Nathan Peats is the latest player linked to being shaved off Parramatta’s roster as the club continues to search for ways to get under the salary cap by their next NRL match on Friday.
Despite unsuccessful attempts by Eels consultant Ian Schubert to lower the $570,000 breach at the NRL on Monday, the club is likely to need more than Anthony Watmough’s retirement to play for competition points.
Shaving Watmough’s rumoured salary of $450,000 off the books, together with the recently departed Ryan Morgan to Melbourne, means the Eels will need to offload around $250,000 over the next three days.
And the spotlight has now turned to the off-contract Peats, who was reportedly angry at being forced to hand back a sponsored car when the club was fined $525,000 for separate salary cap breaches last year.
The Eels have a host of options at hooker, including Kaysa Pritchard, Cameron King, Cody Nelson and veteran Isaac De Gois, the latter of whom filled in admirably for an injured Peats earlier this season.
Only Pritchard, who represented Samoa in their recent Test win over Tonga, is signed beyond this year.
Making the situation more complicated is that players are already halfway through their pay cycle, which begins on November 1, and any roster jettisons will need a promotion of a player on a $45,000 minimum wage.
The Eels will also need to find a suitable partner willing to take on any player they wish to let go, all of which needs to happen by Friday’s clash against South Sydney for them to accrue points.
“The club’s very confident we can get to where we need to be for this weekend,” Schubert told reporters after meeting with the NRL on Monday.
“We have a bit of homework to do, throw some numbers up in the air and see what happens.
“Most certainly the club will be cap compliant. We’ll have a full capacity on Friday night and we’ll be playing for points.”
steve b
Roar Guru
Your spot on Scott what kick in the guts for him and his family .I agree with his dad these 5 clowns should be ashamed of how they handled the situation and if found guulty should be banned for life. These guys are just shipped around like pawns on a chess board with little regard for familys at all.The way the cap is at the moment must be changed and the way audits are done because if their bloody system worked properly this wouldnt be happening every couple of years .Checks and balances and full trancparency are must if where ever going to stop the rot.
Gus Paella
Guest
Friend, Mortimer, Moseley and Srama are all off contract at seasons end I believe.
Muzz
Guest
Peats> Titans I'd take Peats over Farah in a heartbeat. Daley has no i dea!
Haradasun
Guest
And Ascot! Gave them windburn over there.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Holding onto Pritchard and De Gois probably gives them fairly similar quality -- Peats is a bit of a penalty magnet.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Srama is out for the season and Friend is at risk of being retired if he takes another bad head knock, so really just Moseley and to some extent Daniel Mortimer.
Kingcowboy
Guest
I miss Haradasun, what a great stallion. Great win in the Doncaster .
Albo
Guest
The biggest blow will be to the team's morale ! He is handy player with good work rate, but strikes me as being pretty injury prone. Makes sense for Parra in not getting stuck with another Watmough type crock ! But how many number 9's do the Titans need ? They already have 3 similar types in their squad now with Nathan Friend, Matt Srama & Keirran Mosely ?
Haradasun
Guest
I heard the tigers might put a bid in for him.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Makes sense for him to go with all the other hooking options available, in particular De-Goise.
Carlos
Guest
Broncos should pick him up as they're obviously below the cap...
rayzaau
Roar Rookie
For all the hype on Peats as a potential Blue he offers little in attack (1 Line Break and 0 Try Assists this year, 3/3 for the entirety of last year) and isn't putting up huge tackle numbers for a hooker, gets injured pretty frequently since he has been with us too. I would grant that he would be a loss, but IDG is a pretty servicable first grader. This year is sadly likely to be just about sorting out the squad within the bounds of the cap, I dont feel as though Peats would be irreplacable in that respect.
Scott Pryde
Expert
That would be a huge blow for Parra.