‘I’ll make the tough calls’: New Eels CEO reveals blueprint for success

Newly appointed Parramatta chief executive Mike Rush has outlined his vision for the Eels, vowing to make the difficult calls required to bring success to a club that hasn’t won a premiership since 1986.

Rush - who replaces Jim Sarantinos - stepped down as St Helens chief executive in February. He’d held that role for 13 years and had been at the club for 27 seasons.

He will take on one of the toughest challenges in Australian sport after his term as Saints CEO garnered five premierships, including four consecutive grand final wins between 2019 and 2022. St Helens also defeated Penrith in the 2023 World Club Challenge.

In his first interview since being appointed to the top job at Parramatta, Rush said the club didn’t require a rebuild, that he would provide coach Jason Ryles - who he once tried to recruit - with a competitive roster, and that he was hellbent on making the Eels “competitive, quickly”.

“All I can promise is that I will work so hard to make it the most successful club, so that the fans and commercial partners are all proud,” Rush told this masthead.

“There’s a lot of hard work to run any club, but when you take on the challenge of turning a club into a successful club, and winning more than one trophy over a period of time, it’s a lot of hard work.

“That’s all I can do; rip in, make a start and not be scared to make decisions. I’ll be making decisions to improve that club and give it its best chance of winning a competition.”

Rush held a range of football operations roles at Super League powerhouse St Helens, from head coach through to CEO. He said his priority was providing Ryles with a roster capable of competing for titles.

“Rebuild is probably the wrong word because Jason and his staff have been making changes for the last couple of years in regards to the playing roster,” Rush said.

“My task and challenge is to ensure we best use [the salary cap] to deliver a successful team on the field. But I don’t think a rebuild is what we’re after. It’s more a progression and continuation of the work that Jason has done so far.

“Recruitment is big. You need to get your recruitment and your salary cap management aligned. We need to generate a genuine pathway for our local juniors.

“Everybody would love to see Parramatta juniors making it into the top squad and being successful. There’s work to do to make sure we can do that.

“And like any good club, you supplement your local base in the squad with really talented individuals at the highest level. The announcements of Spencer [Leniu] and other players like Jarome Luai, you can see that journey is already there.

“We just need to make sure we manage our cap and our recruitment really well.”

Parramatta has already recruited Spencer Leniu, Jarome Luai and Jaydn Su’A for 2027, while Knights centre Bradman Best is on their radar. Asked if there was cap space to make more acquisitions for the upcoming season, Rush said: “Whether there’s space or whether you need to trade, you’re always looking to improve the squad.”

Ryles is entering into the final year of a three-year contract, but Rush believes he is the right long-term coach for the Eels.

“I tried to get Ryles at Saints back in the day,” Rush revealed.

“He’s a coach in the same bracket as Justin Holbrook and Kristian Woolf, who we identified when he was an assistant coach in the programs.”

The Eels haven’t won a premiership for 40 years and haven’t featured in the finals since 2022. However, Rush believes a rapid rise is possible.

“We have to be competitive quickly,” he said.

“That’s down to how quick we move and what we do. Long-term plans are great, but we need some short- and medium-term plans to get to where we want to be.

“When you change anything in a rugby league club, there’s an element of risk. We can’t be scared to take risks to make change.”

The Eels have sounded out Newcastle recruiter Peter O’Sullivan about a potential move. But given both the Knights and Broncos are also jockeying for his services, they are also eyeing off Dragons’ recruiter Daniel Anderson.

The Knights are making contingency plans should O’Sullivan leave, identifying Scott Fulton and Ezra Howe as potential replacements. Howe was poised to join Perth, but that move was torpedoed after he was accused of scouting for the Bears while still on the books for the Gold Coast Titans. Fulton was chiefly responsible for assembling a strong Manly roster before a short-lived stint at the Tigers.