Top 10 players Parramatta have let go since 2000

The Eels have let go of some quality this century.

STAFF WRITER | June 4, 2019 - 5:17pm

It is fair to say that Parramatta Eels fans have experienced more heartache than most in the past few seasons.

This includes three wooden spoons since 2012 as well as having to endure the repercussions of the now infamous salary cap scandal that led to the club being docked 12 competition points and fined $1 million by the NRL.

However, since the appointment of Brad Arthur as head coach, performances have been on a steady incline at Parramatta, barring the unexpected train wreck that was the 2018 season. This upturn in performances has led to Arthur attracting and assembling a top eight quality squad, but inept talent identification and salary cap management throughout the years has led to the Eels losing some serious star power that Brad Arthur and previous Eels coaches would no doubt have loved to have at their disposal in the recent trying times.

Here are the top 10 players the Eels have let go, not re-signed or released since 2000.

Back Next

6. Jharal Yow Yeh

Unbeknownst to most, after finishing his education in Brisbane in 2006, Jharal Yow Yeh moved to Sydney to join the Parramatta Eels junior pathways system. Yow Yeh lasted one season in Sydney’s west before having his scholarship torn up by the Eels hierarchy and was reportedly told by Eels recruitment chief Rod Reddy that he would never play first grade.

This led to Yow Yeh moving back to Brisbane to play with Norths Devils colts’ side, before receiving a lifeline to play with the Broncos under 20s in 2008. Yow Yeh would go onto score a remarkable 27 tries from 26 games on the wing for the baby Broncos. The pacey winger would then make his debut in round 1 of the following year.

In the next four years, Yow Yeh would cement himself as one if, if not the game’s premier winger, scoring 33 tries for the Broncos, as well as playing 3 Origins for Queensland and 3 Tests for the Kangaroos in 2011.

Yow Yeh was as close to the perfect winger as you can get, blessed with incredible pace, strength, and agility, as well as remarkably subtle skill with the Norths junior often seen scoring tries off his own kicks.

Unfortunately for Yow Yeh, only a year after cementing himself on the representative scene he would suffer a compound fracture of the leg against the Rabbitohs in round 4 of 2012 which was described as “motorbike-like”.

Sadly, for Yow Yeh and fans of the game, in March 2014, two years after suffering the horrendous leg-break the fantastically gifted he announced his retirement from professional rugby league due to complications suffered from his injury.

While his career may not have been as long as it should have been, there is no doubt that Yow Yeh is one of the most talented players to ever slip through Parramatta’s fingers.