Former National Rugby League side Parramatta Eels player Anthony Watmough stands "to reap" a A$300,000 ($226,400)-plus "personal windfall" if the club is successful in a legal action against the NRL's insurer, QBE, over its "denial of a career-ending payout" to Watmough, according to Nick Tabakoff of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Eels struck an "unprecedented deal" to pay Watmough between 20-30% of any damages they win against QBE. This legal deal was a "key part of his severance package from the club." Parramatta’s action "could open the floodgates" to similar arrangements in the NRL, as medical retirements in the code "soared" over the past year. The deal was struck when Parramatta agreed to pay Watmough a final package understood to have been A$1.2M ($910,000), being the full A$600,000 ($453,5000) a year "he was due to be paid on his playing contract by the Eels." The settlement between the Eels and Watmough did not include A$450,000 ($340,000) in unauthorized third-party agreements the player had been promised for '17 and '18 "under the previous Parramatta board, which was sacked by the NSW government last year." The Eels are reportedly in "advanced stages of preparing a lawsuit against QBE" for A$1.2M ($910,000), the full amount of the contract that the club "has had to wear" for the '17 and '18 seasons. A 20-30% stake of this "could see the former star forward pocket" anything between A$240,000 ($181,120) and A$360,000 ($271,680) (THE AUSTRALIAN, 4/19).
