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Parramatta Eels: Superstar winger Semi Radradra caught up in salary cap fiasco

Posted by Jimmy on April 7, 2016 at 12:30am
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONNick Tabakoff Editor-at-Large The Daily TelegraphTHE Parramatta Eels’ current head of football, Daniel Anderson, is at the centre of new ­evidence the club guaranteed hundreds of thousands of dollars of third-party payments to star players including club captain Tim Mannah and gun winger Semi Radradra, in breach of NRL salary cap rules.Confidential Eels emails obtained by The Daily Telegraph also show Anderson was in active discussions with Eels chairman Steve Sharp and deputy chairman Tom Issa about solving the club’s salary cap problems by “obtaining TPA (third party agreement) support for any newly acquired or extended contract negotiations”.Another email gives an intriguing insight into the key role of TPAs in some players’ total packages at the Eels. It shows that on February 20, 2014, Anderson personally prepared Issa for the negotiation of Mannah’s contract until the end of the 2017 season.The email begins: “Tom, For your discussion (concerning ­Mannah’s contract)” — and goes on to outline a package to be offered that incorporates $225,000 of TPA payments, or $75,000 a year. This component forms an integral part of Mannah’s proposed three-year deal — with the TPAs apparently intrinsic to the contract. The payments beef up Mannah’s contract to “a total package worth $1,285,000 over three years”.Five days later Anderson sent another email to club officials outlining a beefed-up package for NSW Origin player Mannah worth $1.32 million, or $35,000 more than the initial offer, over three years — again, incorporating a guaranteed $225,000 in TPAs over the period. This appears to follow the negotiations with Mannah’s representatives.In another email to Anderson dated May 20, 2014, the contract of Eels star Semi Radradra, one of the NRL’s form players, is discussed. A representative of ­Radradra tells Anderson what he needs “to get this deal done”. He requests “an additional $35K TPA” for the remainder of 2014, adding Radradra “needs this cash urgently to send back home (to Fiji) for a family issue”.The email suggests Radradra be paid $1.375 million over four years to 2018, plus the $35,000 TPA for 2014, “to close this deal out”.Meanwhile, on March 17, 2014, Anderson sent another email, this time addressed to both Issa and Sharp, outlining the club’s dire salary cap situation for 2015 and the role of TPAs in solving it.Anderson notes in the email that, because of its salary cap problems, the club has “not ­catered” for a number of its ­players, including Vai Toutai, Willie Tonga, Joseph Paulo, Ben Smith and Ken Sio.He suggests offloading players such as “Chris Sandow, Mitchell Allgood, Brenden Santi, Ryan Morgan”, and offering “TPA support” for “any newly acquired or extended contract negotiations”.This appears to contradict the NRL’s salary cap rules, which require TPAs to be at “arm’s length”, and not to be organised as part of contract negotiations with the club.In recent weeks The Telegraph has revealed a raft of internal documents that point to a systemic culture of using TPAs to flout NRL salary cap rules. Anderson concludes in his email: “Bottom line is we are not healthy …. another issue is our dumped contracts (Cheyse Blair and Jake Mullaney) already ­occupy 140k in (the) 2nd tier ­(salary cap) next year”.In his Feb 20 email Anderson talks of offering Sandow a termination settlement, in the context of Eels salary cap issues. “We would have to allow for approximately 120k to be placed in 2015 Salary Cap.”There is no suggestion that any of the players mentioned in this article have done anything wrong.All of the emails in this story are from 2014, the year after Eels chairman Sharp and deputy chairman Issa took office. Recently, Sharp has defended the current Eels board’s track record, claiming that many of its problems have come from past administrations: “What’s different about the Eels these days is that we have better processes in place and an utter determination to improve our head office,” he said last month.http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/eels/parramatta-eels-superstar-winger-semi-radradra-caught-up-in-salary-cap-fiasco/news-story/da7613202fa929c1e53180c6c52f57de
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  • Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 12:35am
    Sadly, the leaker/s continue their war on the club. This time confidential emails. Hmm...kinda narrows the list of suspects me thinks.
    • coco > Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 6:25am
      It's the NRL getting everyone ready for the smashing we are going to receive
  • Snakey - Sack Dylan Brown April 7, 2016 at 12:36am

    Honestly, those calling for the board to dig in need to take a good hard look at this, and this is only the start.

    Everybody involved has to go, they should stand down for stupidity alone for leaving such a damning paper trail, IMBECILIC.

    • Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst > Snakey - Sack Dylan Brown April 7, 2016 at 7:36am
      Funny how a blog titled 'Anderson must go' was put up on this site, pretty much saying he was involved in the scandal then all off a sudden this story breaks this morning, I think we've found our mole Street Sweeper is his name.
    • Jim Tabone > Snakey - Sack Dylan Brown April 7, 2016 at 8:00am

      Just a question for you snake,

      Do you even have a clue about business. It appears you dont based on this reply.

      Its really simple, you send an email generally the email will be backed up so even if you delete it, by law you have to keep records for example emails available to recover them from a backup.

      If the NRL want to AUDIT the eels and get professional IT guys in and the club has been doing "sneeky stuff"

      Well they should about right now stand down. Proof is in the backups and fingerprints from the ISP.

      These MONGS we will call them for releasing this information are actually the IT guys.

      So if you want to know who the source is then find the manager of IT for PARRA. here is the culprit leaking information like this.

  • Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 12:52am
    RATS in the ranks. Aside from the obvious problems we have with the salary cap it's deeply embarrassing for the club to have confidential information about players' salaries, family issues and who we want to off-load.

    This is starting to resemble the Panama Papers damaging tax leaks fiasco.lol.
  • Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 1:08am
    I'm not making excuses for the club but the whole TPA thing is fundamentally flawed as many people here have pointed out. It needs to be torn down and replaced by something more simple.

    The arms-length rule is a dud and was doomed to failure from the outset. It is just another obstacle thrown in the path of players trying to earn a quid out of the game. Money is a dirty word in the NRL's mind - unless it's them banking it.

    Unfortunately I think our club will be made an example of and it will be the catalyst for the NRL to dismantle the TPA system. They won't want a full-blown audit of all NRL clubs TPA'ş. That would be too embarrassing for them.
    • Kramerica > Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 2:25am

      As you say Jimmy, it's the whole arms length rule that is the issue -as far as i can see, although i'm not sure that discussing TPA's and saying in emails x amount will be required in TPA's is an offense requiring massive sanctions. I certainly don't see the amounts mentioned propotionate to overall contract figures as anything unusual.

      As you say, the arms length rule is a dud.

      How can a TPA be truly "arms length"? Does this mean the club just sits there twidling it's thumbs until Mr. TPA miraculously turns up? I don't understand how this could possibly be the case in the real world - at any club.

      If DA states "we need to organise a TPA for x dollars for player y", couldn;t this mean we can make an offer but we need the players manager to source a TPA? I'm not sure these leaked emails are some sort of smoking gun at this point.

      Compared to the taped calls of the Westpac fellow in the news this arvo, for example, these emails are extremely vague.

      Probably best to file this article with the others I reckon - and wait for official word from the NRL

      "RATS in the ranks". - I think you've nailed it Jimmy :)

    • Nutcracker > Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 2:42am
      Mate, they can see this smoke in Western Australia. We are in trouble.
    • Angry Eel > Jimmy April 7, 2016 at 7:49am
      Doesn't this article prove that Parra made every effort to comply with the cap rather than completely rort it like the Storm or Bulldogs?
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