After a months-long process of submissions and appeals, it was announced last Friday that Isaac Moses had officially had his accreditation as a player agent cancelled.
The stories that have flowed since have tended to surround the impending gold rush of other player agents looking to pick off Moses’ stable of stars, but I don’t really care to hypothesise about what might happen in the months and years to come.
Instead, I want some facts about why Moses was deregistered in the first place – specifically, about the other parties involved.
In June 2020, an NRL statement on the issue read: “Mr Moses breached his obligations as an accredited agent in 2017 by procuring and assisting one of his clients, Mr Tim Mannah, to give evidence to the NRL that was false and intended to mislead an investigation of the NRL Integrity and Compliance Unit.”
Diving a little deeper, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that same day: “Sources with knowledge of the investigation told the Herald that Mannah, when interviewed in 2017, denied he had received third-party deals during a certain period at [Parramatta Eels].
“Mannah, who has since fallen out with Moses, approached the Integrity Unit last year during his final season in the game and came clean with the story of how he had been asked by Moses to mislead the governing body in his previous interview.”
Now, let’s assume that the NRL’s investigation into Moses was thorough and he’s now receiving a fair and just punishment.
What I want to know are the specifics of the payments Mannah received while at the Eels.
Tim Mannah of the Eels looks on during the round two NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Parramatta Eels at Lottoland on March 18, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Because, according to the Herald, the former Parra skipper “denied he had received third-party deals”, then “approached the Integrity Unit last year during his final season in the game and came clean”.
Moses may have instructed Mannah on what to do, but you don’t have to give evidence that’s false and intended to mislead unless you’ve got something to hide.
So what did Mannah mislead the Integrity and Compliance Unit about?
According to a piece reported by the Herald a week after the initial story broke, “The matter reportedly relates to a third-party deal that was not properly disclosed as part of the salary-cap scandal that rocked Parramatta in 2016.”
I’m not going to speculate about what the deal was – I mean, what the hell do I know? – but then why is it left for fans to wonder? Where is the transparency in the process?
All we know is that Moses instructed a client to obfuscate an investigation into a club.
But we can assume that you don’t receive these instructions, much less follow through on them, unless you’ve got something you would prefer was not brought to light.
Is it too much to expect that the NRL be open about the whole process here – if for no other reason than to clear both Mannah and the Eels of any wrongdoing, or to clarify that they have already been punished for their role?
Because at the moment, it looks very much like Moses is being held solely responsible for an incident which had three parties doing the wrong thing.
I mean, it’s right there in the above NRL release: Mannah gave false and misleading evidence. Moses may have procured and assisted him, but Tim Mannah is a grown man – very grown actually, the bloke played prop for NSW – who could just have easily said “no”.
So what did he and his club do that led Mannah to believe misleading an official NRL body was the best plan?
I’ve been on about this for years now but I’m so tired of the NRL letting players off the hook for salary cap issues.
Clubs have been whacked with fines and had titles stripped. Agents have been suspended, losing potentially millions of dollars as a result.
As for the players? Never has one been so much as suspended from playing a single game, let alone fined or – perish the thought – lost their registration.
All of which is the NRL telling its players that salary cap breaches are never, ever, ever their fault.
And this appears to be the most flagrant case yet. The NRL stated that Mannah gave false evidence, yet it’s the six-and-a-half percenter who is being ruled out of the game, copping a massive hit to the hip pocket.
And sure, Tim Mannah retired from footy at the end of 2019, but according to his LinkedIn, he was corporate partnerships manager at the Eels until October 2020 and is still employed by the club as a consultant.
Surely that gives the NRL some leverage to hand down a punishment for giving false evidence?
There’s certainly precedent too, with the NRL suspending Nathan Cleary for two matches last season for being “untruthful in relation to material matters” when being interviewed by the Integrity Unit, while Payne Haas missed four weeks in 2019 after the Broncos determined they were “not happy with Payne’s level of co-operation with the Integrity Unit”.
Mannah may have come clean, but that was after he’d split with Moses and was about to retire from footy. It’s not exactly an act of martyrdom performed in the interest of a fair and equitable competition.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
As for the Eels? Well, just how deep was the rot in their years of rorting the cap? And did the punishment handed down to them fit the actual crime when they received their sanctions in 2016? These are questions we don’t know the answer to, because we’ve once again been duped into believing that any time the salary cap is involved, all wrongdoing is the agent’s fault.
But, yet again, how can that possibly be the case? How can a player mislead the NRL Integrity Unit about suspect payments while at a specific club, yet the only person held responsible is the player’s representative?
