The cracks in Parramatta's sinking premiership campaign appear to be widening with Eels skipper Nathan Cayless left filthy at the leaking of his impending retirement.
With the one-time NRL title favourites already battling to turnaround a horror start to the season and with several under-performing stars put on notice by chief executive Paul Osborne - Cayless on Wednesday revealed his disappointment at having his thunder stolen.
Cayless said he decided during the off-season that this would be his last campaign, claiming the poor run of results and speculation over his place in the team and his captaincy of the club had not impacted the call.
He had planned to make the announcement later this week, and while Cayless refused to point the finger at anyone, it appears certain the leak came from within the club.
The 32-year-old - who became the first player to captain the one club in 200 games last weekend - said he informed staff and team-mates of his decision before the first game of the year.
"I made the decision a long time ago, in the off-season before we started training, it's just unfortunate the way it came about - I'm disappointed that it came out like this," Cayless said.
"I really wanted to announce my retirement in front everyone.
"It's done and there's nothing you can do about it - I don't know how it came about ... it was out of my control."
Keeping the faith
Divisions from within the club are the last thing the club needs as they attempt to put their season back on track against Canberra on Monday night.
Coach Daniel Anderson revealed he had organised individual meetings with several players on Wednesday in a bid to get to the bottom of the lacklustre performances.
Anderson has kept faith in the same group which has failed to fire so far in 2010, but Cayless said no-one was immune from the axe - especially him in his last year of football.
"I certainly don't want it to happen that I get picked just because of what I've done or because I've been captain for so long," Cayless said.
"It's a team game and you've got to make sure that everyone's playing as well as we can.
"Your form dictates where you play - I've spoken to the coach and if you play well enough you'll be in first grade."
Cayless' sentiments were echoed by Anderson.
"As a rule of thumb if any player in the Parramatta team's form deteriorates to the point where I have to make a change, then I will," Anderson said.
"It's not just Nathan, it's every other player in this team has got accountability and has got responsibilities for the team and we're trying to rectify where we are on the competition table right now."
Anderson said the club was not panicking at it's 1-3 win-loss record, but admitted the time was fast approaching when the club needed to start stringing some wins together.
"I've been in the game long enough to know that you ace adversity at some stage of the year," Anderson said.
"I would have preferred it to be at some other stage of the year rather than the start ... we need to play better for longer periods of time and be proud of our efforts."
Replies
Geez that's a bit harsh dont you think ? Why aren't the dogs getting this kind of media, they're in the same boat as us. 1-3 after four rounds, and they were second favourites at the beginning of the season.
Cayless must have seen this coming , i mean every one on this site called for him to be axed this week .
THE EELS will now start winning a few --- we will come back from the dead to take out the comp
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