http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-three-weeks-ago/story-fni3ga7r-1227411688837
The unravelling of Kieran Foran’s contract to join Eels can be traced to a meeting three weeks ago
- JAMES HOOPER
- THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
- JUNE 24, 2015 9:49AM
THE unravelling of Kieran Foran’s contract to join the Parramatta Eels can be traced back to a meeting at the club’s O’Connell Street headquarters three weeks ago.
Present were chairman Steve Sharp, recently departed chief executive Scott Seward, board member Tom Issa and head of football operations Daniel Anderson.
Anderson, the ex-NRL coach brought in to Parramatta to clean up the club’s salary cap position, raised the alarm about the get-out clauses where Foran could walk away and claim $1 million in damages against the Eels.
With the round 13 rule still in play, The Daily Telegraph has been told Anderson suggested the club wait until the deadline passed before it began work on Foran removing the clause.
At the same time, it was agreed the Eels would ask coach Brad Arthur to start the process of changing the agreed contract once any chance of the five-eighth doing a backflip to stay at Manly was eradicated.
Arthur did this a fortnight ago, arranging to have dinner with Foran, raising the clauses and being told Foran was unaware of them.
The dinner took place before the Eels travelled to Melbourne to play the Storm in their round 14 clash, which came a week after the round 13 clause had expired.
The meeting at Eels Leagues Club headquarters throws into question claims the board was unaware of the clauses until contacted by the NRL.
In a statement to Channel Nine last night, Foran said: “I don’t know how it has come to this.
“I entered into an agreement three months ago in good faith and have never wavered.
“I have shown the utmost respect to Parramatta and I’m not 100 per cent sure this has been shown to me.”
Asked when he became aware of the clauses, Eels chairman Steve Sharp about was reluctant to go into detail for fear of jeopardising the Foran contract.
“I can’t really discuss that at the moment,” the Parramatta powerbroker said. “I’m happy to talk in detail once it all gets resolved but at the moment I don’t want to say anything that might jeopardise the process.”
The Eels chairman, everyone at Parramatta and the club’s legion of blue and gold fans were hopeful Foran would agree to the changes in the clauses, sign the new contract and the Eels could submit it to the NRL ASAP.
As of last night, he hadn’t.
And the longer the clock ticks, the more rival clubs rub their hands.
The Daily Telegraph has been told Foran spoke to Eels coach Brad Arthur yesterday afternoon and there were no guarantees.
Canterbury and the Sydney Roosters have been mooted as possible destinations for the Kiwi international, while Manly have began investigating how they could retain their star five-eighth.
Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran during a training session. Picture Gregg Porteous
The other issue clearly at play here is the power struggle between Arthur and Anderson. When Anderson attempted to get the clause removed last week, Foran’s camp asked for a get-out clause to be inserted stating if Arthur was sacked as coach, the five-eighth was a free agent.
Anderson refused.
The Eels board has since changed its position, with the club stating it is prepared to include the clause to get Foran’s deal over the line.
Another embarrassment for the Eels is the existence of two contracts, both of which were submitted to the NRL.
Only one of them was signed by Foran and both were for different amounts. One was $4.2 million over four years, submitted on April 28 with no clauses.
The signed version was for $4.8 million, including the clauses, submitted in early June.
The Eels claim they made a mistake due to the multiple contracts and inadvertently reduced the club’s offer to Foran by $600,000 last week.
Once they realised the existence of the other $4.8 million version, they were happy to honour it.
Which, once again, raises the question. If the Eels discussed getting rid of the clauses in the $4.8 million contract three weeks ago then, how was the club in the dark about its existence?
If the Foran deal falls over, it’s arguably the darkest day in Parramatta’s rich history.
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