The Cumberland Throw

D-Day – The NRL Hands Down Salary Cap Breach Penalty

Today at 11:30 am the Parramatta Eels and their fans officially learned their fate.

  • We’ve lost all our competition points to date (12) and now have an incredibly small chance of making the finals this season.
  • We’ve been stripped of our 2016 Auckland Nines trophy.
  • Due to all of the illegal TPAs being added to our 2016 cap, we are now 570k over the cap this season and will need to shed players in order to be eligible to play for points this season.
  • 5 Eels officials have been deregistered – Steve Sharp, Tom Issa, Pete Serrao, Daniel Anderson and John Boulous.

 

As fans – how best to react to such news? I think it’s best to acknowledge several areas –

  • Grief – first and foremost, this is obviously gutting news. Not just for us the fans, but I dare say even more so for the players and the coaching staff. Throughout this process they have done nothing but work their asses off to get this team into a winning position to bring pride back to the jersey, only for it to be effectively taken away by missteps from the front office. Every coach, player and fan need to acknowledge their hurt and find the ways to best deal with it.
  • Support the team –  I broke the news to my Mum this morning and after a few message I can’t post on a family friendly site, she eventually replied “How can still encourage the players?” Easy Mum. We need to get out there and show the players and BA we still care. We need to show the players and BA how much we appreciate their efforts this season. BA and his coaching staff have put together an absolutely terrific team this season, and for the most part that team will be there come season 2017. Surely Eels fans don’t only support the team when we’re winning?
  • Respectfully ask questions – Have the NRL clearly articulated what we have done wrong? Who will we need to shed to get under the cap? If we were penalised last week would we have lost less points? What will now happen to the Leagues Club board? Have the NRL attached any compliance reforms to the punishment? How have the other teams in the NRL fared in their keeping of TPAs?
  • Whatever happens from here, this club needs to do be done to fix these issues once and for all. We need structural separation between the Leagues Club and the Football Club. We need to eradicate the factionalism which stymies and turns each election into a circus every 2 years.  We need to be honest with our ability to keep books in line with the salary cap.

Above all – get out to the game next Friday night – support BA and the boys.

This post will continue to be updated throughout the day. I can’t think clearly at the moment so I apologise if any of the above doesn’t make sense – tell me if I’ve missed anything.

I should also note that at this stage all of the above findings by the NRL are preliminary and the club does have an opportunity to respond.

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29 thoughts on “D-Day – The NRL Hands Down Salary Cap Breach Penalty

  1. Parra Pete

    Nah, just a flesh wound. The coaching staff, players and fans UNITED can overcome this setback.

  2. Colin Hussey

    Miatch
    Its worse than I hoped for, but probably more than what has been considered reasonable. Losing the 9’s trophy will hurt the players more than anything, the trophy was huge for them. The other uncertainty is with those who may have to be offloaded unless the NRL actually gives a heads up for Choc to retire gracefully, with Morgan gone & I would imagine he would have been a $250K player, that has some relief especially if there is no top up to the Storm deal.
    For me the big thing right now is BA. Following his frankness about how he was handling things & how he was so thankful for the players support who have helped him through it all.
    The players went home after the meeting & decision handed down by Greenburg to them & the coaching staff, was then reported that BA was in with his coaching staff going through it all.

    For what he has gone through, he should be placed in charge of football operations until Anderson is replaced along with an upgrade to his salary & contract itself, would not mind if Sterlo could be offered the job & perhaps take it on as an interim.

    We have to support the team, coaches no matter what, lift them & every game the same as last Friday night if not more so. I have no doubt the club. coaches & players will rise above all of this & if things move quick enough we can start the points ladder.

    1. mitch Post author

      Imagine that. BA given the Football Operations role, even if it was in the interim. The idea of the position originally was to keep the Footballing side at arms length (poor choice of phrase?) from the boys at Saleyards, but it probably doesn’t matter in the slightest right now. It actually makes sense.

      But yes. Get this sorted, and re-sign BA immediately.

      1. conway

        Having watched the press interview Brad Arthur today, I can’t help but feel that there is a need for us, the fans, to imitate the absolute class he displayed in his responses to the questions he received about various aspects of Parramatta’s direction in the immediate future..
        While the disappointment associated with this debacle has the potential to be crushing, it remains a test of our real loyalty to our club to avoid the paranoia of believing some external force is ”out to get us ” and look to supporting the future efforts of our club to get things right. While not knowing exactly who the people are to achieve this, I trust that there will be some talented people out there who really are selfless enough to act solely in the best and legitimate interests of our football team.

