Parramatta have called on the NRL to consider granting salary-cap dispensation to teams affected by serious injuries – particularly those resulting from foul play.
The development comes as star halfback Mitchell Moses attempted to hose down speculation he is playing through injury ahead of the Easter Monday showdown against Wests Tigers at CommBank Stadium.
The Eels’ depth is being tested due to a bulging casualty ward that contains J’maine Hopgood (ACL, season), Matt Doorey (knee, season), Isaiah Iongi (ankle, round 13), Jordan Samrani (knee, round 10) and Will Penisini (groin, round six).
In the cases of Iongi and Hopgood, they were the victims of illegal hip-drop tackles that resulted in the perpetrators being suspended for one and four games respectively.
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 felt a similar mechanism could be considered for those injured during the premiership, especially if they are sidelined by 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.
“There are other sports globally where there are opportunities for rosters to be strengthened in circumstances where players get long-term injuries. This is such a tough and physical sport, the reality is that these injuries are going to happen.
“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 added that injuries were almost always the result of accidents and that it is difficult to find an adequate replacement when a star is sidelined mid-season. However, he felt the possibility of affording relief to affected clubs was 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.
“Sometimes the penalty on the club when the player has suffered the injury is completely 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.”
A foot complaint restricted Moses during the pre-season and there was speculation he is playing injured after he reached 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.
Asked if he would provide honest disclosure if he really was injured, Moses said: “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.”
Reminded that he played through the pain of a fractured back during a State of Origin without letting on, Moses laughed: “That’s a fair point. Maybe I can hide it.”
