Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett over the last four weeks in an effort to flip him from signing with the Rabbitohs. The club's approach to the master coach was rejected.

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Hours after news of the sacking broke, Gould questioned if the Eels move was based more on emotion than fact.

"I found it strange (his sacking), because we're on the verge of Mitchell Moses coming back," Gould said on Nine's 100% Footy.

"We've been saying for a couple of months, 'things will turn around when they get their halfback (back).'

"It's the funny thing with this competition, there are some teams, when their main man is down, they can't score a try, let alone win a game. That's been the case since Mitchell Moses has been out."

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Gould said he was confused as to why the club didn't wait until Moses - who has missed two months with a fractured foot - returned, to see if his inclusion would turn the team's fortunes.

"I thought they might have given him (Arthur) time (to coach) once Moses comes back to see if there was any improvement," he said.

The nail in the coffin for Arthur was the Eels' 48-16 Magic Round loss to the Storm.

"On the weekend, I can imagine that left a sour taste in officials mouths and that's why they'd made a decision when they did," Gould said.

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"I don't know how this decision is going to fix it in the short term, it's not going to fix it in the short term, that's for sure.

"Parramatta's got some thinking ahead of their next decision for head coach and direction of the club, I guess."

The attention of Eels officials now moves to finding a permanent coach, after confirming that Trent Barrett would take over until the end of the 2024 season.

"The one that is floating around is ... you look at the NSW coach, Michael Maguire," 9News reporter Danny Weidler said.

"He's desperate to coach first grade again. You'd imagine he'd be eyeing off all of this action.

"He has first grade coaching in his blood. He loves the stress, he loves the challenge of it all."

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On Monday afternoon the Eels released a statement that pointed to the lack of growth at the club over the last 18 months as the reason for Arthur's downfall.

"It was the view of the Board and CEO that the progress of our NRL team has stalled," the statement said.

With Barrett in the hot seat in an interim role, the club will now look to bounce back against the Rabbitohs on Saturday.