Anthony Watmough set for $2 million soother if injury forces retirement
PARRAMATTA will be spared ­carrying the $2 million salary cap burden of Anthony Watmough should the star back-rower be forced into early retirement.
Just 24 hours after ARL Commission chairman John Grant confirmed the Eels would not be docked four competition points after they met a list of corporate governance requests, the western Sydney club was faced with the news Watmough’s chronic knee ­injury could force him to pull the pin immediately.
Watmough signed a whopping four-year deal last season but played just 17 games — mostly with painkilling injections — and struggled to train over summer. It’s understood he knocked his knee again at training several weeks ago.
The NSW and Kangaroos enforcer told Channel 9 he “had ­unfinished business’’ and was “planning to return in a couple of weeks’’.
But should his knee not respond to treatment and he’s forced to retire, Watmough will still receive a full payout, including the remainder of the $700,000 he was on this season, and about $750,000 for 2017 and 2018.
Any payout would have to be agreed to by the club, the NRL and any insurers involved.
An NRL spokesman confirmed the rule that allowed clubs to make cap-free payments to players whose careers had been cut short was introduced after the Alex McKinnon tragedy.
Significantly, the money won’t count towards the cap.
Anthony Watmough’s chronic knee ­injury could force him to pull the pin immediately.
Parramatta have been under the NRL spotlight for their spending. Last year they were slapped with a $525,000 fine, which was later ­reduced to $465,000, for breaches relating to the 2014 season.
What that means for the Eels is if Watmough does retire, the club suddenly has plenty of money to spend.
Locking up boom prop Junior Paulo would be their priority.
More importantly, there would be a decent war chest for favourite son Jarryd Hayne if his NFL dream begins to splutter.
Coach Brad Arthur said as far as he was aware, Watmough would hopefully be back “around round two or three’’.
“He is a week-to-week proposition,’’ Arthur said.
Watmough said before Christmas that he had contemplated quitting rugby league because of the pain caused by his knee. The 303-game veteran is widely regarded as one of the toughest when it comes to playing with injury.
“I thought the cue was in the rack for me,’’ he said at the time.
“I was a bit sceptical at the time. I went home to my wife and told her, ‘I think I’m done — I can’t run’.
“I thought if that was to be the end, well I guess that’s life, I’ve had a good run.’’
Locking up boom prop Junior Paulo would be Parramatta’s priority.
For everything Watmough has achieved in the game, including his 14 Origins for the Blues and 16 caps for the Kangaroos, some Eels fans will be wondering if he would automatically slot back into Arthur’s side if fit.
The arrival of Origin enforcer Beau Scott has taken away one starting back-row spot, while a fit Tepai Moeroa has done his best to make the other spot his own.
Having to spend time in the NSW Cup could even be an option given Watmough last ran the ball in anger way back in round 19 last July.
While Parramatta would not be drawn on Watmough, they did announce the re-signings of young forwards Daniel Alvaro and Kaysa Pritchard until the end of 2018, and 19-year-old Alex Twal until the end of next year.
On a lighter note, former club pin-up Nathan Hindmarsh, 36, caused a stir when he spoke on Triple M about a potential comeback, four years after he retired in 2012.
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