Will Hopoate's Barrister to serve legal papers to Parramatta.

The barrister acting for Parramatta centre William Hopoate will serve legal papers to the club on Monday morning as a result of the Eels attempting to change the terms – and the fee – of the contract he signed after months of protracted negotiations with their former chief executive Scott Seward.Hopoate's manager Tyran Smith has held numerous discussions with Parramatta's football operations manager Daniel Anderson in recent weeks as a result of the club failing to register the contract the NSW State of Origin player signed before Seward resigned from his position six weeks ago.His barrister Julieanne Levick confirmed on Saturday night that she would ensure Parramatta honoured the contract Hopoate had signed.Advertisement"The fact is it's a valid and enforceable contract," Levick said.The club's marquee recruit Kieran Foran came close to terminating his deal with the club when Parramatta wanted to change the structure of the contract he'd signed.Foran's four-year-deal, which was worth $4.8milllion for him to leave Manly at the end of this season, was in danger of falling through but he decided at the eleventh hour to honour a mutually agreed deal for an abridged agreement.However, the process in which Foran originally signed - the deal included an unprecedented $1m payout if he left the club while his management discovered two clauses that weren't discussed - embarrassed Parramatta.It was also understood Hopoate's legal counsel would challenge the notion that Parramatta has proposed to Smith that Seward was acting beyond the powers of his office when he put the offer to Hopoate.The barrister would argue that no-one would accept the notion a chief executive was acting beyond the scope of his authority by negotiating a deal with a player/employee.Hopoate was said to have rejected offers from rival clubs while he negotiated the deal with Parramatta because he wanted to stay with the Eels.If he was to part ways with the club now there wouldn't be many opportunities available for Hopoate elsewhere in the NRL because of salary cap restrictions and most, if not all, rival clubs having no room left for him on their rosters. It was the same dilemma that Foran faced. The Eels management has been ordered by the NRL to get the governance of their club in order after recently being fined $465,000 by the code's governing body for salary cap breaches. The NRL also threatened to dock them four premiership points unless the club undertakes an independent governance review and implements the recommendations.Adding to Hopoate's frustration is that it was reported in June that he was out of pocket after third-party sponsorships promised to him by Parramatta unravelledIt was also reported that Beau Scott's management has expressed their concerns regarding the third party aspects of his agreement since the NSW Origin forward signed to join Parramatta in 2016.

"I agree. That's his role on the show - to be the contrarian!But I felt his performance last night had a bit more personal stuff going on. He got a bit agitated and so did Braith. I reckon something was said at the pre show rehersal. "

"Chiefy, the tricky part here is that media speculation that Matterson was one of the cards on the table is not the same as Matterson formally being a card on the table. Hence the other way to interpret the post is that Matterson has went on record…"

"Thx for posting Matto's post, Eli. That post says it all. Matto was not involved until given a fait accompli, but of course Storm-friendly media need to paint his as "stubborn". This is called "cooling out the mark", which is where the loser (Storm)…"

Replies

Crocker Smhitt August 1, 2015 at 11:02pm

More obstacles for BA to overcome. Must be hard to get the team up, with all these contractual f*#k ups.
Hugo August 1, 2015 at 11:03pm

The signing of hoppa has been an unmitigated disaster from the start. Absolute woeful player. Unfortunately he has the eels over a barrel here and we will probably have to honor the contact. If it was up to me I would stick him in RM cup where he belongs until he asked for a release. The idea any other club would be interested in him is plainly ridiculous especially for the money the eels were paying.
- Hugo > Hugo August 1, 2015 at 11:14pm
  
  Absolutely
- Carloeel > Hugo August 2, 2015 at 8:02am
  
  X2
- My Bob > Hugo August 2, 2015 at 8:07am
  
  "Absolute woeful player". Really? On the same level as Kelly? Slightly OTT don't you think, he is a current SOO player and while he hasn't lived up to expectations he has great hands and is clearly NRL standard.
- Stevo > Hugo August 2, 2015 at 8:53am
  
  He was never going to come back to the NRL in the form that he was in before he left, his contract should have been performanced based at best
Sticks and Stones August 1, 2015 at 11:08pm

If Hoppa has such high morals and ethics he should give back most of the 1.5m he received for the average performances in that last 2 years.
Gower Power August 1, 2015 at 11:09pm

What a shame if Hoppa leaves. I'm sure there are many other clubs jumping at the chance to sign him on big money
Sticks and Stones August 1, 2015 at 11:09pm

Parra spent so much on him in his time away. He should just agree to what he is worth or go leech somewhere else.
Xman August 1, 2015 at 11:11pm

So he wants to serve papers to the club and then next year run out in our colours, how the hell can that work...