Parramatta Eels a fractured and divided mess
Rebecca Wilson, The Daily Telegraph
July 1, 2016 8:00pm
THIS is a story about two Georges, a footy club brought to its knees by stupidity and greed, and a pair of players who were given the universe only to return the favour with a two-finger salute.
When NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg docked Parramatta 12 competition points at the beginning of May, he failed to perform a crucial act of mercy.
Those points were left hanging in the breeze. They are still there, keeping the Eels ridiculously in the top eight. Because five half-witted Eels officials threatened armageddon, the NRL was forced to wade through 1200 pages of legalese and the same egotists told them that if they didnt read it, there would be hell to pay.
Greenberg and NRL commissioner John Grant put their heads together and decided the long-suffering Eels fans, the team and the coach deserved a shot at unity even if that was a forlorn gesture that would always end in tears.
They postponed the inevitable. They succumbed to the threat from the officials without doing a John Quayle and telling them the game was over. Parramattas lunatics were running the asylum.
Lets make Parramatta fans happy, they said, by leaving the points there, leading the fans up a garden path and then pulling the lovely carpet of flowers from under them because the real world will still insist the points are eventually gone.
The result a total disaster for the club, the players, the fans and the NRL.
Furthermore, two player managers have used the chaos and lack of leadership everywhere they looked to take control of two star players who are now on the brink of bringing a club down, as well as destroying themselves.
They are both called George. George Mimis is in charge of Kieran Foran and has managed to convince everyone until recent weeks that Foran is a slightly misunderstood young man who really just needs him (and not the club or the head coach) to father him through a tough time in his life.
George booked Kieran into rehab in Brisbane and the next week we are told the captain with the personal issues was in a Brisbane nightclub with former brothel owner Eddie Hayson.
The sightings continued. A night gambling and losing $75,000 on Forans TAB account in Sydney. Another night on the northern beaches gambling on the State of Origin. Moves back to the family home, only to move out again.
The cry for help from Foran climaxed in a call to police last Friday night where the player was once again in deep trouble.
The penny dropped for the club this week when they saw Foran in even more strife, failing to turn up to injury rehab, checking out of Georges hand-picked rehab and losing the captaincy.
Mimis does not return calls unless one of the two journalists he has on side calls him. He has not once admitted Foran had anywhere near the problems he obviously has and needed to be placed in the full-time care of experts.
Two more breaches and Foran wont have a club or a future. More importantly, Foran needs genuine and full-time help, monitored by experts, which will probably require serious rehab in the US.
Then there is the other George. His last name is Christodoulou and he has been managing the affairs of Semi Radradra.
This George helped send Semi back (suddenly and unexpectedly) to Fiji in the middle of Parramattas season, dangled a lucrative rugby contract at the NRL, was of course rejected and now his client has been arrested on his return to Australia for untested domestic violence allegations made by his former partner (which Semi denies).
Christodoulou has overseen Semis many returns to Fiji where reportedly, each time, more money is demanded from the Eels because George did not negotiate a big enough contract in the first place ($250,000).
The club is sick of George and George. They believe the stage managing of the star pair has gone too far but what they dont realise is that if the Eels bosses had sucked up their punishment, the half-witted five had accepted it was over, the club would be in better shape now to deal with a crisis.
The two Georges would not have been allowed to have free rein like they do today at Parramatta.
The Mitchell Pearce model would have been applied to Foran club counselling, genuine rehab, no publicity and a mended player at the end of it.
The NRL must accept their part of the blame too. Today we have a completely wrecked football club whose fans are at the end of their tether.
If the points had gone when they should have, and the stars managed properly by a club replete with professionals, the proud blue and gold might still have some life in it.
Instead, it is a fractured and divided mess.
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