        Go you mighty eels……..

        1. mitch Post author

          Exactly mate. Well said.

          BA is the one decision we have absolutely nailed in recent years. Best thing to happen to our club in a decade.

  3. Trapped in the 1970's

    What a roller coaster we eels fans ride. Absolutely gutted by the severity of the penalty but I’ve only seen the headline grabs so far and not the detail. I agree 100% that BA and the team need our support as fans more than ever at this time. Sweet mother Mary what a mess and the thought of possibly shedding players from such a tight knit group is a horrible prospect. Feel so much for BA and the team after all of the hard work they’ve put in to get pride back into the jersey.

    1. mitch Post author

      If we can get to next Friday with a similar team, I think we can win 11 or 12 from 15. Let’s see if we can get there intact.

      Support BA and the boys regardless.

  4. The Chocolate Eel

    Keep in mind that player contracts usually start on 1st of November each year so by now the players have received half the contract value for this year. So reducing our cap by 570k won’t be easy. If Morgan was on 250k as Col suggested then the best relief we could get from that deal is 125k as long as the Storm picked up the rest of his contract.

    1. mitch Post author

      Im hoping, as has been suggested a couple of times, that the NRL will consider backdating Watmough’s contract. It’d be a really helpful move regarding us getting us the cap. We’ll see what the NRL decides. If they do go as you have presented above, we’re pretty stuffed I’d say.

    2. Colin Hussey

      I’ve heard the same, but way I see it, if the insurance claim is accepted, it would have to be start date of the day he injured the knee in the pre season, as it happened in February this year, they would have to pay out around 9 months of his annual contract rate, that being 3/4 of the annual contract.
      Not sure of the exact money Choc was on but heard around $750K meaning the insurance should cover $562.500. Add whatever money is saved this year of Ryan Morgan’s contract as he is on loan to Storm, then I see the cap is under. But depends on it being accepted.
      I understand the forms that Choc had to fill out & send in was done a couple of weeks back that was to the insurance company with the eels sending the required NRL papers, supposed to be there today.

      1. John Eel

        An article in the DT this morning suggested that firstly the doctor who has been treating Anthony Watmough for a number of years is also the doctor who will sign off on the injury being a “fresh injury” for th NRL. Secondly the journo indicated that the signoff is independent of anything that the insurance company may do. In other words it is not dependent on getting an insurance payout to get reprievefrom the cap.

  5. Clive

    The thing that annoys me about the penalties is that Greenburg has made it all but impossible to make the finals but left us with a Mathematical chance to ensure the fans keep turning up to games and keep watching the games on Tv. He makes out he did it for the good of the players and fans but it is just to keep interest in his lopsided competition. The comp is a two horse race between two QLD clubs that have had salary cap scandals in recent times and the punishment is done in a way that ensures NSW’s largest supporter base keeps turning up.

    I feel for the Players and Brad Arthur BIGTIME and I will keep turning up to games to support those guys but I have never been more disallusioned in league than I am at the moment. Yes we were doing the wrong thing but the Salary cap is’nt creating a level playing field it is just ensuring the clubs with access to the most TPA’s legal or not stay at the top. I really don’t believe you can genuinely compete if you are sticking to the rules, just ask Newcastle and the Titans!

    Look at the recent premiers and you will see a familiar pattern. They are Privately owned clubs or clubs with rich shonky benefactors pulling the strings.

    1. mitch Post author

      I think/hope the NRL is aware of these concerns. I’ve heard Greenberg on a couple of occasions refer to revising the TPA rules in the next bargaining agreement with the RLPA.

      Hopefully some overhauls are the result and some leaguewide good can come of Parra’s mistakes.

      1. Colin Hussey

        Miatch. media reports this morning says the NRL is going to be looking at the agents involved in the eels TPA arrangements. My hope is that they will discover enough that will implicate other clubs that everyone suspects is the remaining ships in the fleet. Should that happen, or even if it doesn’t, I think there is an absolute need for the NRL to also go about checking out all the clubs with every detail in regard to player payments, no matter what they are called.

        The NRL has to make some clear direction decisions into the future overall money matters.

        A concern I have is in the future plan they have & want to start next year that really pulls the NRL into a total control element over all the clubs, some have signed off on it, while most have not, & there are several grey areas in it especially the caps on how much a club can spend on coaching staff & the facilities. From what I have read, I see a form of corporate dictatorship.

