The Parramatta Eels have been handed a 12-point penalty and fined heavily over salary cap breaches.
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“But they have to comply with the salary cap like every one of the other 15 clubs”.
Chairman Steve Sharp, chief executive John Boulos, head of football Daniel Anderson, deputy chairman Tom Issa and director Peter Serraro also face having their contracts deregistered by the NRL.
“As the governing body, we have a responsibility to act in the interests of the game for the long term”, Mr Greenberg said.
“The decision we’ve made gives you an eye to the future, it gives some hope to the club and I hope they take that”.
Combined with the wins they already recorded, they will now have to win at least 18 games this year for just the fifth time in the club’s history to make the finals.
The player’s manager Paul Sutton said that the mercurial five-eight, who has been one of the Eels’ best players this season, could now be forced out of the club, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Eels will have to move players to rival clubs before they can be considered eligible to compete for competition points this season. “They’ve got such quality and depth there and such motivation now”, Sterling told the Nine Network. I wanted them to hear it from us.
“I was desperate to make sure that (Integrity Unit boss) Nick (Weeks) and I faced them face to face this morning and they found out this news from us directly”.
“That’s the ray of sunshine this morning that has been a dark day and a dark couple of months”.
Club legend Peter Sterling attempted to find a positive in the disaster, arguing the Eels could still make the finals this season.
But there’s also talk the points penalty could be 12 points or more to drop them back to last place with very little chance of fighting their way back into the top eighth.
March 17 – Todd Greenberg is announced as the NRL’s new chief executive, and promises a thorough investigation into the club and third-party deals in the game.
Greenberg and Weeks held a meeting with Eels players and coaching staff in Parramatta on Tuesday morning. The NRL will not allow the players to simply take a 10 per cent across-the-board pay cut to fit in under the cap.
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At the club’s AGM on Monday night, Parramatta chairman Steve Sharp vowed to fall on his sword and resign if it spared the club being docked competition points.
