Parramatta Eels CEO John Boulous addressed the media on Friday afternoon regarding the well-being of captain Kieran Foran.
The Eels had earlier granted Foran an indefinite leave of absence to allow him to seek the best possible medical treatment regarding a personal matter.
"Kieran will take this time to get the help and support he needs. He's got lots of good people around him. The club and the NRL are very support of this," Boulous said.
"If he needs any help we've got a wonderful team of welfare officers and career people here that can really help Kieran and he knows that offer's there.
"I think most of his teammates were aware he may have been struggling with some issues. They're very close knit and as a group of people…they're thinking about Kieran at this time and they're very supportive of the club's decision to allow him the time.
"We need to give him the time he needs, he needs to take the time personally and to do that it's in all our interests to give him that time and privacy and respect."
Boulous said the club was doing everything in its power to ensure the star halfback's welfare was looked after.
"It's a very private issue for Kieran, but certainly from our perspective it's about putting his well-being first," he continued.
"We exist for many reasons as a football club, and importantly one of them is to look after our own and look after our people and that's something we intend to do and continue to do.
"He's going to get some time away from the game to get himself better."
Boulous said the only person who could determine when Foran would return was the man himself.
"I can't put any timeframe on this. This is a decision for Kieran. He needs to feel as though he is right to go and we'll give him as much time as he needs," the Eels CEO said.
"We've put no end date on that and as a club we need to give him as much time as possible for him to get right because he's made a wonderful contribution to our club, he's a wonderful person and in a very short period of time he's made a big contribution. He's important to our club and when he gets right he'll come back."
Boulous finished by thanking the entire NRL community for the support they had given Foran and his family
"The outpouring of support from our members, fans and anyone involved with rugby league has been phenomenal for Kieran. I'm sure he appreciated that and I know his management and family do as well."
