IT’S been a massive week in Australian sport.
The Parramatta Eels, from the NRL, have been investigated for breaching the salary cap and dodgy back room deals with third party sponsors. The NRL’s preliminary investigation came to a head on Tuesday when the NRL revealed the extent of the Eels’ cheating and the penalties being meted out to them.
As well as that the Conor McGregor/UFC fiasco seems to have more twists and turns than a cork screw. The situation is being fuelled by McGregor’s twitchy Twitter fingers.
And what do you do if you have one of the greatest international rugby fullbacks in your domestic Super Rugby squad? Not a lot if you are the Queensland Reds
Here is the look at these three stories, from the outer…
NRL pings slippery Eels
After months of investigations, accusations, suspicions and law suits, the NRL has finally brought the hammer down on the Parramatta Eels for their alleged years of salary cap rorting.
The Eels have been hit with a $1 million fine, the loss of 12 competition and are not allowed to accrue any more competition points until their side, who is currently $570,000 over the salary cap, can shed enough players to fit under the salary cap once again.
There are some people in the NRL community who seem genuinely surprised that the Eels are still over the salary cap for the 2016 season. With names like Keiran Foran, Corey Norman, Semi Radradra, Michael Gordon, Beau Scott, Anthony Watmough, Michael Jennings and Nathan Peats on their books, it’s hard to believe Parramatta are ONLY $570K over the salary cap for the 2016 season.
When you think about it though, maybe the Eels should be let off with just a stern warning. If the most they could muster, while cheating, was an Auckland Nines Trophy and a kitchen drawer full of wooden spoons, then maybe they need to cheat.
Could you imagine how horrific they would have been without cheating??
If consistently poor form is now an indicator of systemic salary cap rorting then I demand investigations into the Wests Tigers, Gold Coast Titans and Newcastle Knights!!
What happened to the good old days of the Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm when cheating actually bore success?!
Following this deduction of NRL competition points, WilliamHill.com.au has dropped the price of the Eels considerably in their NRL Premiers Futures Market, with Parramatta now $101 to win the Premiership.
Conor McGregor: what is going on?
The Conor McGregor/UFC saga is still going strong. No one seems to have a bonafide clue of what the hell is going on.
It now seems that McGregor will not be a part of UFC200. This comes after weeks of he’s in, he’s out, he’s in again, he’s out.
But now apparently McGregor is getting multi-million dollar offers to fight in unheard of Russian competitions.
The thing that seems to be bringing McGregor undone is his propensity to Twitter. One of McGregor’s managers needs to take his mobile phone off him for a while and tell him to cool it on Twitter. He keeps making a goose of himself, slowly chipping away at the respect he has worked hard over the years to earn.
Now there are rumours that McGregor doesn’t want to make the Featherweight weight anymore, that the drop to 65kg takes too much of a toll on him prior to a fight. If that’s the case then that throws a spanner in the works of Mcgregor’s next rumoured UFC bout: against the winner of UFC200’s bout between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar: both featherweight’s.
McGregor and the UFC need to agree to terms. Perhaps the UFC needs to go partners with McGregor when it comes to promoting for this to happen. McGregor’s next UFC fight needs to be confirmed as does the weight division he will fight in.
CrownBet.com.au has head-to-head betting available on many UFC200 bouts, including the Featherweight Interim Championship fight between Jose Aldo ($1.80) and Frankie Edgar ($2).
Reds can’t find room for a ninja
The signing of Ayumu Goromaru to the Queensland Reds was a big deal for the struggling team. The Reds have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for the last couple of seasons. They had no spark.
“Goro” was made a bonafide ninja after his heroics during the World Cup last year. He is one of the highest paid rugby players in the world.
Despite all this, the Reds, in their infinite wisdom, can’t find a place for him on their roster. Goro is shaping up to be the most expensive bench warmer Super Rugby has ever seen.
The only way Goro can get a run is for a string of injuries to hit the Reds backline. Thankfully for Goro though, the Reds are pretty prolific at collecting injuries during the season.
SportsBet.com.au currently has the Reds at $501 to take out the Super Rugby Grand Final.
