Tackle One – Jennings contract queried
Serious questions are being asked as to how and why the NRL registered Michael Jennings’ contract with Parramatta in January, given it had already been receiving tip-offs that the club was involved in funny third party deal business. And those questions are being asked from within Parramatta, too.
It’s understood Jennings’ deal is worth around $3 million over four years, although the Roosters contributed more than half of his $750,000 salary for this season.
That left the Eels to carry about $350,000 – a decent chunk of their alleged $570,000 breach for 2016.
Understandably, Nathan Peats and his wife are furious about being asked to leave Parramatta to remedy the mess.
Those close to Peats feel that the fairest way to solve the problem is to de-register the last player Parramatta signed – Jennings.
That’s also harsh on Jennings; but there was always going to be someone who gets seriously burned.
Peats is feeling the heat to make a call in the next 36 hours and his wife – who just returned to work in Sydney’s west after giving birth to the couple’s first child last year – is absorbing much of the stress.
The situation is not made easier by the fact Peats is one of the players who was owed third party deals and last year robbed of a sponsor car the club had promised him.
He’s since been given a lease car that’s counted toward Parramatta’s salary cap. The mess is a massive test for new NRL boss Todd Greenberg – not least of all because Jennings’ manager, Isaac Moses, is a close personal friend.
Then there’s the issue of the Titans – where Peats is being pushed - being controlled by the NRL.
League Central has a commercial imperative to have Parramatta competing for points in the interests of its broadcasters and sponsors. Is that not a conflict as well?
Rival clubs are watching the situation closely, wary the Titans might be given any sort of unfair advantage to ensure Peats is moved on as quickly as possible.
