The Parramatta Eels are the ongoing basket case of the National Rugby League for over the past five years.
Back-to-back wooden spoons in 2012 and 2013 and now after finding some well needed form that has reminded their fans of the 1980s, the Eels have been confronted with a salary cap issue that has almost dragged on for twelve months.
In May 2015, the NRL issued a breach notice to Parramatta for salary cap breaches in the 2014 season and threatened the club with a $525,000 fine and a four-point deduction for the 2016 season unless they completed an independent review – which they did.
But the issue arose again this year, with Parramatta failing to report third-party contracts to the NRL. And for weeks now the rumours have been floating around in the media and they just won’t go away.
So what should the NRL do? How severe should the punishment be?
The usual saying that has been go around is that the “board should be punished not the fans and the players”.
Yes, it seems unfair that the fans should be punished and you have to generally feel for them right now. The club has not won a premiership in three decades, they’ve gone through years of mediocracy and now when it seems everything is going right, it looks likely that the club has been cheating the salary cap.
And yes, if the Eels are found guilty, the board should be sacked and banned from rugby league for life.
But it’s time for the NRL to step-up and deal with the Parramatta salary cap issue once and for all. This issue has been on the players and fans back to long and its time the NRL came down and delivered its verdict.
And if Parramatta are too be found guilty of cheating the salary cap, let’s hope for the sake of consistency and justice, the NRL comes down hard on them.
In 2002, Canterbury where stripped of all their points (37) for rorting the cap by millions. The Bulldogs were hot favourites to win the premiership in 2002, but where kicked out of finals contention and finished with the wooden spoon.
In 2010, Melbourne where stripped of all their points (8) and banned from receiving points for the rest of the season, after massive salary cap rorts between 2006 and 2010. This resulted in their 2007 and 2009 premierships being wiped from league records.
And now in 2016, Parramatta is the latest club to severely rort the salary cap. How can someone justify the club not being docked all their points like Melbourne and being banned from receiving anymore in 2016?
If they are only stripped of eight or ten, that is only the difference between a top four team and a team finishing around eighth. Let’s face it, this Parramatta team, on their current form could be looking at their first serious push at a premiership since 1986.
First and foremost, it is time for the NRL and Todd Greenberg to step-up and hand down their verdict on Parramatta. This has dragged on way to long and it’s time to focus back on the game of rugby league.
Second, if guilty, Parramatta need to be handed the same punishment as Melbourne; docked all current points and banned from receiving anymore. If this doesn’t happen and Parramatta end up winning the grand final, it will be the biggest injustice in rugby league history.
pineapple
Roar Rookie
Well if you read my comment, you can see quite clearly why i think it's a rubbish article. If reporting on speculation instead of the facts as well as littering an article with poor spelling and grammar is what it takes to be a talented writer nowadays, sign me up. It's nothing personal mate. I have no clue who Bradley is - just calling it as i see it.
Brian
Guest
All I'm suggesting is that many clubs are disadvantaged because of Parramatta's mishandling of the cap. Yes Gordon wanted out of the Sharks - BUT - he went to Parramatta because they offered him more money "under": the cap than others. The same goes for all of the players on that roster. Would they be there if Parramatta had not paid overs for them? How is it fair to the other clubs? I'm not suggesting poaching just asking the question about where a player may have been and the disadvantage to those other clubs at the hands of Parramatta's mismanagement. Give me one club that wouldn't have made a play for someone like Foran? But they couldn't pay as much. Also what about the players taken from struggling clubs like the Titans? If they had been able to compete and keep the players that Parramatta had taken and been successful, would others (like Sezer) have stayed? At no point do I blame the players for accepting more cash to move. This si only about the board mismanagement and the other clubs now disadvantaged by that mismanagement.
Chris Love
Guest
The breaches in 2013/14 come from upgraded contracts through injury toll just like plent of other clubs, and players Ricky Stuart sacked that were being paid for to play at other clubs. Michael Gordon - Begging to leave the Sharks (no issue on cap 2015 Jennings - Roosters wanted to create cap space (no issue on cap 2016 Wait, we could go on like this down the list with large numbers of signed players unwanted at other clubs. All that you have here really is Norman on 500k in 2014, hardly paying overs. Peats who couldn't get a run at Souths, and same thing with Degois when Peats went down injured. Paulo is a junior, Wicks just had got out of goal, the only real "poachings" have been Foran and Beau Scott.
Chris Love
Guest
Let's not get hyperbolic on this before the jury comes back hey? Parramatta are a basket case for sure but going over the cap because you had a huge injury toll and were forced to blood second tier players well before time just to field a team (all up front btw) is a WHOLE lot different than directors (and how can it not be players also) holding two sets of books with two sets of signed contracts! Let's be clear here this is all going back to Seward who Parramatta self reported on. If that clown was doing the wrong thing and the board self reported then that is a massive difference to what Melbourne and Canterbury did. If on the other hand this group are in on it and it was far more systemic than just Scott Seward then by all means throw the book. Let's cut the hyperbol until someone actually knows the facts here.
