Revisit the Eels season from hell and see where 2016 went wrong
FATIMA KDOUH, The Daily Telegraph
October 14, 2016 6:00am
Subscriber only
SUCCESS or failure? That’s how NRL clubs judge a season.
But each campaign is made up of small moments that make or break a tilt at premiership glory. These are the moments that mattered for the Parramatta Eels.
March
SEASON FROM HELL BEGINS
The salary cap saga which began last year was re-ignited in March after revelations the NRL’s Third Party Agreement rules were breached by the club. The new breaches and subsequent punishment would trigger a domino effect through to the end of the season.
March: rounds 2 – 4
EELS MAKE BLISTERING START
Despite the fresh salary cap allegations, the Eels were flying on the field. They kicked off their campaign with three straight wins which included toppling the defending premiers, the Cowboys, at Pirtek in round 2. More importantly the win showcased a new found steel in defence and that attitude would hold them in good stead further into the season as the ramifications of the cap scandal continued to unfold.
May 3rd
CAP PUNISHMENT HITS HOME
Sitting 5th on the ladder and with six wins from nine games, the Eels received their punishment for breaking cap rules. The NRL docked them the 12 points which had already been accumulated, fined them $1m and stripped the club of its Auckland Nines title. They were also unable to accrue any more competition points until they were cap compliant for 2016.
May 11th
PEATS MAKES WAY
The first cap casualty was hooker Nathan Peats. He was asked to move on by the club in a bid to meet salary cap requirements. The decision to move him on left a sour taste in mouths of Eels fans. Peats agreed to move on to help save Parramatta’s season and signed with the Titans for the rest of the year.
May 12th
WATMOUGH’S MEDICAL RETIREMENT
The NRL granted Anthony Watmough a medical retirement for a chronic knee injury to help ease salary cap pressure on the club. Watmough still had two more years to run on his contract and wasn’t sighted on the field in 2016 as he struggled to recover from the injury.
June 3rd
PAULO HEADS TO RAIDERS
The next notable exit was man mountain Junior Paulo. Paul had already agreed to terms with the Raiders for 2017/2018 but with the Eels desperate to free-up cash, they agreed to an early release. Paulo’s time at the club wasn’t without the drama. The prop was busted playing in a third-grade rugby match for Oatley in May.
June 18th
WHERE ON EARTH IS SEMI RADRADRA?
The Eels were once again sent into a tailspin after speculation star winger Semi Radradra had walked out on the club. The allegations were denied and the club insisted Radradra was only in Fiji to visit family and would return to see out the remainder of his contract. The 24-year old returned to Australia on June 30th and was detained by police at the airport and later charged with domestic violence offences.
July 21st
SEX, DRUGS AND COREY NORMAN
While Corey Norman’s star was rising on the field thanks to a string of impressive performances, the playmaker couldn’t stay out of the headlines off it. In May, he was hit with drugs charges and issued a warning for consorting with criminal after a night out at the Star casino in Sydney. He was convicted in July but then the ruling overturned after a successful appeal in September. In July, Norman was embroiled in a sex video scandal after footage of him performing a sexual act was shopped to the media. The drama culminated in the NRL suspending him for eight weeks, effectively ending his season, and fined him $20,000.
JULY
FORAN DRAMA COMES TO A HEAD
After a promising start to his Eels career things started to unravel for Kieran Foran off the field. He was granted leave in late April to deal with personal issues after it was reported he overdosed on prescription medication. He returned in round 11 but then suffered a season ending shoulder injury the following week. In the end he only played nine games for the club and then was granted a release from his contract on July 29th.
July 23
THE FINAL HUMILIATION
By round 19 the Eels were faced with the insurmountable task of winning eight from eight to make the finals and their hopes were quickly dashed after they fell to a three-game losing streak. They finished the season on 18 points with fans left ruing what might have been. Had they not been stripped of the 12 competition points they would have finished with 30 points and eighth on the ladder.
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