The salary cap investigation into Parramatta is finally over, with the NRL handing down a 12 point penalty and a $1 million fine to the embattled club.
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Five officials - club chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous and Head of Football Daniel Anderson - have all been deregistered by the NRL.
The sanctions have all but ended the high-flying Eels' hopes of returning to finals football for the first time since 2009 despite starting the season with six wins from their first nine games.
The Eels, who have also been stripped of the Auckland Nines trophy they won earlier this season, have been told they are over the salary cap for 2016 by $570,000. They will still be able to play for competition points in the remaining games this season if they can renegotiate player contracts or cut players to satisfy the NRL they have met salary cap rules.
NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg determined the penalty on Monday night after the integrity unit's near three month investigation into a range of third party agreements, informing Eels officials of the commission-approved sanctions on Tuesday morning.
Greenberg met with the club officials on Tuesday morning to deliver the news.
"We will need to take a stand on behalf of the fans, the club and the game," Greenberg said.
"This would be a tough outcome for many people, particularly the players and fans, but we believe it would be the start of a process to make the Parramatta club the powerhouse it should be. Unfortunately, we may have to go through this pain for the long term health of the club and the game."
The NRL deemed the club had breached the salary cap rules and code of conduct by paying players undisclosed remuneration from its own resources, procuring third party agreements for players in breach of the salary cap rules and conspiring with club suppliers to inflate or issue fictitious invoices to raise cash that was then relayed to players.
The NRL's head of integrity unit, Nick Weeks, will join Greenberg at a press conference at League Central later Tuesday morning to explain why Parramatta will be playing for pride for the rest of what was a promising season.
At the club's AGM on Monday night, Parramatta chairman Steve Sharp vowed to fall on his sword and resign if it spared the club being docked competition points.
However the NRL's punishment may not necessarily be the final chapter in the salary cap probe, with Parramatta hierarchy prepared to push back against the NRL in the courts claiming they have not been afforded procedural fairness.
