Parramatta's fourth salary cap breach in five years has finally given the NRL the opportunity to force governance reforms at a club that seems to be continually in turmoil.
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While the Eels hierarchy strongly protested the NRL ultimatum that the club undertake an independent review of its governance and organisational capability, and implement the changes recommended or start next season on minus four competition points, they have been left with no alternative but to comply.
Until now, the NRL has had no real influence over a club whose licensed operation made a $6.5 million profit from a turnover of $85 million last year but is otherwise regarded as a basket case in league circles.
Since making the 2009 grand final, Parramatta have finished last on three occasions and had four chief executives and four coaches as a club that should be one of the NRL's powerhouses has become weighed down by political infighting.
A bid to appoint former Macquarie Bank heavy hitter Bill Moss as an independent director failed last year, leading to the establishment of a constitutional reform committee at the club.
Eels insiders point out that the fact that chairman Steve Sharp's ParraFirst ticket won all seven seats at this month's leagues club elections should now make it simpler to implement such changes, but had he been defeated it is certain that the positions of chief executive Scott Seward and coach Brad Arthur would have been under threat.
NRL chief executive Dave Smith went out of his way at Thursday's press conference about Parramatta's unprecedented breaching of the first and second tier salary caps for both the top grade and under 20s competitions to say the club wasn't guilty of cheating but mismanagement over a long period.
Unlike Melbourne Storm, who were found guilty in 2010 of salary cap breaches totalling $1.7 million over five years, or Canterbury, who exceeded the cap by more than $1 million in 2001 and 2002, the Eels have not been involved in systematic rorting.
But the ongoing instability at board and management level, including the coaching job, meant that the management of the salary cap has either been neglected or ignored.
Each time a new coach has been installed, he has inherited a roster assembled by the man he replaced and has then set about trying to make changes.
Most of the breaches that resulted in Parramatta receiving a $525,000 fine - the third biggest in NRL history - as well a suspended penalty of four competition points, occurred because eight players who were told in 2013 by Ricky Stuart that their services wouldn't be required last season needed to have their contracts paid out.
Some such as centre Jacob Loko, whose salary increased from $130,000 to $440,000 this season, had been signed on contracts that far exceeded their market value and it is understood that the Eels are still paying most of his deal with Canterbury.
Understandably, the current Parramatta management believe the conditions imposed by the NRL are unfair as it was an extensive internal investigation initiated after Sharp's election in 2013 that uncovered concerns about player contracts and the management of their roster.
However, the NRL argue that they did not comply with advice about how to get their house in order and have seized the chance to push through governance changes at Parramatta like they have done at Wests Tigers, Newcastle and Gold Coast in return for financial assistance.
