Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur has confirmed the shock axing of Luke Kelly from this week’s clash against the Penrith Panthers is due to the club’s salary cap issues.
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Kelly had replaced Chris Sandow in the Eels no.7 jumper after showing good form in the past fortnight, but Sandow and Corey Norman will resume their halves combination after Kelly was forced out of the squad.
We’ve picked our team to be salary cap-compliant,” Arthur is quoted as saying by AAP.
“I don’t know if Luke Kelly’s done enough not to be in our team.
“The last two weeks, out of our six tries we’ve scored, he set up five of them.
“He’s made a total of nearly 60 tackles and missed two.
“So he’s done pretty well. He stuck to our kicking plan.
“It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”
Parramatta were hit with a $525,000 fine last week for salary cap breaches made in between the 2010 and 2013 seasons.
The NRL confirmed the Eels exceeded the salary cap by more than $400,000 last season and now has until February 29 next year to get its books in order.
If the NRL are not satisfied by the Eels’ attempts to implement changes, they will begin the 2016 season minus four points.
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