Heartbroken Hagan parts with slippery Eels
October 21st 2008 07:55
Pressure was building on Michael Hagan from the very moment he signed to coach a Parramatta Eels side with arguably the most gifted, yet inconsistent of rosters in the NRL.
After winning a premiership with the Newcastle Knights in his first year as coach, Hagan seemed the perfect replacement for then departing Eels mentor Brian Smith, the two swapping roles with Smith heading to the Hunter and Hagan going to Parramatta.
When he arrived at the Eels, a man of Hagan's coaching reputation was expected to guide Parramatta to a premiership. The players at the club were full of international experience while some of the younger brigade were simply filled with talent.
At his disposal, Hagan had potentially more to work with than he ever did at the Knights. Indeed he would oversee and bring in potential superstars Jarryd Hayne, Krisnan Inu and Feleti Mateo into a team deemed real premiership material.
In his first year in charge, Hagan nearly garnered long suffering Eels fans that elusive Grand Final birth, eventually falling just one game short against eventual premiers the Melbourne Storm.
And when one says just short, Hagan was very close in achieving mission impossible.
Playing a Storm side at the Telstra Dome in a Preliminary final was considered one of the hardest finals road trips ever.
But Hagan's Eels nearly pulled off a significant coup with Parramatta matching their opponents right up until a disallowed try to Krisnan Inu broke their backs.
And it also broke Hagan's back as well.
After this demoralising loss, Hagan was now cast with more expective pressure than ever for a Parramatta club now running out of patience.
The Eels sensed that perhaps a premiership was near despite the loss to Melbourne in the 2007 Grand final qualifier.
Many judged those predictions mainly due to the effort and steel the Eels showed in that defeat - a verve and belief not evident before Hagan’s appointment as coach.
Indeed most fans prior to season 2008 bestowed the Eels as the best challengers in ending the Storm’s recent strangle hold on the premiership.
But when league's centenary year rolled around, the rest as they say is history.
Hagan and his Eels did not even qualify for the finals series, finishing the season a disappointing eleventh, a far cry from the rosy predictions cast before.
So once again Parramatta underachieved and Michael Hagan was left to wonder about both his job and life as a man made by League.
After coaching a club that can drive even the most hardened of souls to tears, good and bad, Hagan simply had enough.
The blood was boiling at times, through victory and defeat at Parramatta, but it was all too much to control for Hagan.
In the end, Hagan cited family and health issues as his reasons for departing the Eels coaching position, thus sacrificing a $300,000 dollar payout check.
But at a club as inconsistent as Parramatta, one can not blame Hagan for deciding to jump to a lifestyle far more secure than any Eels performance in season 2008.
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