This time last year, Anthony Watmough was earning $700,000 a year – he was paid to eat well, train hard and push his body to places it wasn't meant to go. Right now, Watmough is working for free in his restaurant, Tokonoma.
"I'm learning the business from the bottom up," he said.
New job: Former Eels player Anthony Watmough has been working at his restaurant as he learns the trade. Photo: Getty ImagesHe's doing it because he sees a future in the business. And he will need a strong income stream to maintain the lifestyle he enjoys with his wife and children. Truth be known, he needs to be busy – he's been bored.
But here's the problem: Parramatta have stopped paying Watmough, despite their obligations under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. He checked his bank account last month and there was nothing from the Eels. Zip.
Passion: Anthony Watmough at Tokonoma. Photo: InstagramIt turns out the club has decided not to pay him because of a dispute about whether he is entitled to another big sum of money for season 2018. The Eels are taking the line that Watmough didn't have a contract for 2018, but he says he has an option in his favour. It's a tricky negotiation.
But you need to question their decision to stop paying a bloke money he is perfectly entitled to. There is no dispute about his 2017 contract. And you will remember that when Parramatta needed to get under the cap earlier this year, it was Watmough who was retired by the club to let the team play for points.
They are playing hardball with a man they signed to turn around the culture of the club, and it will be interesting to see how the Eels players react when they learn how the club is treating a bloke they admired and respected. It's not Watmough's fault the club gave him a deal that seemed too good to be true. You can't then not pay him because they were poorly run at the time the contract was agreed. But Watmough is now the one suffering.
The Eels had a lengthy meeting with Watmough's agent early this week, but not much was resolved. The decision to stop paying him was made by Max Donnelly, the club's administrator. It will be interesting to see how new CEO Bernie Gurr deals with the mess.
Replies
Gee Poor Watmough, working for free in a restaurant he owns.
Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!
Entire thing revolves around him saying he had an option in his favour and we owe him for it.
Max is saying he might have had an option but he was deemed to have a career ending injury so he couldn't take it anyway.
The grey area between him and the club is how much did we push him to take the payout and was his injury trumped up a bit at the time by us and him so he could get an insurance payout he never got?
Guess this is what happens when a Club asks a player to retire hurt under a compensation claim to ease the cap investigation and then the insurance company bucks up. You only have to listen to his words in the interview when he announced it. Was IMO happy to take a fall for the team, for a quick payout and retirement fund. Now it has backfired on both parties!
Exactly whats going on.
How long after he retired should we keep paying him 2020?
Until his contract ended.
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