Banned Eels officials considering appeal

Parramatta’s ongoing salary cap dramas could continue with fresh fears the deregistered officials are considering appealing against their ban from the NRL.

Less than a day after the club was officially stripped of 12 competition points and fined $1 million for salary cap rorting, the saga could yet drag on should the ‘Gang of Five’ fight for their jobs.

News Corp reported that the five Eels officials deregistered by the game on Saturday are considering whether to protest their bans, while the club have also left the door open to appeal the punishment.

“The club will review carefully all documents provided by the NRL in the coming days before issuing any public response,” the Eels said in a statement.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said the five deregistered officials – chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao, chief executive John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson – and the Parramatta club had one more avenue to challenge Saturday’s decision.

“There is a final appeals process in the NRL rules if they determine to do that and that’s the only decision they can make,” Greenberg said.

After confirming the Eels’ punishment, Greenberg took aim the five officials, accusing them of failing to take responsibility for former powerhouse club’s mess.

“These five officials have damaged the game,” he said.

“They have damaged the club and they’ve let their fans down. Let me say this is not an easy call to make, especially for someone like Steve Sharp.

“The overall impression that I got from the responses is that no one at the club has taken responsibility for the deliberate, systemic and blatant breaches of the salary cap … we have to take a strong stand to preserve the integrity of the salary cap and the competition.”

The NSW Supreme Court last month upheld the NRL’s decision to suspend the group and Issa last week stood down from his post, replaced by David Lamond.

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