One plus one doesn’t equal six-and-a-half per cent.
mushi
Roar Guru
Doesn't seem similar at all to me. The player is contractually responsible for PED's which is deliberately stricter than what you'd normally expect a resonable person to do in the course of everyday life, The player IS NOT responsible for cap management, that is the club. The deal itself isn't the issue - it's the deal combined with all the other cap commitments and sponsorship arrangements of the club. For a player to be responsible for it then they need control over the cap reporting an intimate knowledge of every other player's contract and agreements. So for that to be consistent with PEDs you'd also be holding Mannah accountable for the PED use of every other team mate he has ever trained with. Which is not the case In your description of the 3rd party deal it isn't the player that get's into trouble it's the club, Mannah is in trouble here because he mislead the investigation. Your argument is that he should get in to trouble so it's circular logic. He should be held to account because that's what would happen if change the rules... Your last line sounds nice but do you live by that code? Have you vetted the authority of every single person that has ever given you cash and the source of that cash.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Hmmm - not sure I understand. Here's my thinking.... Steroids/Illegal Performance Enhancing Meds - Club tells player that it's fine to take; player takes them; player gets in trouble and uses the excuse "I was told it was ok but I didn't check myself" 3rd party deal - Agent tells player it's fine to sign this deal; player signs it; player gets in trouble and uses the excuse "I was told it was ok but I didn't check myself" Seems pretty similar - in both situations the player is doing something with their professional career that could have a serious negative impact but instead of insisting on knowing all the details, they are choosing to trust another party who is saying it's all ok and above board. Someone tells you to put something in your body - probably best to be sure it's ok to do so. Someone tells you to take some cash - probably best to be sure it's ok to do so.
mushi
Roar Guru
Problem with that is it's the clubs responsibility to manage the cap not the player. In your analogy the player is the manufacturer of the supplement not the consumer.
mushi
Roar Guru
If the issue is undisclosed contracts though this solves nothing. If the NRL had the contract to give then it would already know about the payment. The ATO isn't going to reciprocate with an audit for the NRL, and frankly isn't allowed to.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
The concept feels similar to the taking of banned substances in terms of how the players should be treated. Players have been known to fall back on the excuse that they were told to take this drink or that pill and that it was all ok. Yet in sport the athlete is held responsible for what ends up in their body. So why should these 3rd party deals or any terms of a a player's contract not be the same - it's their contract that they put their name on so they have the responsibility to understand its terms and uphold them.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
There is a simple way to minimise salary cap rorting. Having the NRL legislate to have all player contracts forwarded to the ATO. ATO could then reconcile the contracts with incomings. It wouldn't stop cash payments, but it would certainly make undeclared agreements more difficult. In well known cases where players past have had several contracts for the same period, it would be interesting to know if all of those payments were actually declared to the ATO or not. It could also be a stipulation that all contracts must be rolled into a single contract per player to counter the issues of having only some contracts registered with NRL and others not. With only 1 contract, players can no longer claim ignorance if more than one agreement is found. There is plenty more the NRL can be doing to enforce player contracts and club cap levels. It really isn't that difficult. I made a spreadsheet that allowed for all player cap including car allowances, top tier players and the like. It was fully functional to the NRL rules at the time. It even popped up big warnings when there was an issue. I sent it to a club who had just been found in breach and offered it to them for free. I never heard back from them. I probably put someone in clubland out of a job haha.
AJ
Guest
Excellent article....... do you not also think it’s funny that Mannah has opened his own player agency?
Jeff Cook
Roar Rookie
My thoughts exactly ....
bazza200
Guest
They actually lost the 9s comp trophy that they won. Good point you can't give a team that cheated the spoon either can't remember who was 15th they deserve the spoon :)
Nat
Roar Guru
Well the boys from the foot of the mountains are not beyond reproach. Remember Jimmy Maloney waiting his mates at Keno to come good with his move from the Sharks.
JGK
Roar Guru
But the whinge was why players never get directly punished for salary cap offences.
Joe Frost
Editor
But the matter being discussed in this piece is not whether Mannah knew the cap was breached, but the fact he lied to the integrity unit about an investigation into the cap, which couldn't be more cut and dried. Tight ship, JGK, tight ship.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
No Barry, they have to give it back and be scrubbed from the records because they cheated, look what happened to the Storm,,, :laughing: They had to forfeit their premierships :silly:
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
No Barry they have to take it off them if they cheated.... :laughing: :laughing:
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Thanks Nat, as I stated it was a pretty blatant attempt by the club to cover it regardless of how it was put into place, obviously NOT at arms length. But I think this was not the sole reason for the de registration of Moses, I do not think that the revelations about his stand over tactics with the Warriors helped his cause any
mushi
Roar Guru
No spoon! Fairness ended when they cheated to get it!
andrew
Roar Rookie
Cmon Mushi be fair, they deserve the spoon at least. :stoked:
Nat
Roar Guru
The club was very complicit. By the law, agents are supposed to organise these TPAs at arms length to the club. Let's not be naive and pretends clubs don't have some engagement. Parra were getting their suppliers to write false invoices, get paid by the club and they would pay the player from that money received. This was documented in the board minutes - along with the fact they shouldn't be documenting these deals! :laughing: The club knew it. Moses knew it. The question is when did Tim know?
JGK
Roar Guru
Yes, that’s a different matter though to just being the recipient of payments that circumvent the salary cap n
Tony
Roar Guru
:laughing: