NRL tells Parramatta Eels they must shed Anthony Watmough and another player
The NRL has refused to budge on a demand that Parramatta slash $575,000 from their player roster to play for points against South Sydney on Friday, leaving the Eels having to shed one more player on at least $250,000 a year, as well as Anthony Watmough and the already departed Ryan Morgan.
On an eventful day on two fronts for the club, an injunction order was lifted in the NSW Supreme Court, leaving Eels chairman Steve Sharp, chief executive John Boulous, head of football Daniel Anderson, deputy chairman Tom Issa and director Peter Serrao suspended and limited to basic duties at the club. While the dropping of that order was negotiated by the barrister for the five men, Arthur Moses, SC, and NRL lawyers – with an agreement hurriedly scribbled on a piece of A4 paper – there were further talks on Monday at Moore Park as Ian Schubert, the Eels' representative in salary cap talks with League Central, met with cap auditor Jamie L'Oste-Brown.
"The club's very confident we can get to where we need to be for this weekend," said Schubert, himself a former NRL salary cap auditor. "We've got a little bit of homework to do, throw some numbers up in the air and see what happens."
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Significant turn of events: Anthony Watmough of the Parramatta Eels walks up the tunnel after an injury playing against ...
Significant turn of events: Anthony Watmough of the Parramatta Eels walks up the tunnel after an injury playing against the Canterbury Bulldogs.Photo: Mark Kolbe
Schubert, after doing his own calculations, had endeavoured to have the NRL relax its position significantly on how much the club needed to shed to be competitive against Souths.
However, L'Oste-Brown is understood to have stood firm and reiterated the requirement for the Eels to reduce player spending by $575,000 to be eligible to play for points at Pirtek Stadium on Friday. The NRL is expected to approve the career-ending injury application made by the Eels about Watmough and backdate his cap exemption to include about half his $900,000 salary, which is propped up by third-party agreements. The exit of Morgan to Melbourne allows Parramatta to include about half his $140,000 contract, leaving the club to erase $55,000 from its roster.
They also have to promote three new players into their top-25 squad on the minimum wage – which for the remainder of the season is about $40,000 – meaning the figure they must urgently shave from their roster is increased to about $175,000. That would appear to effectively leave them having to shed one more player who is on at least $350,000 because only half of that wage would be taken off the salary cap but it is believed they are working towards lowering that figure to a player in the $250,000-$300,000 range by backdating payments elsewhere.
Schubert is understood to be tossing around several options but it is unlikely the club would let Junior Paulo go immediately to Canberra, who have signed the prop to a two-year deal from next season and are keen to have him straight away. Paulo is believed to be on about $180,000 at the Eels.
Rival teams remain sceptical about the removal of a large chunk of Watmough's deal from the Eels' cap, believing it sets a dangerous precedent. However, that scenario is set to be given the green light with Parramatta to pay out his contract and wait to be reimbursed after filing an insurance claim.
Parramatta board members were, meanwhile, meeting on Monday after an agreement was reached between the NRL and lawyers for Sharp, Boulous, Anderson, Issa and Serrao for the injunction against the suspensions to be dissolved in court.
A hearing date before Justice Stevenson was set down for May 31. The NRL agreed not to stop the five performing their fiduciary and statutory duties under the Corporations Act while they are suspended, as well as assisting with the club's response to its show-cause notice, but any points accrued by the team in coming weeks could be later stripped if the officials continue to be involved beyond that.
Moses SC admitted there were "grave allegations" against his clients, who are facing deregistration, but claimed they had not been given satisfactory notice before being suspended when the NRL handed down its sanctions last Tuesday. "One would have thought they would have been afforded procedural fairness before their reputations were slandered or impacted," he said.
Parramatta and the officials have until June 3 to respond to the breach notice. A final determination on their penalty is expected in mid-June.
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