Firm stance...Eels boss Paul Osborne. Source: The Daily Telegraph
A TOP rugby league player manager last night claimed Parramatta's controversial move to suspend all negotiations with its off-contract stars could backfire badly.
Eels chief executive Paul Osborne told The Daily Telegraph yesterday he had put contract talks with Feleti Mateo, Kris Keating, Eric Grothe and Krisan Inu "on hold" until the players - and team - started improving.
But David Riolo, whose company manages Mateo, Keating and Inu, said Parramatta had not told him of their decision to suspend talks - and would be shocked if they did.
"He [Osborne] certainly hasn't told us yet," Riolo said.
"It would be interesting to stop negotiations with players that are in demand at other clubs.
"It would be an interesting tactic and they would do so at their peril.
"We have had a couple of discussions with Kris and Feleti but not had any talks about Krisnan. They are stopping negotiations with Krisnan that haven't even started!
"That is Paul's prerogative. I just hope he tells us. But we're not concerned. To be fair, it's only round four. There is no panic at any clubs at the moment."
It is understood Osborne and Riolo did hold talks about the situation late night but the Eels CEO would not reveal details.
Rival club CEOs privately backed Osborne's no-nonsense stance.
Newcastle yesterday confirmed their strong interest in Mateo and will hold an internal management meeting today.
"We will be talking about a priority list," Knights football manager Warren Smiles said.
"He [Mateo] is a player we have spoken about in the past.
"We have to work through the current players and our salary cap.
"We won't be rushing into anything but the market moves on. You can't be twiddling your thumbs."
The Daily Telegraph revealed this week that the Warriors are poised to make Mateo an offer up to $400,000 a season.
Parramatta's offer should be about $230,000 a year.
It was unlikely Newcastle could match or better the Warriors offer.
Grothe is currently on $180,000 a season but will have to take a pay cut of up to $80,000 to remain an Eel. Osborne said on Monday his players coming off contract needed to improve to be retained.
"I will tell you right now we won't be re-signing anyone at the moment," Osborne said.
"Because of their form, we won't be rushing into anything. We have taken our foot off the pedal with negotiations with all of them."
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