Parramatta’s legal team are questioning NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg’s relationship with former Eels CEO Scott Seward as the club prepares to respond to its breach notice over the salary cap.
The club believes Greenberg is conflicted due to his relationship with Seward, who he worked with at Canterbury, and want the NRL boss to step away from the case.
The club have until June 3 to defend themselves against allegations they rorted the salary cap to the tune of $3 million over four seasons. But the Eels are digging in their heels about the material arising from both the interview Seward gave to the NRL’s Integrity Unit and any other contact he had with Greenberg over player remuneration.
Greenberg’s relationship with Seward has become a focal point of the Eels’ defence to the cap allegations, their interest piqued by the NRL’s failure to include copies of the former chief executive’s interview transcripts or draft statements in five volumes of evidence provided to the club last week.
It is understood Parramatta’s legal team has begun the process of gaining access to that material as it turns the blowtorch on the relationship between Seward and Greenberg.
It has already emerged that Greenberg provided advice to Seward on third-party deals in 2013. But the Eels want to know the extent of that advice to determine whether the NRL chief’s relationship with Seward amounts to a conflict of interest.
A lengthy statement from Seward was included in information passed onto Parramatta but the Eels want to see a full transcript of that interview as well as any draft statements that were written before the document was finalised.
Seward was able to provide evidence to the NRL only after Parramatta agreed to overlook the confidentiality provision that was part of his settlement with the club when he parted ways with the Eels last June. But it seems the NRL is not keen to release the full Seward transcript.
“We have provided the Eels with all the information we used to determine our preliminary findings,” a spokesman said yesterday.
The four Parramatta board members who are not the subject of deregistration met on Monday night and asked the NRL for help in appointing interim staff such as a CEO and a football manager. These would be able to keep the football club operations moving since current CEO John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson are among the five Eels executives in the NRL’s sights.
The others are chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, and director Peter Serrao.
Yesterday the NRL said it was prepared to help the Parramatta club with any appointments they were looking to fill. “If the Eels come forward with possible candidates for senior roles, we will help them in the recruitment process,” a spokesman said. But so far no names have been put forward from either side.
Former North Queensland CEO Peter Jourdain is one man the club could turn to for his expertise in governance. He finished at the Cowboys in November 2014 after four years at the helm.
Former Sydney Roosters boss Bernie Gurr is another and has already been given the stamp of approval from Eels legend and premiership-winning halfback Peter Sterling.
The NRL is unlikely to have any issues if either of those men were asked to take the Eels’ reins.
The “Gang of Five” must keep an arm’s length from the club while under suspension.
A NSW Supreme Court injunction was lifted on Monday after Parramatta’s lawyers and the NRL agreed the five could help prepare their own, and the club’s, response to the salary cap allegations.
It also emerged yesterday that star off-season signing Kieran Foran would not be available for Parramatta’s next match against South Sydney at Pirtek Stadium on Friday night.
Foran was given indefinite personal leave three weeks ago to sort out issues with his family and a dependence on painkillers.
