The Parramatta Eels are expected to go to war with the NRL, and this time, the battleground is the salary cap.

Three players lost to season-ending injuries. Forty-nine combined games lost. 

Now the Eels want answers.

Chief executive Jim Sarantinos is preparing to take the fight directly to the NRL headquarters, pushing for salary cap and roster dispensation for clubs whose players are sidelined as a direct consequence of foul play.

The move comes in the raw aftermath of Bailey Simonsson's gut-wrenching Easter Monday exit with a dislocated ankle suffered when Tigers winger Luke Laulilii collected him mid-air at Commbank Stadium, piling further misery onto a squad already mourning the losses of J'maine Hopgood and Isaiah Iongi.

The maths are damning, and Sarantinos isn't shy about laying them out.

"We haven't had that direct conversation with the NRL yet, but I will be,” Sarantinos told The Daily Telegraph.

"We have had a stack of injuries, and some of them have been accidents. But the reality is we have lost J'maine Hopgood, Bailey Simonsson and Isaiah Iongi – we have players who are going to miss 49 games through acts of foul play.

"The opposition are going to lose players for six games suspension in total. It's one thing to lose a player where there's no foul play involved.

"It's another thing for J'maine Hopgood to do his ACL when he cops a hip drop. We can't replace those players unless we promote development players or train-and-trial players.

"If we had salary cap and roster spot dispensation, it would give us the scope to explore other opportunities. It's something I think the NRL needs to look at, and we will be talking to them about it.”

The argument is a compelling one, and coach Jason Ryles had already flagged the idea in the immediate aftermath of Monday's golden point defeat, his voice measured but his frustration unmistakable.

"Surely I think it'd be something worth considering,” Ryles said in the post-match press conference.

"Foul play, season-ending injury, there should possibly be something. I think common sense would prevail.

"I'm not sure exactly how that works. I asked our GM last week, and he's going to follow that up. That's above my pay grade.

"The players don't actually mean to do it. We understand that, but there's a reason those actions are outlawed, because of what we're going through now.”

The Eels will play the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday afternoon, where both clubs will want to get a win after disappointing losses on the weekend.