Eels Seek Salary-Cap Relief for Teams Affected by Serious Injuries
Parramatta has urged the National Rugby League (NRL) to explore the possibility of granting salary-cap dispensation to teams that suffer significant injuries, particularly those caused by foul play. This call comes as star halfback Mitchell Moses attempts to address speculation about his fitness ahead of a crucial match against the Wests Tigers at CommBank Stadium.
The Eels are currently facing a challenging situation due to a growing number of injured players on their casualty list. The list includes J’maine Hopgood (ACL, season-ending), Matt Doorey (knee, season-ending), Isaiah Iongi (ankle, round 13), Jordan Samrani (knee, round 10), and Will Penisini (groin, round six).
In the cases of Iongi and Hopgood, both were victims of illegal hip-drop tackles, which led to their opponents receiving suspensions of one and four games respectively. These incidents have raised concerns about the safety of players and the need for stricter enforcement of rules during matches.
A salary-cap exemption of up to $350,000 per player is available to clubs whose stars are injured during representative duty. Parramatta CEO Jim Sarantinos believes a similar mechanism could be considered for injuries sustained during regular-season matches, especially if they result from foul play.
“I think it’s something that warrants looking at,” Sarantinos said. “We’ve obviously had a tough run with injuries over the last few weeks and some of them are nobody’s fault whatsoever. Others have been associated with foul play.”
“Regardless, it weakens our roster and in some of those cases players have ended up with season-ending or long-term injuries. When you’ve got the level of attrition and injury that we’ve got at the moment, it obviously creates an opportunity for other players to step up. But it also thins out your roster.”
Sarantinos highlighted that other sports globally have mechanisms in place to support teams when players suffer long-term injuries. He emphasized that rugby league is a physically demanding sport where such injuries are inevitable.
“But there seems to be an imbalance where teams sustain long-term injuries following foul play where some other mechanism that doesn’t currently exist could potentially be looked at.”
Sarantinos noted that injuries are often the result of accidents, making it difficult to find adequate replacements when a key player is sidelined mid-season. However, he believes the idea of providing relief to affected clubs is a debate worth having.
“Obviously there’s a new CBA and potentially a new contracting model that’ll come into place in the coming years,” he said. “I think this is something that we could be having discussions about in the short term, particularly those incidents that are found to arise from foul play, acknowledging that accidents happen on the field.”
He added that the penalty imposed on a club when a player suffers an injury can sometimes be disproportionate to the impact on the offending player.
“I can understand that you can’t necessarily have a player serve time that’s equivalent to the period of injury. And frankly, even if that happens, it doesn’t help us.”
Mitchell Moses Addresses Injury Concerns
Mitchell Moses faced questions about his fitness after a foot complaint during the pre-season and was seen reaching for his leg after setting up a try against the Panthers last weekend.
“I just rolled my ankle a little bit, but it was fine,” Moses said. When asked if he would provide honest disclosure if he was truly injured, he replied: “Yes, I would, to be honest, because you can’t hide anything. If you’re second-guessing [me], then you’re probably wrong. It’s very hard to hide injuries these days in rugby league. I’m feeling pretty good.”
Moses was reminded of his previous performance during a State of Origin match where he played through a fractured back without revealing the injury. He laughed and said: “That’s a fair point. Maybe I can hide it.”
