Eels Blogs

Would it not fall under his jurisdiction to grow the brand, promote the game, and protect the 16 clubs that make up this business model in order for it to be successful and compete against the other codes?

Not only does the relentless negative media have a detrimental affect on the Parramatta Eels club/team/brand/supporters, but also the organisation he heads up and the code in general.

While the afl (GWS) and soccer (WSW) continue to make huge inroads with junior participation and popularity (in Western Sydney) creating positive headlines, Mr Greenburg is as quiet as a corpse while one of the real jewels under his watch gets hammered daily by the media and left high and dry to fend for itself.

Except for a blundering Chairman attempting to hose down the situation and the CEO releasing statements on the club website opposing media articles, what assistance has Mr Greenburg given the club while the investigation is pending to lessen the damage being caused to both the club and the game? 

Why is he not consistently making strong public statements in regard to all of the media speculation and innuendo, inturn embarrassing the commentators and journalists who fabricate this crap by shaming them when they are wrong or totally off the mark with their reporting in order to protect the organisation(s) he presides over?

"We will gather all of the evidence and respond in due course, if we find there has been systematic breaches penalties will apply"

That simply does not cut it, with all of the damage that has been done over the past 3 months while this has dragged on and on, and a decision still pending.

The NRL are now in 24/7 meltdown to deflect any negative reporting about the embarrassing problems with their muti-million dollar bunker and inept refereeing, but have shown absolutely no leadership, backbone or urgency to step in and protect one of their core assets that has a 25,000 strong fan base and steadily falling behind the other codes it competes geographically with.

Maybe the impending sanction cannot come quick enough for Mr Greenburg to take the heat and attention off the bunker and refereeing, giving the agenda driven media wolves another month of eels propaganda to fill the papers and airwaves with instead.

As we so often hear these days from the players, clubs and even Mr Greenburg himself  "it is a business now" Well, I don't know of another multi-million dollar "business" where the CEO would not be outspoken, support and assist at every opportunity one of it's biggest contributors, or at the very least step in and attempt to minimise any damage being created to it.

What a great season 2016 is already living up to, "the bunker" has failed, the refereeing is worse, TPA's have been exposed as a joke, the MRC is totally incompetent, and for the icing on the cake, Round 9 is already upon us and the Parramatta Club, team and fans are still waiting with baited breath for a decision to be made whether we have a chance to play in finals football or our season is dead already. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the gap between the Broncos, Cowboys and the rest of teams that make up the numbers is getting bigger....

In case you missed the news Mr Greenburg, while you are busy investigating the eels past infringements under the microscope....

The Cowboys just re-signed Lachlan Coote for 1 million dollars over 2 years, effectively knocking back offers of $700k per season to do so, Michael Morgan has just become a Test player, which no doubt triggers a pay increase, James Tamou another Cowboys Test player looks certain to re-sign with the club...for market value of course, and Matt Gillett a Broncos Test player is also re-signing with his club for $200k less per season.

Please don't put yourself out by "forensically" investigating these two clubs, they are clearly salary cap and TPA's compliant Mr Greenburg. They have 9 current Australian players between them, on top of their Kiwi internationals and Origin players who are yet to crack the Test arena, and they haven't shed a single player to accommodate them all.

"The competition has never been closer" as you preach.

Do we merely put that down to good management by the clubs and a simple show of loyalty from their players who are willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of dollars each per year? Or another one to put down in the blind eye basket? There appears to be more "blind eyes" than fair & equal governance being exercised across all 16 teams in the competition.

If the outcome for the eels is a favourable one, and it was your strategy all along not to feed the media anything in the way of comment or print until your investigation concluded, kudos to you.

However, if the penalty imposed robs the current team of any opportunity to play in finals football and punishes the 25,000 loyal paying members who support them, then your deafening silence, the leaks that came out from within your organisation and the damage you have done to the Parramatta Club is appalling.

It is equal to the unprofessional mismanagement, leadership and behaviour of the eels previous administrations that created this very mess the club finds itself in today. 

So much for appointing a CEO "who knows the game"