Parramatta Eels: Big name players, past and present, caught up in the salary cap scandal

THE Parrammatta Eels salary cap scandal isn’t going away, with some of the club’s biggest names, past and present — including Corey Norman, Chris Sandow and Will Hopoate — caught up, internal documents suggest.

Documents suggest Parramatta flouted NRL salary cap rules by offering player packages beefed up by third-party payments, sourced by the club.

• EELS’ THIRD PARTY INVESTIGATION WIDENS
• CLUB’S BOARD RECEIVED $75K IN PAY RISES
• ‘DODGY’ INVOICES IN THIRD PARTY PAYMENTS

SOME of Parramatta’s biggest name players, past and present — including Corey Norman, Chris Sandow, Will Hopoate, Reni Maitua and Willie Tonga — have been caught up in the club’s salary cap scandal, with new internal documents suggesting the Eels guaranteed hundreds of thousands of dollars in third-party payments.

The documents suggest Parramatta flouted NRL salary cap rules by offering player packages beefed up by third-party payments, sourced by the club.

The Eels internal documents have been uncovered as the NRL’s forensic investigation into the club, prompted by a series of Daily Telegraph articles, continues. It is understood the documents were put together from June 2013 to the end of the 2013 season.

There is no suggestion any of the players mentioned have done anything wrong.

Under NRL rules, third-party agreements must be at arm’s length from the club, but the documents state that in some cases the club made ­“unregistered” third-party payments.

The Telegraph has also uncovered an official, in-house PowerPoint presentation, using Eels letterhead, titled “Third Party Agreements Strategy — Discussion Paper”. At one point the June 2013 draft document, labelled “strictly private and confidential”, even suggested the club hire “an ­additional (staff) member to join the Corporate Sales team to be dedicated to assisting and facilitating TPAs”.

In a separate Microsoft Word document from the end of the 2013 season there is a ­detailed breakdown of TPA payments made to former star Chris Sandow: “Club was responsible for 50k per year TPA of which 40k has been paid by TPA sponsor for 2012-13 as mentioned above — leaving the 10k shortfall so far for the 2012-2013 years.”

The document, understood to have been prepared by a senior club official, goes on to note: “Chris also has a 50k TPA in place with another TPA sponsor, that’s not registered.”

There was also a detailed breakdown of payments the club needed to source as a matter of urgency to meet TPA commitments to players, with due dates listed. The document noted $3000 a month, or $36,000, was owed to Corey Norman for the coming 2014 year, $25,000 to Willie Tonga (due October 31, 2014), $7000 to Will ­Hopoate (due ASAP), $25,000 to Justin Hunt (due prior to October 31, 2014), $20,000 to Lee Mossop (due January 2014) and $30,000 to Nathan Peats (due prior to October 31, 2014).

One of the Parramatta Eels documents.

Two other players who had already left the club by the time the document was created — Maitua and Cheyse Blair — were scheduled for payments of $25,000 and $26,000 respectively on November 1, 2013.

There is no suggestion any of the players mentioned have done anything wrong. A spokesman for the Eels last night had no comment on the latest documents.

The NRL strictly requires third-party agreements must be made at an arm’s length basis from clubs to ­ensure they do not become a way to use sponsors to thwart the salary cap.

The June 2013 PowerPoint document puts a detailed structure in place for the club to “procure” TPAs. It suggests the club’s staff “incorporate an avenue to discuss TPAs with clients”. It also looks to change “the mindset that these agreements are ‘under the table’ connections”.

The document suggests the proposed new Eels staff member “dedicated” to TPAs can provide “an avenue between sponsors, player agents and players to express opportunities and communicate ways to ­exploit these opportunities”.

In a section titled “player details and benefits to be provided/sought” the document mentioned a host of players, including Jarryd Hayne, Sandow, Norman, Tim Mannah, Hopoate and Fuifui Moimoi.

A spokesman for the Eels last night had no comment on the latest documents.

It also mentions amounts of “Arms Length Agreements (TPA)” as totalling $395,000 a year for both 2014 and 2015 for some of its key players.

A detailed breakdown of TPAs for players in the document includes $225,000 a year for Hayne, $75,000 a year for Mossop, $20,000 a year for Chris Sandow and $75,000 a year for Gareth Hock.

Again, there is no suggestion these players have done anything wrong.

The document also contains strange statements about the club’s policies on TPAs, which contradict the requirement that they be at arm’s length.

The first objective of the document is to make the Eels “the Number 1 club in the NRL re. TPA’s (sic)”.

The document concludes that “TPA revenue is as important as sponsorship revenue for long term success”.