Friday the 13th will turn out to be lucky for Parramatta after all, with the Titans signing sacrificial lamb Nathan Peats overnight for the rest of the season and next year.
With Anthony Watmough’s retirement through injury, and Peats off the books, the NRL will rule Parramatta is officially under the salary cap.
So tomorrow night’s clash with South Sydney at Pirtek Stadium will be for competition points.
But how many points will Parramatta lose in the final determination in three weeks’ time?
Currently it’s 12, but in the wash-up it could be more or even less, depending on the NRL.
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The ‘Gang of Five’ facing NRL deregistration – chairman Steve Sharp, directors Tom Issa and Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous, and football operations manager Daniel Anderson – must ride off into the sunset before the NRL makes its final decision.
The gang has three weeks to saddle up and be gone.
If, for some unfathomable reason, the gang decide they are going nowhere, the NRL is likely to deduct more than the 12 points.
So this unholy mess is still a long way from being done and dusted.
However long that takes, the Parramatta roster and fans should be eternally grateful to Nathan Peats, who was so proud to be an Eel, sacrificing himself for the good of the club.
Peats is paying the penalty for the Eels management signing four high-quality footballers – Kieran Foran, Michael Jennings, Michael Gordon, and Beau Scott – in full knowledge the club was well over the cap.
Peats was innocent, but just happened to be easiest sacrifice.
The domino effect will be felt on the Gold Coast.
Peats is the fifth hooker on the Titans’ books, with co-captain Nathan Friend, Kierran Moseley, Daniel Mortimer and Matt Srama all out of contract by season’s end.
With Peats already signed for next year, it’s reasonable to assume two of those four Titan rakes will be looking for another club, starting now.
In the meantime, expect Pirtek Stadium to be chockers tomorrow night as fans can at last see some light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel.
Tom G
Guest
Steve.. sorry mate you are wasting your time talking sense to a tree stump. You can say what you like the die hard Eels attitude is that they are being hard done by.. Denial is the only thing they have excelled in since 1986.
pete bloor
Guest
It has affected the final series in the past, by distorting the labour market, and going forward, as they've built a roster for the future. Another principle of our legal system is that you typically don't get to keep the proceeds of a crime. It is almost certain that Parra will be able to keep the key players for less moving forward as a result of retention being cheaper than recruitment, the team looking like it will be more successful and that enduring crisis typically build loyalty and association with the group. The benefit Parra has extracted will compound not erode. Not saying the storm, dogs or warriors were hard done by in fact they all got similar dispensation. When they punished Melbourne I mistakenly thought it was a masterstroke - appear to be incredibly tough but in actuality you've just galvanized the player and supporter base of your core expansion market and the concept of taking away premierships sis ludicrous. People still saw their team win those matches. It turns out they just don't understand they've put up a giant sign "We will not take away your advantage!" It's why the NRL now has 25% of it's clubs having made the decision to avoid the cap - even if you get caught you will be better off. It actually is entirely sensible for clubs to do.
Brendon
Guest
Uh....you're facts aren't right there. The Storm at the very least were never given the option of paying players less. In fact, one of the strict conditions was that they could not do that. Thus they lost Inglis, Sika Manu, Jeff Lima, Ryan Hoffman (the only resigning),Adam Blair, Luke Kelly, Anthony Quinn, Ryan Tandy and Aiden Tolman. The storm were also fined $2.1 million compared to the $1 million at the eels. Whilst you make the comparison that the Storm and Dogs actually won premierships unlike the eels, I would say that another difference is that the Storm actually trained these players up.The eels have taken players from other clubs (Sandow from the bunnies, Foran from Manly, Watmough from Manly) and kept one of the best players of our time on their books unfairly. I think thats just as bad, if I'm honest.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Na I'm not joking, I'm shattered for the bloke took a massive fall for parra and the NRL
Max
Guest
Exactly - the NRL virtually owns the GC and allows it to sign a player mid year for $????. parra have got off lightly because if they win the premiership people will start throwing stones. The NRL will hope for a miracle 12 from 15 to spur interest but I would be watching the refs very closely....
Max
Guest
It was only 3 million jews not six
Max
Guest
Unlikely because they were only told Monday they were still over...
Steve
Guest
But Parrafan those players were signed in 2015 while they were over the cap. The only reason they are under now is because they got caught and had to shed players. If they hadn't cheated then they may well not have Foran playing for them now or Gordan. Foran would still be at Manly and Walker would still be at Souths. Why should other teams be disadvataged in the player market and Parra get off scott free?
Chop
Roar Guru
Beau Scott & Michael Jennings & Michael Gordon initially. They were the last men in and we have depth in those positions
Chui
Guest
But I only stabbed him three times and killed him your honour, not the six times the police say I did.
Utah
Guest
Mate, it's business. Someone had to go. I'm sure he'll be right, and I'm sure he's getting good coin from the Titans. It's no longer an amateur sport, and with that the players accept that tough decisions sometimes have to be made.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Hope Peats makes a good fist of it on the Coast, hard on the kid having to leave a good side of which he has contributed a lot. He has handled it extremely well, good on him.
Baz
Guest
So if they had to cut someone of a particular value who should of they gotten rid of ? Corey Norman Semi Jennings ? who ?
Andrea
Guest
I agree. They have been found to have been systematic rorting of the salary cap for OVER 5 years. I think that Parra is getting off too lightly. Their fans will be happy that they can still try to reach the finals but as a supporter of another club, I feel cheated. They cheated so they should be ineligible for the finals.
Parrafan
Guest
I completely understand your point Steve, but saying to a degree. But if we didnt breach the cap in 2016 to acquire Foran, Jenko and Jennings why should they have to be moved on. To say that the Eels have to shed those players would be to completely move away from precedent. The dogs retained their whole team by letting them take unders. The Storm were over by more than one million and retained 3/4 of the Australian and Queensland spine. I understand your angst but the NRL have been disingenuous by saying we were over by 570k in 2016, when without adding previous breaches we were actually under by 200k..
Don
Roar Rookie
Put him in a place where he is wanted and happy and the kid can play. I think he certainly got a big head after a GF in year one and QLD and NSW fighting over him. Then he had Rusty tell him he was overrated and overpaid in front of the rest of the boys on the turps at the start of this year. Now he is a loggerheads with the coach. I'd suggest the coach who is under pressure also sees it better to stay on the side of the Gladiator rather than Keary's side.
Steve
Guest
As has been pointed out numerous times before Parrafan, the fact that they are under the cap now is kind of irrellevant. They weren't under the cap when they signed Foran, Gordan and Jennings. They obtained and signed these players while they were over the cap and should not have been able to if they were playing by the rules. Other clubs who may have been interested in picking these players up were unfairly disadvantaged in the negotiations. Why are they allowed to keep these guys?
Griffo
Guest
Has it? I'm not sure on the finer points of this deal but isn't it possible it could have been signed 10 days ago?
Chop
Roar Guru
I'm not paying a membership that pays the wages of an incompetent administration and funds their court cases to keep their jobs destroying the club.
Chop
Roar Guru
That's BS Parrafan, The club cheated the system and knew they were paying illegal TPA's which should've been included in the cap, they even minuted it in the board meetings ! Parra got off lightly. Getting rid of Peats makes my stomach turn and I'm disgusted at the ineptitude of the administration. I'd rather the club, put their big boy pants on, accepted the penalty, played for nothing this year and focused on getting the team sorted beyond any doubt next year. I'm a Parra fan and was a 25 year member, but I'm out.