It can surely get no worse for Parramatta.
After the most wretched period that any club could ever find itself enduring that has included, but is not limited to, a salary cap scandal, boardroom dysfunction, drugs charges, a missing player, police investigations and player walkouts, the Eels have surely hit rock bottom now that the NRL has officially imposed its penalty on the club.
A season that started out with so much promise has descended into total abject catastrophe, most likely costing the club a return to the finals for the first time since 2009 as well as its reputation, dignity and ability to position itself as a title force in the foreseeable future.
It is a rotten situation for a team that has tried so hard against all such odds on the paddock, a team that has performed week in and week out despite the constant string of challenges.
Even on the darkest of nights, waking up in the coldest of sweats, the most pessimistic executive, coach or fan could not have dreamt up the extraordinary hellscape that the Eels have found themselves in this year.
Parramatta started the season only narrowly avoiding a four-point salary cap penalty. Within two months the NRL would swoop following a very public airing of the club’s systemic salary cap rorting.
The evidence mounted but the board – led by chairman Steve Sharp – stood firm, denying that the club had breached NRL rules by guaranteeing third-party agreements to players past and present.
Even after the penalty of 12 competition points, a $1m fine, the loss of the Auckland Nines and the deregistration of five senior officials, Sharp remained defiant, launching an ill-fated legal action against the NRL after the interim ruling in May.
Their star recruit Kieran Foran – who almost didn’t arrive at the club thanks to a clause in his contract that the NRL refused to register – has seemingly walked out of the club and his four-year, $4.8m deal after just nine games.
Appointed captain before playing a single game for the Eels, he has been a near daily headline after the breakdown of his relationship, an overdose that saw him hospitalised, his admission into a rehabilitation clinic, an alleged gambling addiction, his relationship with gambler and former brothel owner Eddy Hayson and reported friction with Eels coaching staff over his recuperation program following a season-ending shoulder injury.
He was fined and stripped of the captaincy before astonishingly walking out on the club, taking an indefinite leave from the game.
Semi Radradra, the club’s most popular player and the most dominant winger in the game, briefly went missing before being found in Fiji.
He was threatening a defection to French rugby union when it was revealed his former partner had filed an AVO against the Eels winger. He was arrested at Sydney airport on his return and hit with domestic violence charges.
Corey Norman, arguably the club’s best player throughout 2016, faces court over drug possession charges this week.
Junior Paulo, who was in career-best form, left the Eels for Canberra in a mid-season move but not before embarrassing the game when he was caught playing lower-grade rugby union.
He would not be the only player to leave, with hardworking hooker Nathan Peats forced to the Gold Coast so the Eels could get themselves back under the salary cap and be eligible for premiership points. It was a shift that could have cost Peats an Origin berth as he was very much in contention before the disruption of his move to the Titans.
Usain Bolt would have struggled to keep up with the ongoing string of Parramatta debacles in 2016.
So it is all the more remarkable that the Eels have performed with such dedication and resilience on the paddock. The team has won 10 of 16 games – including four of seven since being whacked with their salary cap penalty – and still rank third in the NRL in defence.
And it is these core tenets and these characteristics and these players that the new Parramatta must build around.
There can be no more guff. There can be no more working the edges. There can be no room for rorters, politicians, flakiness or fragility. If the Eels are to be taken seriously, they need to be as tough off the field as they have been on it.
The NRL has already banned Sharp and four other officials. In my opinion the rest of the board should have the decency to walk as well to give the club a clear break from the past.
Brad Arthur’s performance this year is coach of the year stuff. He should be the central figure of the Eels, the maker of all football decisions, the man who defines the culture and the character of what the Eels look like going forward.
There should be few qualms – and there most likely aren’t as it appeared the Eels were happy to let him go – that Foran has walked out on the club. If Radradra wants to go, the Eels should put him in reserve grade until they get a deal they are ready to accept. Norman has been an outstanding player this year – and seemingly wants to remain an Eel – but the club can show no leniency if he is found guilty.
Whatever money is freed up from those should be used to sign players of talent and high character. Jarryd Hayne is the obvious choice after he missed selection to Rio for the rugby sevens.
After being battered into submission this year, the Eels’ fans deserve the hope that Hayne would bring to a tough side coached by Arthur. All recruitment needs to tick off talent, character and an ability to help the Eels in the future.
Clean slates are rare. Fresh starts don’t happen often. Parramatta, as a club, must take this opportunity to build again from the ashes. They won’t get a better chance to set about the construction of a new and brighter future.