Fiddlesticks
Guest
Is the current team over the cap? Might establish that before shooting your mouth off
Fiddlesticks
Guest
Moeria went to news from college And parra need to buy as people have stole a lot of their juniors
Fiddlesticks
Guest
Are you his Dad? He's not that talented
Fiddlesticks
Guest
What's the difference? They assembled those juniors by paying 16yo way more than any other club and losing millions all paid for by their owner news limited who also owned the NRL This year if parra is fielding an illegal team then they play for nothing The Melbourne decision was not knee jerk and was correct
Rob Douglas
Roar Rookie
How can you justify that this is a rubbish article? Clearly everyone else here is agreeing with Bradley. You are entitled to your opinion- it's a free country. Just don't take a personalized stab at a very talented writer.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
Now you're going too far. It isn't the players fault, the board is at fault for not being dilligent with the business of the club. The board ought to be stripped naked, rolled in honey and laid on a bullants nest as an example of how seriously the NRL take breaches of policy.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
Nice little piece of research Brian. Highlights the fact Parra would not be considered a force at the moment without cheating.
Fix the scrums
Guest
I'm sick of all this feeling sorry for the players and fans crap. If a club cheats like Storm and Parramatta have , hit them hard with a big penalty. Every time Parramatta beat a team with their current roster , there is a blight on the game. Give them the wooden spoon now. Fine the club and those in charge and ban them. Cull the current roster. Dock them some points for next season as well. Time for the NRL to grow some balls. Parramatta are even being given a brand new stadium for f$@ks sake.
Brian
Guest
The thing that everyone seems to forget about is the other clubs fans. Look at the Current Parramatta team and where they came from with the last 3 years: 1) Michael Gordon - Signed from the Sharks this year 2) Semi Radradra - Parra Jr from Fiji 3) Michael Jennings - Signed from the Roosters this year 4) Brad Takairangi - Signed from the Gold Coast in 2015 5) Clint Gutherson - Signed from Manly this year 6) Corey Norman - Signed from the Broncos in 2014 7) Kieran Foran - Signed from Manly this year 8) Junior Paulo - Singed in 2013 9) Nathan Peat - Signed from the Rabbits in 2014 10) Daniel Alvaro - signed from the Broncos in 2015 11) Manu Ma'u - Parra jr from Auckland 12) Beau Scott - signed from the Knights this year 13) Tepai Moeroa - Parra jr - from Auckland 14) Issac DeGois - signed from Cronulla in 2014 15) Peni Terepo - Parra Jr - from Auckland 16) Danny Wicks - Signed with parra in 2015 17) Kenny Edwards - signed in 2013 from Gold Coast. So there are suggestions that Parramatta have been mishandling the cap for 3 years. They have signed 13 of their current 17 within that timeframe. So how is this far to the other clubs supporters? They are the ones being ripped off. Parra have taken players from these clubs while paying overs and it isn't fair to those supporters. Yes I feel for Parra fans but also for every other club who could have held or brought one of these signings but were unable to compete for lack of illegal money.
Roger
Guest
Come off it, those teams were fielding an illegal team in the year that they were stripped of points. Melbourne was outright fraudulent, as were the dogs. If anything this is closer to the Warriors penalties and they far exceeded the parramatta penalties in real salary cap dollars.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
They did win the 9s, but no one is talking about that being apart of the punishments.
Bradley Jurd
Roar Rookie
Not that I know of. Maybe a very long distant relation, but nothing close.
S T Ruggling
Roar Pro
If they had won a title there would be no doubt it would be taken off them, shouldnt be exempt because they cheated the salary cap and didnt get results
up in the north
Roar Rookie
You could also argue that Parra are only playing with decent form because they're flouting the cap. If they were within the cap we wouldn't be witnessing this mini renaisance. Of course the club should be heavily penalised, maybe that way the members will be a bit more discerning over who they elect as future board members. The cheating has to stop.
Richard Maybury
Guest
A couple of Melbourne directors systematically cheated the cap and the club was severely punished. If Parra directors have done the same ........ The big problem with the Eels is that they have done this year after year and despite keep being found out signed a document to say everything was now ok and everything had been declared to the NRL when it hadn't. At least when the NRL found out, Melbourne came clean on everything, took immediate action and have been clean ever since. So it isn't so much the cheating at the Eels that is the problem but the whole systemic management environment that considers lying and cheating as OK. At least the NRL is taking its time and properly considering the Eels punishment and not handing out knee jerk punishments over night. And the ironic thing is that the Storm cheated in order to retain players that had all debuted for them, not to assemble a team by buying from other clubs.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Are you any relation to Stan Jurd?