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The NRL must go further in remedying the Parra problem

Nathan Peats is not the only casualty of the Eels' salary cap cheating. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Pro
26th July, 2016
26
1206 Reads

As the finals race has enters its last leg, the NRL has a fundamental problem that threatens to mar the integrity of the standings.

The problem is the way the NRL has handled Parramatta’s salary cap cheating.

It is not the punishments that the games administration has handed to the Eels, it’s about the teams affected by their cheating.

Parramatta have been deducted the 12 points from wins gained while breaching the cap and rightly so, but what about the clubs who lost to them?

Right now the NRL have not awarded the competition points that were taken from Parramatta to the clubs they defeated. The games are listed as follows.

Round 2 versus Cowboys 20-16
Round 3 versus Bulldogs 20-6
Round 4 versus Wests 8-0
Round 6 versus Raiders 36-6
Round 7 versus Manly 10-22
Round 9 versus Bulldogs 20-12

The ladder at the moment looks like this.

Pos Team P W L D PF PA PD Pts Bye Streak
1 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 18 16 2 0 481 274 207 36 2 WWWWW
2 Melbourne Storm 18 15 3 0 444 208 236 34 2 WWWWL
3 North Queensland Cowboys 18 12 6 0 462 253 209 28 2 WLWWL
4 Canberra Raiders 18 11 6 1 458 372 86 27 2 WWWWL
5 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 18 11 7 0 409 336 73 26 2 LWWWW
6 Brisbane Broncos 18 10 8 0 418 338 80 24 2 LWLLW
7 Gold Coast Titans 18 9 9 0 401 384 17 22 2 WWLLW
8 Penrith Panthers 18 9 9 0 376 389 -13 22 2 WWLLW
9 New Zealand Warriors 18 8 10 0 399 420 -21 20 2 LLWLW
10 Wests Tigers 18 8 10 0 376 450 -74 20 2 WLWLW
11 St George-Illawarra Dragons 18 8 10 0 239 397 -158 20 2 LLLWW
12 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18 7 11 0 339 399 -60 18 2 WWWLL
13 South Sydney Rabbitohs 18 5 13 0 340 430 -90 14 2 LLLLL
14 Parramatta Eels 18 10 8 0 176 190 -14 12 2 LLWLW
15 Sydney Roosters 18 3 15 0 303 445 -142 10 2 LLLLL
16 Newcastle Knights 18 1 16 1 225 606 -381 7 2 LLLLL
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If it was adjusted with points redistributed to teams that lost against Parramatta when they were cheating it would look like this.

Pos Team P W L D PF PA PD Pts Bye Streak
1 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 18 16 2 0 481 274 207 36 2 WWWWW
2 Melbourne Storm 18 15 3 0 444 208 236 34 2 WWWWL
3 North Queensland Cowboys 18 13 6 0 462 253 209 30 2 WLWWL
4 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 18 13 6 1 409 336 73 30 2 WWWWL
5 Canberra Raiders 18 11 7 0 458 372 86 29 2 LWWWW
6 Brisbane Broncos 18 10 8 0 418 338 80 24 2 LWLLW
7 Gold Coast Titans 18 9 9 0 401 384 17 22 2 WWLLW
8 Penrith Panthers 18 9 9 0 376 389 -13 22 2 WWLLW
9 Wests Tigers 18 8 10 0 376 450 -74 22 2 WLWLW
10 New Zealand Warriors 18 8 10 0 399 420 -21 20 2 LLWLW
11 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18 7 11 0 339 399 -60 20 2 WWWLL
12 St George-Illawarra Dragons 18 8 10 0 239 397 -158 20 2 LLLWW
13 South Sydney Rabbitohs 18 5 13 0 340 430 -90 14 2 LLLLL
14 Parramatta Eels 18 10 8 0 176 190 -14 12 2 LLWLW
15 Sydney Roosters 18 3 15 0 303 445 -142 10 2 LLLLL
16 Newcastle Knights 18 1 16 1 225 606 -381 7 2 LLLLL

The change shifts the competition markedly.

The Bulldogs would move up to fourth with two extra points.

Canberra would be one position lower in fifth, but would have an extra two points giving them a five-point gap on the Broncos.

The Cowboys would also be closer to the second-placed Storm with 30 points instead of 28 points in third.

It’s not just the top four that looks different though.

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The top eight race has a new shot of adrenaline injected into the home stretch when factoring in the changes.

Wests would only be out of the finals by points difference.

Manly would also be fancying their chances even of a finals berth even more with an additional two points.

This means that there would be four teams outside of the eight only two points (or less) from playing in September.

The NRL should correct the wrongs brought about through cheating.

In the Olympics when a gold-medallist is found to have cheated, second is given the gold. The same happens in the Tour de France.

The NRL has the chance to give back what was taken from teams that had lost unfairly.

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On the off-chance Todd Greenberg is reading this – or anyone else in the halls of power in the NRL for that matter – the ball is in your court.

For the benefit of the game and the integrity of the competition, it is time to take action.

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