Eels salary cap scandal: NRL SuperCoach turned on head — for good and bad

EELS players are — or at least were — the hottest property in SuperCoach because they have the best bye schedule of any team.

THE salary cap crisis couldn’t have happened to a worse club for SuperCoaches.

Eels players are — or at least were — the hottest property in SuperCoach because they have the best bye schedule of any team.

In fact, prior to the announcement of club preliminary sanctions, three Eels featured in the top 10 most purchased players this round — Semi Radradra, Corey Norman and Nathan Peats.

However, bye planning has now been turned on its head — for better and worse — following revelations 12 points will be stripped from Parramatta’s 2016 tally, a $1 million fine handed down and five club officials potentially deregistered.

But perhaps the most crucial fact for SuperCoaches is that players will need to be offloaded to get the Eels under the salary cap and ensure they can start playing for points. This could leave SuperCoaches short on players for the byes, but may also create a fresh batch of bye coverage cheapies.

Here’s how SuperCoach will be affected:

THE CONS

* Say bye to bye purchases — The required $575,500 roster cut is set to rob SuperCoaches of key bye period stars. Junior Paulo, Michael Gordon, Nathan Peats and Corey Norman are of particular concern. Paulo is an obvious culling candidate as he is the only Eel confirmed to be leaving next year, having signed with the Raiders for 2016.

The 1.8 per cent of SuperCoaches who purchased Paulo on the premise of a great bye schedule may now need to adjust their plans, with the Raiders’ schedule not nearly as attractive, while his potential game time and role at Canberra is unknown.

Junior Paulo is top of the Eels’ culling list.

Next on the culling list are players who come off-contract next year. Unfortunately, this list includes three SuperCoach relevant players in Michael Gordon (17.2 per cent ownership), Nathan Peats (10.8 per cent) and Corey Norman (7.1 per cent). Norman (7th) and Peats (9th) both sit in the 10 most popular buys this week and these SuperCoaches should hit the reverse trade button now and search for other options until the Eels’ roster for round 10 becomes clearer.

Norman and Gordon are both managed by Paul Sutton, who has confirmed Norman in particular could be forced out of Parramatta. “If it impacts on next year’s cap it could impact on Corey,” Sutton said. NRL CEO Todd Greenberg ruled out the option of all Parramatta players taking a slight pay cut to get the club under the cap. Other off-contract players include Mitch Cornish, Isaac De Gois, Bureta Faraimo, James Hasson, Luke Kelly, Cameron King, Cody Nelson, Rory O’Brien, Kelepi Tanginoa and Vai Toutai.

Corey Norman’s future at the Eels is uncertain. Picture: Brett Costello

* Eels could be playing for nothing in just three weeks — The cut-off for the eight is generally considered 28 points. With 15 games remaining, plus two byes (automatic two points), the Eels can therefore gain a maximum of 34 points. To reach the 28 point cut-off, the Eels would need to win 12 of their 15 remaining games. In other words, they can afford to lose no more than three games, which is highly unlikely in the current NRL climate. The club’s performances — and therefore SuperCoach performances of the players — are likely to plummet if they bow out of contention.

* Players, not just officials, face sanctions — One of the big shocks in today’s announcement was revelations from Integrity Unit boss Nick Weeks that players and managers may also face sanctions over alleged “under-the-table” cash payments, along with other accused rorts. The report revealed today dealt only with Eels officials and staff, with the NRL to release a separate report pertaining to managers and players. For SuperCoaches, this report could be far more explosive than the findings released today, particularly if players are banned or suspended, which would dramatically change the face of the SuperCoach season. Weeks refused to speculate on which current players will be mentioned in the upcoming report.

* Eels may start planning for 2017 - resting, surgeries, releases — Perhaps the most scary prospect for SuperCoaches would be if the Eels bow out of finals contention, shut up shop and start planning for 2017. They have already internally discussed a contingency plan for docked points. The plan involves the immediate release of players who sign for other clubs, resting their best players at the back end of the season to reduce injury risk and sending players for early off-season surgeries to ensure they are on deck as early as possible in the pre-season. In particular Gordon (with his dicky knees) and Peats (with a long recent injury list) loom as resting/surgery risks. Or imagine if Semi Radrara picked up a niggle and sat out round 18 — the very round you picked him for in the first place?

Michael Gordon is a resting risk. Picture: Gregg Porteous

THE PROS

* Cheapies galore — Any roster shake-up, resting, releases etc. would likely provide opportunities for young guns and cheapies. Clinton Gurtherson could be a revelation if switched to fullback for Gordon, while centre/winger Vai Toutai ($148,000) scored 41 on his season debut last week and could see an increased role. Nines revelation Bevan French ($113,800) is expected back in round 10 from an elbow injury and could also come into contention, while bottom dollar young guns Kieran Moss, Joseph Ualesi and Honeti Tuha are also backline prospects. Hooker Kaysa Pritchard ($142,000), prop Rory O’Brien ($143,300) and back rowers Kelepi Tanginoa ($166,900) and Matt Woods ($133,800) may also see game time.

Nathan Peats is off-contract next season.

* How Watmough retirement could solve drama — The whole saga hinges on Anthony Watmough and his potential retirement. The Eels are $575,500 over the cap. Watmough is on $700,000 and theoretically the Eels could field a legal side if he were to retire. This means the Eels could realistically go into round 10 with the same team as last week, therefore causing minimal disruption to SuperCoach.

* Parra to power through next few rounds —The Eels will come out fired up next game and likely produce big SuperCoach scores in the short-term. When the Storm were stripped of competition points and titles in 2010, they won their first two games by a total of 62. Going on current form, the Eels could still be in top eight contention when the byes finish in round 19, which is when Parramatta’s SuperCoach worth expires and SuperCoaches will be looking to load up on guns for the run home.

* Semi is the only genuine keeper anyway — The Eels most popular player Semi Radradra is locked in to the end of 2018 and therefore highly unlikely to be moved on. He remains a safe trade this week (currently the third most purchased player of the round). Realistically Radradra is the only Parramatta player worth holding post byes — and he may even benefit from the team playing for nothing as they will be more inclined to throw the ball around.