At TCT we make no apologies for our positive view of the club. However, we will not be guilty of burying our head in the sand. In this instance we will offer an opinion that is based on some core values.
* Transparency must be the key in the club moving forward. Nothing to hide means nothing to worry about
* Accepting and owning past mistakes can only gain NRL faith in our club
Is this Third Party Agreement a breach of the cap?
It could well be. In itself, this would probably be a minor issue, that in isolation may not have drawn the strong ire of the NRL. It is likely to have its roots in past administrative practices, but that cannot be used an excuse. It may well have remained undiscovered for a while, but again this is no excuse. The most obvious speculation that we can make is that if Parra knew about it before the journalist, then the club should have been the ones informing the NRL and/or the fans, not a journalist.
Are we likely to lose 4 points?
I wouldn’t like to speculate. I’m anticipating that all will not be sweetness and light off the field in the early part of this season. There are questions to be answered and possible repercussions. We do have to answer to our past and we can only achieve the best possible outcome by moving forward using best practice. In the past I have been critical of the constant negative reporting of our club. In this instance, we should definitely not shoot the journalist messenger.
Hopefully a lesson learned.
Sixties
60’s I agree, as I wonder if its been found by Schubert, if it has then the NRL would have been aware of it, or at least should have been. Seems to be another little leak at the start of the season to derail the eels once again, & while, at least to me its not unusual for this journalist to be near the top of the ledger for disclosing negative press regarding the club. In saying all of that, the report is also in the Murdoch press as well, which does include Foxsports, so its a wide spread one.
I would really love to see the NRL delve into all these so called TPA’s in the same way it has done with the eels, likewise I would ask in relation to this whole business the following.
The original requirement (at least put out in the open) regarding the whole cap & 4 point issue was that the club undergo a full audit of the player payments, to which Ian Schubert was dully appointed to do, completed? Also, the club to undergo aan independant management/governance investigation as well. Now, I may have missed something here, our CEO originally wanted PWC to do this but was rejected by the NRL, as PWC also was the clubs auditor, yet they did it?
So at what point was there any form of demand/requirement that any/all of the final report & reccomendations be unconditional on the club to agree to them in total? I have been part of more than enough so called working groups that looked into various high profile state based investigations that have handed down their reports which include reccomendations, of which the vast majority have been rejected by both sides in the reports, including those affected & the instigator of it as well.
So, if the eels owing to the cap breaches are required to have this forced on them, why should it not be the same for any club that breaches the cap in the future? Legally where does the NRL & Eels stand on this, & if they refuse on any or one reccomendation to impliment it/them do they lose the 4 points? which I believe are seperate issues.
I think the club has done a lot to work with the NRL on this issue & some form of compromise & working together is required, I do not want to see the eels disadvantaged & they needed to lift their game, but I also do not want to see the NRL as nothing more than a dictatorship that hangs over the game of RL as they go for broke to take over ever little vestig of the clubs they can, ticking off one at a time.
Colin, I don’t know all the ins and outs but the club can only move forward by absolute transparency. As fans, we can support the club and the board but we cannot kid ourselves about reality. We have to be better. I’m looking forward to the footy but won’t be in denial about consequences from the past.
I don’t know enough about this, but think its minor and needs to be treated as minor and separate. The NRL seem hell bent on all this and I wonder what would happen if it went further? As in other clubs..?
I believe that the NRL are so fired up about this is because they need a Parramatta team firing on all cylinders. Not only for TV rights, ratings and GWS competition, but for fan engagement in the game. The NRL studies that have been shared with us at the Members Council place Parramatta with over 500,000 active supporters which is more than any other rugby league team and only behind Hawthorn in all sporting franchises in Australia. The NRL need these people loving the game and loving their Eels, all the way to the first weekend in October.