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Parramatta only broke the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not get caught

3rd May, 2016
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(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Expert
3rd May, 2016
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As we trawl over the fallout and implications of the decision NRL CEO Todd Greenberg handed down on Tuesday, it occurs to me that it is highly likely the only real crime the Parramatta Eels committed was to get caught.

In a world of marquee payments and third-party agreements, is there really a salary cap in anything other than name?

Way back when I was a kiddie I briefly fancied myself as an Eels fan. With a bit of help from my neighbour, the blue and gold mob from Parramatta caught my eye. They’d never won the comp before and I found myself hoping they would.

The likes of Ray Price, Mick Cronin, Steve Ella, Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling and Steve Edge were easy to like. I had a special love for ‘the Guru’ – Eric Grothe Snr.

And then it happened, in their 34th season they finally broke through for their maiden premiership.

In fact the Eels won three premierships in a row, a feat that hasn’t been repeated since – not even by the great Broncos, Roosters, Bulldogs, Storm, Manly or Raiders sides of the next 33 seasons.

While they lost the decider in 1984, and got knocked out in the preliminary final by eventual premiers Canterbury in 1985, the Eels managed one final hurrah of their golden era when they beat the Bulldogs 4-2 in 1986, the lowest-scoring grand final in history.

That was 30 long years ago. Just as it took the Eels 34 seasons to finally win a competition, it looks like it will take at least as long for them to win another one, after the penalty handed down by Greenberg on Tuesday.

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Losing the 12 competition points means that they must win 80 per cent of their remaining matches if they want to make the finals. With the team they currently have – assuming all the players are on the field – they are a chance of that, and then also being competitive if they get there.

The problem is they’ve got to shed $570,000 worth talent from their roster before they can start accruing competition points. While that could probably be done with the loss of a Kieran Foran or a Corey Norman, my money is on them trying to get Anthony Watmough off their books ASAP and letting Junior Paulo head directly to the Raiders this season.

But I don’t think the Eels should be punished at all. In fact, they should receive concessions.

There is only one rule Parramatta have broken that others haven’t; the Eleventh Commandment: thou shalt not get caught.

Fallout from the Parra salary cap scandal
» Why Tuesday was the greatest day in Parra’s recent history
» Parramatta fans don’t deserve Parramatta’s boardroom
» Parramatta need to bring back The Emperor
» The Parramatta Five win first court battle against NRL
» Press conference: Parra breached the cap by $3 million, players may be investigated
» Parramatta docked 12 points, fined $1 million for salary cap breaches

The Eels have been caught because they weren’t very clever. Based purely on my own suspicions rather that fact, I suspect there are a great number of NRL clubs bending the rules right now, but they are professional organisations who operate within very effective structures that ensure that any activities that may not bare close scrutiny are not discovered.

Whether it be by dodgy third-party deals, dubious marquee set-ups, suspiciously cheap housing purchases, pokies that pay out with monotonous regularity for the family members of players, high-paying jobs for wives, or any other of the plethora of ways players are being paid outside the rules, I strongly believe the rules are being broken left, right and centre.

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No, I’m not going to make any specific accusations. When a club is professional and well-run there shouldn’t be any evidence on which to base accusations. However, anyone who thinks that rule breaking isn’t widespread and endemic is naïve.

The only thing Parramatta did that was out of step with the status quo was to carry out their rule breaking in an amateurish way.

And the reason why? They were desperate to be competitive.

In 2001 and 2005 they were failed challengers. In 2009, thanks in most part to the freak talent that is the NFL’s Jarryd Hayne, they got so close to the premiership only to be beaten by a side that was subsequently proved to have massively cheated.

There followed malaise and wooden spoons. And then their superstar left to follow a dream. You can understand why the Eels board was desperate for success.

However, as Steve Mascord wrote earlier this year of the Eels, if a club is going to go about breaking the rules they should attempt to do it with some modicum of skill, professionalism and discretion. Parramatta seemingly did not burden their recruitment activities with any of those attributes.

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It’s like their board looked how the peptides fiasco transpired and said, “We can run our bulls at the gates much harder than that!”

I’ve written previously about the dysfunction at the club.

The infighting is epic in proportion. Who knows, maybe a lot of the information the NRL received was willingly provided by the board’s opponents, to bring them down at any cost in order to get themselves in.

While I am certainly not saying that Denis Fitzgerald did that, there he was on Fox Sports on Tuesday making it very clear that should people want him to step into the breach to salvage things he’d certainly consider it.

A lot has been made of Greenberg having to regrettably place sanction on the Eels.

“As the governing body, we have a responsibility to act in the interests of the game for the long term,” the CEO said at yesterday’s press conference.

“At times, it gives us no pleasure to have to do so and this is one of those. But we have to take a stand on behalf of the fans, the club and the game. This would be a tough outcome for many people, particularly the players and fans, but we believe it would be the start of a process to make the Parramatta club the powerhouse it should be.”

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That’s a great sentiment. However, if he wants to truly achieve that he needs to do two things.

Firstly, sack the entire board and all staff, with the exception of Brad Arthur and his support team. Then ban all elections – Parramatta should not be a democracy for the foreseeable future.

A completely new board, free of any historical baggage, should be put in place with a very strong chairman. Peter Sterling would be an ideal candidate (I may have mentioned as much before).

Secondly, recognise that what we need is to build the Eels up by increasing their salary cap and minimising the damage to the team, and therefore the fans, by not sending them back to the wooden spoon levels of a couple of years ago.

And yes, the Titans, Wests Tigers, Raiders, Knights – any side without any real success in the last decade – should get this assistance too. The AFL has done this with the Swans in the ’90s, the Lions in the 2000s and Port Adelaide recently. It worked brilliantly.

The western Sydney market that the Eels sit right in the middle of is presently under siege from the Western Sydney Wanderers and the Greater Western Sydney Giants. The managing bodies of each of their respective competitions have given both those teams massive concessions to get them strong and competitive. And they are.

At the same time, we are going to tear down the powerhouse that is the Parramatta Eels just when it is trying to get off its knees, because they can’t cheat as professionally as the other teams? We might as well kiss those fans goodbye.

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So Todd, please don’t punish long-suffering Eels fans for the stupidity of their management. Step in and build the club up ASAP. Don’t make their poor followers wait another 34 years for a premiership or you just might find those fans aren’t there anymore.

And then where will the precious broadcast deal be?

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