Rumours and Stuff

[Parrapat]

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[Parrapat]

paywalled

Zac Lomax’s slim hopes of playing for Melbourne in round one against his former club Parramatta are on life support after his court fight against the Eels was pushed back until the beginning of March.

Lomax was due to face off against the Eels in court later this week but the hearing was unexpectedly delayed until March 2 – only three days before the Storm and Parramatta are due to kick off their seasons at AAMI Park.

The hearing has been set down for five days, meaning lawyers for Parramatta and the Storm may be locking horns in the Supreme Court only hours before the respective sides meet in Melbourne.

Lomax and the Storm had optimistically held out hope that he could take his place in that game but those hopes are fading fast given the latest delay.

Even if Lomax emerges victorious from his court fight in early-March, it seems highly unlikely he would be ready to play in round one given he has been denied permission to train with the Storm.

The latest delay shapes as a body blow to Lomax as he bids to make his return to the NRL after his stunning decision to walk out on his contract at the Eels.

Parramatta inserted a clause in his termination that gave them the power to dictate his future but Lomax is now challenging that agreement in court as he looks to mount a comeback with the Storm, having been left high and dry when rebel rugby union competition R360 delayed its start.

The Storm have attempted to strike a compensation deal with Parramatta but the Eels have thus far rejected offers of $200,000 and $300,000.

That has left Lomax at the mercy of the courts as he looks to resume his career. This masthead understands Lomax’s legal team had already requested permission for the NSW star to train with Melbourne while he awaited the outcome of the legal action.

That request was denied, meaning Lomax’s only hope of being available for round one will be if the Storm and Eels can reach a settlement in time for him to play.

That seems hard to fathom given the gulf between the two clubs. Even if they do cut a deal, there is every chance Parramatta demand that Lomax is forced to sit out the opening round.

 

[Parrapat]

"That seems hard to fathom given the gulf between the two clubs. Even if they do cut a deal, there is every chance Parramatta demand that Lomax is forced to sit out the opening round."

Lomax chose to sit out not only the opening round of NRL 2026 but four years of it when he signed on with 360 in 2025.

None of this is on the Eels.

It's all on Lomax.

 

[eels_fan]

Wonder if the photos the eels put out today titled “game week begins…” may point to which first graders we will name tomorrow?
If so….

De Bellin
Pezet
Iongi
Kelly
Tuivati
Williams (likely C)

 

[eels_fan]

Braith’s BTFU podcast at the 28:40 mark discuss the Lomax situation quite well

 

[Twizzle]

None of this is on the Eels.

It's all on Lomax.

yeah, he was given a release to play R360, not to leave us and play with another NRL club.

f**k him

 

[Zoso]

Parramatta inserted a clause in his termination that gave them the power to dictate his future

…that he agreed to.
Article must have been written by Melbourne PR. Poor Zac!

 

[T-Boon]

I reckon we have two future elite props already at the club - Sam Tuivati, and Ryda Talagi.

Daniel Backo

 

[JokerEel]

Kenty and Crawls sum it up well..

I like them on their own show not on fox!

 

[T-Boon]

Now is not the time for anger.

If you delay...you breach the rule of don't look back in anger.

 

[Parrapat]

yeah, he was given a release to play R360, not to leave us and play with another NRL club.

f**k him

Spot on.

Lomax has declared himself motivated by mercenary interests and so it's appropriate he chose the most mercenary of clubs in the Scum to mark time his time in his NRL testimonial year before he embarks on whatever half-baked, brain-dead pecuniary passage to being a washed up has-been who chose poorly when it comes to honour.

We won't miss his one armed poorly timed leaps into a bomb, his absurd ridiculous Hail Mary flick passes over the sideline that would have put Feleti Mateo to shame for most inopportune time for the expansive game, his crying on the sideline, his inability to kick a conversion in the 2025 state of origin, or his complete lack of mouth coordination to string two words into a phrase that might give the promise of a sentence.

 

[Eelogical]

I hope Lomax is allowed to play for the Storm in round one if that's the way the court decides. Let's face our enemy, not hide from them.

 

[Eelementary]

Big call, but they are both certainly hitting their milestones to be elite.

Yeah, it's a big call.

I have huge expectations of Ryda, in particular.

 

[Twizzle]

 

[Parrapat]

So looking forward to De Bellin in the Blue and Gold

 

[Poupou Escobar]

paywalled

*stone

 

[Parrapat]

I hope Lomax is allowed to play for the Storm in round one if that's the way the court decides. Let's face our enemy, not hide from them.

It's like they are trying to build this up into the biggest opening explosion of emotion in the basic Eel's fan year.

I want to see us smash Bellamy and his bunch of (words I'm not allowed to say).

Just when I thought I couldn't hate the scum anymore than I do, they sink to a new level.

 

[Parrapat]

<i>The Storm have attempted to strike a compensation deal with Parramatta but the Eels have thus far rejected offers of $200,000 and $300,000.</i>

It's not about a transfer fee, it's about a Kangaroo and Blue rep trading his place in a team that we will face twice if not hopefully thrice if we make the finals.

As James Graham astutely pointed out, our management are looking after our roster not our bottom line.

Scum or Ricky's Raiders can come up with an appropriate player swap or they can f**k off.

It's on them, and Lomax himself can get what he's given the mercenary piece of treasonous shit.

 

[T-Boon]

We should get Arijit Singh to play at Parra Stadium for our opening home game. I googled him - he is the biggest Indian pop star. A handsome lad. Get him to wear Eels jersey during the performance. It would probably cost us $10m but it would be good.

 

[Parrapat]

If I had to temper my love of the Eels with realistic expectations, the minimum benchmark for this year is top 8.

Anything short of that is disastrous.

It would cast a serious doubt on Ryles' career.

So, that's the negative trail end scenario the positive is I think we're on track for a top 4 finish, I actually thought we could win this year, I would like to hear more from Poupou about how we need to understand recruitment and retention within an expanded comp where the NRL want to see the new clubs with points on the board at our expense.

This is the most pertinacious point, that the value of also rans is rising, so a club needs to expend more overall to retain top 8 status. This is Poupou's strong point.