  6. John Eel

    After the Melbourne Storm breach a lot of heat went onto the player agents because it was obvious that they were acutely aware of what was going on. They were making the arrangements. I believe that was when they decided to licence the agents (not 100% sure about this) we even had an NRL person appointed to oversee this, an ex player. However I believe that this has all gone by the wayside since SBW used Koder Nasser as an agent who was not licenced.

    Agents one of the big problems here. As has been mentioned before why is it that agents always approach the club when TPA’s fall thru.

  7. John Eel

    This will be my last comment on this matter.

    I keep reading that Greenberg is quoted as saying that by penalising the Eels in this way they are sending a strong message to the other NRL clubs that they will not accept cheating the salary. Well I say that to date there has been a lot of penalties handed down to clubs since the introduction of the salary cap and it has not made a scrap of difference. In fact the breaches may be getting worse.

    The salary cap is not working and I know many willl agree with this sentiment. The 2 issues that I have with the salary cap is that the NRL is powerless to control the cap. All of the major breaches to date have been brought to their attention by whistleblowers and not thru their audit process. They spent the off season going thru the Eels affairs and found nothing until someone went to the media. I also have a feeling that they probably do not want to find anything and only went hard at the Eels due to the media pressure.

    The second issue for me is that the salary cap is failing in it’s aims. The cap is designed to even out the player talent around the clubs, this is clearly not happening. The Eels have 1 active player in the 34 players named for the Anzac test on the weekend. Admittedly Foz would probably have been there were he available to play and Jennings is a reserve.

    Compare that to the Broncos and the Cowboys. How many do they have involved in the game on the weekend, 10 or more. If the cap was working this would not occur. it is the same for the Roosters and others. My point being is that because the chance of being caught is low, the cap is error provocative and creates a club like the Eels with a lot of funds behind them to take a chance.

    Having said all of this a proffessional administration at the Eels would have done it smarter and not given into the temptation to take the easy road and then document the process.

    Do not get me wrong I abhor the fact that we cheated and put our season in jeopardy.

    1. mitch Post author

      I agree to an extent. However I dare say the Broncos are completely legally within the cap. However the dramatic extent to which they have access to TPAs exclusively available in Brisbane in itself completely disregards the evening purposes of the cap. In other words TPAs ideally are not exclusive to clubs, and should ideally follow players from club to club. However this isn’t the case, and clubs such as Brisbane and the Roosters have a ridiculously unfair advantage due to their ability to obtain such TPAs.

    2. John Eel

      The rules for TPA’s were altered in 2011 and some believe were the catalyst for the blowout in TPA’s that give advantage to some clubs and penalise others. My view is that the system needs changing because it is not evening out talent across the teams. The NRL has already stated that the system is fine and has evened the competition out to the point where the talent has never been more even given that no team has won 2 premierships in a row which is true. In fairness they also spoke about more transparency being required. However this is only window dressing.

      My view is the reality is that since the changes in 2011, powerful clubs are emerging whilst others are falling behind. As I have posted before in the recent Trans Tasman test the Broncos had 10 players in the game and the Eels had 1. I read tonight on another post where Sixties said that the Roosters in 2015 had 7 internationals and 3 Origin players.

      During this 6 year period 2 Clubs have not made a finals appearance Eels and Titans. I also assumed for 2016 that the top 8 sides now will finish in the top 8 excluding the Eels. What this tells me is that under the current system the top clubs getting all the TPA’s currently are obviously going to continue to thrive. Teams such as Titans, Tigers Newcastle are going to be there at the bottom for a long time.

      Here are some other stats to consider. Since 2011;

      Based on 8 points for minor premiers and reducing down to 1 for 8th placed. The 5 most prominent teams are the Storm on 35 (6 finals appearances), Manly 24 (4 finals appearances) Roosters 24 (3 finals appearances), Broncos 23 (5 finals appearances) Cowboys 22 (6 finals appearances)

      You can only get experience if you pay for it. In Round 10 the Sharks took 1870 games of experience into the game at Newcastle against the Knights 810 games of experience. That is under 16’s playing against under 12’s type stuff. This is not helpful to Newcastle and not helpful to the NRL.

      1. Anonymous

        Great comment mate. The elephant in the room is how well certain clubs manage their cap and TPAs. The NRL of course have all of the details. No action will be undertaken.

