Jordan set to steal Arnold’s secret weapon

Australian mind coach Bradley Charles Stubbs, who worked with Graham Arnold at Sydney FC, has been approached by Jordan ahead of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Stubbs, nicknamed ‘The Coach Whisperer’, worked with Arnold at Sydney FC for two years.

In that period the Sky Blues lost just three games and won two A-League premierships, a grand final and the FFA Cup.

Stubbs was expected to continue his relationship with Arnold after he took over the Socceroos.

The performance mentor was spotted at Australian training in talks with senior team officials at Suncorp Stadium days before the 1-1 draw with Korea Republic in Brisbane.

However, Football Federation Australia’s Head of National Performance Luke Casserly told The World Game that the governing body are not planning to employ Stubbs 'at this stage'.

“I’ve not had any discussion with Bradley about working with us and all staff agreements come through me,” he said.

“I understand Graham connects with Bradley but that is separate from any work with our national teams.”

But The World Game understands Stubbs has been now been tapped up to partner with Jordan national team boss Vital Borkelmans for the January tournament.

Jordan have been placed alongside the Socceroos in Group B and clash in Australia's Asian Cup opener in Al Ain on January 6.

Jordan are ranked 112th in the world by FIFA, 70 places below Australia. T

he two nations have met regularly in FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the past few years, with the Socceroos prevailing 5-1 the last time they met in 2016 at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Belgian Borkelmans was only appointed by the Jordan Football Association in September to replace Lamal Abu Abed. The 55-year-old has registered just one victory, a 2-1 win over India, in five matches since taking the reins.

Stubbs said he has declined an offer to work with Arnold.

“I've been talking to Graham for a while about working with him and the Socceroos for the Asian Cup,” he told The World Game.

“But I declined his offer."

Stubbs declined to comment on whether he will work with Jordan at the Asian Cup.

The mind coach claims to teach the science of belief and has worked with top coaches in rugby league and rugby union, as well as football.

He helped Michael Maguire win the 2014 NRL grand final with South Sydney and this year worked with Trent Robinson as the Sydney Roosters took out the 2018 NRL premiership.

Stubbs also paired with Michael Cheika when the Wallabies reached the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, and with Eddie Jones when England took out the 2016 Six Nations and whitewashed Australia 3-0 in a Test series.