01.10.2022
4 min read

Why Eels’ salary cap drama could be the ‘circuit breaker’ that ends decades of NRL premiership drought

In 2016, Parramatta were a shattered club. But without their lowest ebb, the Eels wouldn’t be in Sunday’s big dance.
Scott BaileyBy Scott Bailey

Grand Final Countdown

As far as Bernie Gurr is concerned, Parramatta wouldn’t be in Sunday’s NRL grand final against Penrith if not for the lows of the 2016 salary cap scandal.

“That was the circuit breaker,” Gurr told AAP this week.

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Since their last title in 1986, some 407 players have run out for the Eels across 879 games, including their most-capped in Nathan Hindmarsh - 330 appearances - and the 36 who played in just one.

The club has churned through 10 coaches, 47 halfbacks, collected three wooden spoons, lost two grand finals and gone from scandal to scandal with near miss after near miss.

And who could ever forget 2016, and the months of hell fans had to endure that season?

“From 2009 they made a grand final but then (ex-CEO) Denis Fitzgerald left and the club clearly had a lot of problems,” Gurr, who was appointed as CEO after the salary-cap scandal, said.

“A lot of coaches, CEOs, governance issues, salary cap issues, player issues.”

Between 2010 and 2015, Parramatta won just 48 of 120 games and failed to make the finals once.

Mitch Moses will lead the Eels into the grand final on Sunday. Credit: Getty

And just when things looked on the up for 2016, the Eels were struck down by allegations of salary-cap rorting that eventually led to the stripping of 12 points and a complete restructure of their administration.

“Parramatta had had factionalised fighting in different groups,” Gurr continued.

“People were cognisant of it, but until you get into it you don’t know how fierce it was.

“By the time I came in the club was at a pretty low point.”

Gurr is quick to stress the rebuild of the Eels was a team job, after Max Donnelly was appointed chairman by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority in 2016.

Included in Donnelly’s revamp were the appointments of current chairman Sean McElduff and CEO Jim Sarantinos, who took over from Gurr at the end of 2019.

CEO of the Parramatta Eels, Bernie Gurr. Credit: Matt Blyth/Getty Images

Together, they set their sights on rebuilding trust and relationships with stakeholders, fixing their salary cap and drastically reducing their expenditure.

But football has always been at the heart of it.

The Eels made the top-four in 2017 under Brad Arthur, but were knocked out in the second week of the finals in a story that has become all too familiar for Parramatta fans.

In 2018 they collected the wooden spoon, with Arthur admitting this week he feared he would be sacked at the time.

“It was common sense for Brad to stay,” Gurr said.

“He is a very good coach and we knew what had gone wrong.

“He got us to fourth place in 2017. We addressed some roster needs. We needed to get younger and bigger. Junior Paulo returned, Shaun Lane joined us.

“We had Reed Mahoney coming through.

“Whilst we were concerned, no one wants a season like 2018, the club was starting to be restructured in a good way.”

Brad Arthur is aiming to become Parramatta’s first premiership coach since 1986. Credit: DARREN ENGLAND/AAPIMAGE

No club has faced the burden of more pressure than Parramatta in recent years.

Droughts have, unfortunately, become part of their existence.

“They’ve had to deal with that forever and a day,” former Eels coach Michael Hagan said.

“They probably had a couple of teams who were right in the box seat - 2001 was one, in 2005 they got bumped out in the prelim final.

“I was the coach in 2007 and that was a prelim final (and) 2009 was a grand final. You don’t get that many opportunities, so you have to take them at the right time.”

It even took the club 34 years to lift their first title, with Jack Gibson famously proclaiming the witch was dead.

Eels fans are desperate to see their side win on Sunday. Credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Police put NRL partygoers on notice as countdown for 'Battle of the West' begins.

Police put NRL partygoers on notice as countdown for 'Battle of the West' begins.

At Monday’s fan day, Parramatta diehards were still happily reliving the glory of the four titles in the 1980s and the day Cumberland Oval was burnt down after the first premiership.

“I didn’t flick the post but I got one of the pickets and I’ve kept it in my bar at home,” life-long Parramatta fan Bob Taylor recounted alongside his wife Jan.

“This team is like a family and Parramatta is part of our life.”

Others have learned the hard way not to expect too much.

“As an Eels fan you never want to get your hopes up,” 44-year-old Michael Charlton said.

“My son is nine and I keep saying to him, you better soak it up this week because these things don’t come along too often. He wasn’t even born the last time we made a grand final.

“If they do break that drought, and there is another long drought, you could be an adult by the time they win another one.”

Junior Paulo and Nathan Cleary pose with the ultimate prize. Credit: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

In fact, some 44.4 per cent of Australia’s population have never seen the Eels win a title, including all 30 members of Parramatta’s NRL squad.

“It hurts. It’s not easy supporting Parramatta,” fan Dermott Morgan said.

“When people ask you who you support, they point out you haven’t seen them win for 36 years. And it’s, ‘no, I’ve never seen them win’.”

It’s something Parramatta players are well aware of this week.

No staff members remain from the glory days of the 1980s, but the likes of Mitch Moses have spoken this week about his own heartache of supporting the Eels as a child.

Alongside Arthur and some coaching staff, only captain Clint Gutherson and childhood Parramatta fan Junior Paulo remain from the lows of the 2016 season.

“We’ve come from the dark days throughout the club and then I obviously had a stint down in Canberra but this club has never left me,” Paulo said.

“All you want to do is be able to live out that childhood dream and we’re 80 minutes from potentially lifting the trophy.”

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