Don’t kid yourself, if the Eels are found guilty of orchestrating illegal TPAs then we will be punished by the NRL. There can be no alternative. The NRL has shown countless times that it is very sensitive to media pressure and it will want to send a message. This is pretty serious. This isn’t a case of mismanagement and incompetence, like the second-tier cap mess, we’re talking about deliberate cheating. It won’t matter if it all happened under the previous administration; the club must be held accountable for any illegal activities. That said, the severity of the punishment is very much up for debate. I think it’s pointless trying to predict what the punishment will be; we don’t have all the details and we don’t know the extent of the breaches, if any.
That’s not my concern anyway. I’m concerned that the NRL will be in an even stronger position to demand that the club accept changes in its governance that would see the NRL have a strong influence over how the club is operated. It already controls three clubs (Tigers, Knights, & Titans), and has a strong influence over the Dragons. None of these clubs are doing well, on and off the field. If they were then perhaps I wouldn’t be as worried. But with this fresh scandal, the NRL could easily say to us: “look at you guys, it’s just one big mess after the other. You need our help to effect proper management. If you allow us to appoint independent directors of our choosing onto your board then we won’t punish you, or at least it won’t be as severe”. Should we be compliant? Or should we defy them and say: “No! Our problems relate to poor governance under the previous administration. We are repairing the damage and getting our house in order. We were given this mandate by our members. If you decide to punish us then so be it, but we will not allow you to have any control over our club!”. Would you tolerate deducted points next season? Because I think we’re headed that way.
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i think we are definitely going to loose points at this rate and the new board should stand strong although some marketing and educating supporters into that story would help. One EE is great for getting a full understanding of past board trouble and the bigger picture. The majority though are people online oblivious to board changes and just think its the same board stuffing up on loop.
They were punished retrospectively and fined.
If we are continuing to conceal payments, that is under the current administration and we should face the consequences.
Anything organised by Spagnolo is long ago and we should not be accountable.
If we are held accountable next year for his alleged nefarious dealings we should challenge it through the courts.
But the club would be guilty. There will need to be some measure of clear punishment. We can't look like we've gotten away with it. It won't matter if the current administration is absolved of guilt. Besides, I think the NRL would threaten us with deducted points so they can enforce governance changes according to how they see fit, which is what I'm really concerned with. This is a political decision, not one based on whether the punishment fits the crime.
So if the eels have to go to these lengths just to compete (and get the spoon in a couple of those seasons) any reasonably intelligent human being would say what are all the other clubs doing. Surely Dave smith the super banker can work this much out and cut the bs about the most even competition. We have barely any rep players in our squad yet the roosters as an example have an international or state of origin backline and most of their pack. So if parra have to go these lengths to pay average players to be competitive what are some of these other teams paying people or are we to believe that all of these rep players are happy to receive half of what these average players are getting, please that is just insulting...
Im not excusing what parra have done but I just wish smith the farkwit would stop treating us all like fools
And I want us to take all the medicine we deserve so we remember this for a long time to come and start to make the changes needed to ensure this can't happen again - we need to make strides in transparency and accountability of our board and administration. No ifs and no buts. It sucks, but if we've done the dodgy we deserve the punishment.
Why not Both? I've seen many who can both!!
The successful clubs keep the NRL at a distance and undoubtedly cheat the cap mercilessly through ill-gotten TPA's. It's the worst kept secret in the game.
The salary cap is a farce. Totally and utterly.
Keep the NRL as far away as possible. They administer the Titans, Tigers and Knights, and they are all basket cases. The same will happen here if they take over.
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