Eels Blogs

The Parramatta Eels have been under the microscope in recent months over their recruitment and retention strategy, having tried and failed to keep Marata Niukore and Isaiah Papali’i from the clutches of rival clubs.

At the same time, they have been locked in painstaking talks with a host of other players, among them key figures Clint Gutherson (who re-signed over the weekend, more below), Reed Mahoney and Junior Paulo.

The slow progress of talks has prompted claims the Eels have been lowballing players with offers aimed to keep them on the cheap, an accusation McElduff finds galling.

“Let’s come to the lowballing,” McElduff said in an exclusive interview with News Corp.

“To suggest we are lowballing is absurd. We have a retention strategy and we spend 100 percent of the salary cap.

“Unfortunately, there is also an external market for players and sometimes our offer it is not enough. The reality of the player market is that some clubs are willing to pay more to attract players.

“As a club there comes a point when you can’t go any higher otherwise you create problems in future years.

“We want to keep all our players. We try to compete on things other than price. It is like most things in business — if you compete purely on price you are probably going to lose because there is always someone who will pay more.

“As a club, our goal is to create a great place for people to come to work. We have improved dramatically over the last five years, we offer players the chance to play in a winning team with good coaching, good training facilities, good player welfare and a great stadium.

“We see this as a real value proposition for our players. We all have the same salary cap limit and the reality of rugby league is that the more successful you are on the field, the greater the market value of your players.”

While much of the attention has fallen on the decisions of Niukore and Papalii’i to depart at the end of 2022, the Eels have had some notable victories.

Reagan Campbell-Gillard initially indicated he would head to market but ultimately re-signed with the Eels on a long-term deal.

Crucially, the club reached a breakthrough in talks with Gutherson on Friday and Saturday, tying him to the club until the end of 2025.

Their priority now is to keep Mahoney and Paulo — the former has attracted interest from Canterbury while the latter has spoken to the Dolphins, but is expected to sign a new deal with the Eels.

“We will do whatever we can,” McElduff said.

“What I can say is that we will trying to manage the club for both the short and the longer term. Over the last few years, we haven’t lost many players.

“Our on-field performance continues to improve year-on-year meaning our players are now in higher demand.

“I think this is a positive for the club. We see ourselves as a development club. Players come to the club and get better.

“We are losing both Isaiah and Marata in 2023. The reality is their market value has increased significantly since they came to the Eels and we have a salary cap limit.

“The price others clubs are willing to pay says something about our club and our ability to develop players. It is all about continuous improvement which requires some reflection.

“We won’t get everything right, we do make mistakes but I think over the course of the last five years we have gotten a lot of things right.”

Asked wether he had a message for the club’s fans, McElduff said: “There is something about the club, the coaches and what we do that makes people better. We have five juniors in the Emerging Blues squad.

“Fifteen years ago Parramatta was a factory for developing players. We lost our way from 2010-2016 but we are now getting back to where we should be both on and off the field.

“That is the message I would like people to be reading about.”