{"id":367945,"date":"2026-04-07T14:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367945\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:23:10","slug":"49-games-lost-to-foul-play-eels-to-apply-for-salary-cap-compensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367945\/","title":{"rendered":"49 games lost to foul play: Eels to apply for salary cap compensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Parramatta Eels<\/a> are expected to go to war with the NRL<\/a>, and this time, the battleground is the salary cap.<\/p>\n

Three players lost to season-ending injuries. Forty-nine combined games lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now the Eels want answers.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Jim Sarantinos is preparing to take the fight directly to the NRL<\/a> headquarters, pushing for salary cap and roster dispensation for clubs whose players are sidelined as a direct consequence of foul play.<\/p>\n

The move comes in the raw aftermath of Bailey Simonsson’s gut-wrenching Easter Monday exit with a dislocated ankle suffered when Tigers winger Luke Laulilii<\/a> collected him mid-air at Commbank Stadium, piling further misery onto a squad already mourning the losses of J’maine Hopgood<\/a> and Isaiah Iongi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The maths are damning, and Sarantinos isn’t shy about laying them out.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t had that direct conversation with the NRL<\/a> yet, but I will be,\u201d Sarantinos told The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n

“We have had a stack of injuries, and some of them have been accidents. But the reality is we have lost J’maine Hopgood<\/a>, Bailey Simonsson<\/a> and Isaiah Iongi<\/a> \u2013 we have players who are going to miss 49 games through acts of foul play.<\/p>\n

“The opposition are going to lose players for six games suspension in total. It’s one thing to lose a player where there’s no foul play involved.<\/p>\n

“It’s another thing for J’maine Hopgood<\/a> to do his ACL when he cops a hip drop. We can’t replace those players unless we promote development players or train-and-trial players.<\/p>\n

“If we had salary cap and roster spot dispensation, it would give us the scope to explore other opportunities. It’s something I think the NRL<\/a> needs to look at, and we will be talking to them about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The argument is a compelling one, and coach Jason Ryles<\/a> had already flagged the idea in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s golden point defeat, his voice measured but his frustration unmistakable.<\/p>\n

“Surely I think it’d be something worth considering,\u201d Ryles said in the post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

“Foul play, season-ending injury, there should possibly be something. I think common sense would prevail.<\/p>\n

“I’m not sure exactly how that works. I asked our GM last week, and he’s going to follow that up. That’s above my pay grade.<\/p>\n

“The players don’t actually mean to do it. We understand that, but there’s a reason those actions are outlawed, because of what we’re going through now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eels will play the Gold Coast Titans<\/a> on Sunday afternoon, where both clubs will want to get a win after disappointing losses on the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Parramatta Eels are expected to go to war with the NRL, and this time, the battleground is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-367945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}