SUPERSTAR Jarryd Hayne has become embroiled in the Parramatta Eels salary cap scandal over a $15,000 international airfare.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Hayne’s trip to the United States at the end of last season — before he quit the NRL — is one of more than 58 pages of salary cap breaches the NRL has accused Parramatta of committing.

The Parramatta Eels took their entire squad to Seattle on a training camp in November but Hayne could not attend because he was supposedly going to play for the Kangaroos in the Four Nations.

Instead the club sent him on his own before he returned home for the Dally M Awards.

The NRL auditors have ruled the airfares and accommodation, worth $15,000, should have been part of the salary cap because he did not go with the rest of the team.

BUZZ: Eels get off lightly after deliberate breaches

media_camera Jarryd Hayne’s US trip is coming under scurtiny.

The Eels repeatedly ignored NRL warnings last year that they were in danger of breaching the salary cap.

Week after week and even as early as round one, coach Brad Arthur kept picking players knowing he was over the second-tier cap.

By the end of the year the NRL squad had blown out to be around $335,000 over the cap — the equivalent to having two extra average-paid players on their roster in the closest and hardest-fought competition on record.

Imagine the embarrassment if they had made the finals.

The Eels were also reprimanded for providing $32,104 in benefits to players by the Parramatta Leagues Club in 2013 including their purchase of Fuifui Moimoi’s car for $15,000 when it was valued at between $3800 and $5200.

In all, the Eels were in breach in each of the four salary cap categories:

● $101,718 in the NRL top 25 bracket;

● $233,036 in second-tier contracts;

● $60,915 for the Holden Cup top-20 list; and

● $8277 for second-tier Holden Cup players.

HAYNE PAIN: Don’t blame Arthur for Eels slide

RICKY’S PROJECTOR 12: Where are they now?

They have been ordered to undergo an independent review of its governance and management operations and implement changes recommended by the review — or risk losing the four points.

After being handed a $525,000 fine and docked four competition points (suspended) for 2016, Parramatta CEO Scott Seward told The Daily Telegraph his club would challenge some of the findings but at the same time not put four competition points at risk.

“The vast majority of changes at management level have already taken place,” Seward said.

“The governance reform at the club started about two years ago but we’ll abide by the review because we’re certainly not going to risk losing points.

“If we need more changes we’ll take them on board.”

Seward insisted the Eels were actually several hundred thousand dollars under the salary cap for this year — hence their interest in Sharks star Michael Gordon.

“This was all about the past management,” he said. “The NRL acknowledged that a lot of the problems we (current management) inherited.”

media_camera Former co-captain Reni Maitua was one of the players forced out.

The NRL would not go into the specifics of the breaches or name players.

However The Daily Telegraph understands players sacked by previous coach Ricky Stuart including Willie Tonga, Matt Keating and Cheyse Blair were part of the cap issues because the Eels were still paying part of their salaries.

The 2nd tier cap was actually over by around $600,000 last year before exemptions were taken into account by NRL auditors. So it could have been much worse.

“I want to emphasise I don’t think this is about cheating,” said chief executive Dave Smith,” It’s about mismanagement.

“We have the closest competition in the world and nothing will allow it to be undermined.

“That why the fine is so significant and coupled with a management reform they will undertake, it’s the right way to go.

“Brand and reputation is everything. Anything that tarnishes the reputation I find distressing.”

Smith defended the Eels signing Kieran Foran for more than $1 million a season from Manly, Beau Scott from the Knights and the fact they are currently trying to get Michael Gordon from the Sharks for this year.

“I would stress that in 2015 our auditors are comfortable with the position they are in for this season,” he said,” The salary cap auditor says they have made a number of changes that allow room in the cap for those players.”

He said the NRL would continue to heavily police the cap.

“The salary cap is one of the reasons we have the closest sporting competition in Australia,” he said.

“We have to continue to take a hard line against breaches, particularly where a club’s governance and compliance systems are demonstrated to be inadequate.

“This action is aimed at improving the underlying problems at the club which have caused this breach.”

Eels Chairman Steve Sharp described the issue as symptomatic of wider failures in the previous administrations of the club.

“Today’s findings again highlight that dark period for our club between 2010 and 2013,” Sharp said.

“The constant changing of coaches, players and club executives, the mismanagement of core parts of our business across both the Eels and Parramatta Leagues Club, and these issues go hand in hand.”