Reni Maitua, Cheyse Blair and Daniel Harrison are among the former National Rugby League side Parramatta players "alleged to have received extra payments above those disclosed to the NRL," according to Adrian Proszenko of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.
The trio "are mentioned in the breach notice that the governing body has handed to the Eels as part of its investigations into salary cap rorts." The development "marks the first time the names of players mentioned in the breach notice have been published." There "is no suggestion the trio were complicit in cheating the system." Maitua, Blair and Harrison "were among about a dozen players deemed surplus." It "was one of the biggest cleanouts in the history of the blue and golds." Well-placed sources said that "the extra payments may have been provided as an inducement for some contracted players to leave." The "mass cleanout" is viewed internally "as the catalyst for the salary cap debacle the club currently finds itself in." The situation effectively "left the Eels at the mercy of their player managers and the flow-on effects are viewed as one of the reasons Parramatta overspent the salary cap for five of their past six seasons" (SMH, 5/10).
DRESSING ROOM OFF LIMITS: In Sydney, Chris Barrett wrote the team's dressing room and the chairman's suite at Pirtek Stadium "will be off limits for the five suspended Parramatta officials on Friday night" -- unless they want to risk having the NRL retrospectively remove more competition points from Brad Arthur's team.
The NRL agreed in the New South Wales Supreme Court on Monday that it could not instruct Chair Steve Sharp, directors Tom Issa and Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous and Football Manager Daniel Anderson "on how they should carry out their duties during the show-cause period of the salary cap saga but the governing body has made it clear that when it reaches a final determination on the Eels' penalty next month it will frown upon any actions that extend beyond the basic." That "includes performing formal duties in the corporate hospitality areas at Parramatta's home ground, as blazer-wearing directors would ordinarily do, or hanging around in the dressing room after full-time" (SMH, 5/10).
