Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has revealed the emotions of his players the exact moment after NRL CEO Todd Greenberg told them of the sanctions against their club.

“The players were gutted. But I told them there is still hope, that’s the thing, that’s what they’re clinging to,” Arthur told The Daily Telegraph.

“There is still some work to do before next week but there is still hope.

“I told them we have 15 games and we need to win 12 of them — nothing has changed — and I’ll be doing my best to find out what we need to do to be under (the salary cap) by next week and we’ll go from there.

“The players (mood) was what I expected from them — not upbeat but they were positive and it was ‘righto, we’ve got a challenge in front of us, let’s bloody get into it’”.