On the same day as five-eighth Corey Norman was linked to a police drug probe, Eels coach Brad Arthur was forced to clean up yet another mess after he was put in charge of the club's NSW Cup team on Sunday.

Just hours after he addressed allegations linking his playmaker to a drug bust at The Star casino on Friday night, Arthur was still going to extraordinary lengths to keep his fractured club together by travelling to North Sydney Oval to coach NSW Cup side Wentworthville on Sunday afternoon.

The drama around Norman comes after the Eels have been embroiled in a salary cap scandal that has almost ended their finals dreams and star halfback Kieran Foran having been in rehab. Now their coach has been forced to put in overtime to cover for Wentworthville coach Joey Grima, who has been off sick this week.

On the eve of what is a must-win game against the high-flying Melbourne Storm at Pirtek Stadium on Monday night, Arthur rushed off after the team's captain's run on Sunday morning to coach the Magpies against the Bears in North Sydney. The influence of the NRL coach wasn't enough for the Magpies to topple the Bears, however, going down 42-16.

The Eels are in limbo and are missing staff members in charge of the organisation of the football department, while any plans for the future have been put on hold until the club responds to the NRL's breach notice at the start of next month.

Before turning up to coach the Magpies, Arthur fronted the media prior to the team's final training session to talk about Foran's return from rehabilitation.

Despite recent media reports throwing the Eels captain back into the spotlight over gambling allegations, Arthur insists his star recruit will return after missing the past two matches and seems to be in a positive frame of mind.

"He's fine. He's in a real good headspace," Arthur said. "He's looking forward to getting back around his teammates. He trained well on Friday, he's looking forward to playing some football. I think he feels like he owes his teammates a big performance.

"I haven't seen him this strong mentally for a while. I spoke to him yesterday and it just shows that while he's been away, he's been getting some really good help because he handled it really well. He was really strong about it."

Arthur said footballers were entitled to privacy in light of recent media reports detailing Foran's gambling problems.

"I think the time's come where the players' personal lives have got to be kept out of the media," Arthur said. "They're footballers, but they're people. I just think a little bit of privacy would go a long way."

The Eels will need to win an estimated 12 of their final 14 games to keep their slim finals hopes alive, set to be stripped of 12 competition points once the salary cap investigation is complete.

The Eels shed Anthony Watmough, Nathan Peats and Ryan Morgan to get themselves in a position to begin competing for points, however they were unable to overcome South Sydney in their first test, blowing a 20-6 lead against the 2014 premiers.

Eels centre Michael Jennings is expected to be named in the NSW team on Monday morning, but will have to get through the game against the Storm before heading into camp with the Blues.

He is expected to join former Panthers teammate Josh Mansour on the left edge for NSW.