Hotel rift the cause of downturn in club’s form

The Parramatta Eels have won just once in six games and now NRL360 co-host Paul Kent has shed light over why that might be.

It’s all gone wrong for the Eels since the coronavirus-induced lockdown, with Brad Fittler reportedly linked to the job in place of Brad Arthur and Clint Gutherson attracting the wrong attention following contract negotiations.

Kent reported on NRL360 on Fox League that when wives and girlfriends arrived in the Eels’ bubble, there was an issue with the room allocation.

According to Kent, the better rooms were given to players based on their standing in the squad rather than according to their needs which left some of the bigger families with the smallest rooms.

“I’ve written in tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph that there has been a bit of bickering in the playing group,” Kent said.

“It’s a delicate one to talk about, what’s happened is when they have all moved in together – and every team has been allocated a certain number of rooms – the better players have got the better rooms.

“It’s the way it works, but what’s happened is that it has caused a bit of internal bickering because wives, girlfriends and kids have arrived.

“Some of the more senior players, the better players, have the better rooms with a balcony and all the rest of it.

“While (there are others) in a little square room with the wife and two kids.

Parramatta have slipped out of the top four and now reside in sixth after a dismal 56-10 thrashing by Manly at the weekend.

The Eels face struggling North Queensland on Saturday morning.