        1. John Eel

          Some clubs do manage the cap better than others and I agree with that. Also some clubs have a natural advantage and 2 that stand out are the Roosters and the Broncos. Further if every club was investigated in the same way that the Eels were investigated there would be more casualties to sit beside the Eels. It is pointless in my opinion having a system that can’t be policed unless there are whistle blowers. I do like the system proposed by Miatch it overcomes these problems.

          However the way that I see it is that the elephant in the room is the NRL claiming how even the talent is in the competition when certain clubs are spending $2 Mil more annually than others.

          If the Eels can prove that they can equitably spend above the cap why not let. This could be done up to and equal to the amount that other clubs are spending on TPA’s

          1. Colin Hussey

            John I copy this post of mine from the 1eyed site, in the thread regarding Sharps letter to the other Chairmen, for todays meeting of club chairmen.
            Permalink Reply by Colin Hussey 11 minutes ago

            If nothing else, I get the feeling that no matter what response the NRL gives to the eels submission is Sharp will resign once the submission is made, whether he is cleared or not.

            The other good thing if any to come out of this is the apparent decision for the NRL to look into the role of the player managers, my thought in many of these cases especially when they come to a blockage with a club as to how much they are prepared to pay a player, is they try to get the club to undertake a guarantee of any TPA that ends up failing.

            That can be set up to fail right from the beginning by the simple fact that the agent does absolutely nothing to secure the TPA, & when they do not come off, then the agent says its up to the club.

            A TPA needs a separate agreement also, make the Agent show the names of the people/companies he approached to secure payments for the player. The club is only allowed to point them to a sponsor. Just like an employment agency, they point a person to a job, & the person has to go there for interview if they want to work of just keep the payment they are on.

            It is my view that the club must only supply a list of known companies, businesses, & others to both player agents, & the NRL who are prepared to provide extra payments to players, such as the TPA’s. A separate contract needs to be had, that has the agent, player & companies signatures on it, I now believe that no one from the club should have his name on it, in order for the club to be not involved.
            The club should only be liable for the primary NRL contract & what acceptable options are allowed on it, the player, club, agent & NRL have copies of that contract.
            The TPA if needed should be between agent, sponsor & player, & again on a contract signed by each, including the company representative. The guarantee should be only with the company & agent.
            Whatever means of paying the player is normal is the only way a player should get money, or other entitlements & where needed acknowledges it. We used to sign for pay cheques & when paid in cash, same thing here.

            To me there should be no way that players are held to account for missing contract/TPA contracts, its the agent, club or sponsors responsibility only & dependant on the type of contract/agreement.

          2. John Eel

            Colin I got the impression that SS letter to the other club chairman was almost a letter of resignation so I do agree with you that he is likely to resign following the clubs response to the NRL.

            With regard to the player managers, the NRL has threatened to take control of them before. Sadly I have little faith they will achieve anything. That is why rather than tinker around the edges of the current system I would prefer to see something like Miatch has suggested (points + nominal value) be implemented.

          3. Colin Hussey

            John, my thoughts are that the NRL will pretty well have no choice but to take action once this mess has been finalized next month after they respond to the Eels submission of defense.

            Thankfully that is not too far off now.

  8. John Eel

    Notwithstanding the $300,000 of unexplained payments that disappeared when Andrew Gee resigned from the Broncos leagues club you are probably right. But the intended purpose of the cap to even out the talent thru the competition has failed. Clubs will continue to attempt to get around it or be at a disadvantage. Unlimited TPA’s does not work for everyone.

  9. Kramerica

    Nice one Mitch.
    I am still waiting for the NRL to actually clarify exactly what we have been accused of and assume I could be waiting some time, maybe forever, to actually get the facts.
    All I could think of watching that presser was the infamous “Darkest Day In Sport” ASADA press conference – and we all know how that turned out. Some actual facts, rather than generalized accusations, would be nice.
    My thoughts are with the players, staff, fans and anyone who may have been unfairly tarnished by all of this.
    I for one will be doing my best to remain level headed, objective, and open minded until such time as I actually know the facts.
    As always, I will be taking great enjoyment and showing great support for my team in every match they play regardless of whether they are playing for points, each other, or the mighty B&G jersey.
    Ive been doin’ it for over 30 years and i’m not about to stop now 🙂

  10. Glenn

    From media reports, with the NRL obviously leaking info like a sieve, the penalty was already decided well before it was announced. It was timed so that either Parra had no possibility to make the finals OR to coincide with the rep weekend giving the club time to become compliant.
    I believe the former point was why they waited.

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