Three-time premiership winner Luke Keary believes Zac Lomax’s move to join the Western Force, and potentially the Wallabies, was one of desperation.
The panellist on Channel Seven’s new show The Agenda Setters: Rugby League, who is joined by Corey Parker, Aaron Woods and Dsavid Riccio each week, said the fact no club other than Melbourne fought to sign him said a lot about what the NRL as a whole thought of him.
“There’s two things for me. First of all Zac made his bed and this is just a by-product of that,” Keary said.
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This is Zac’s last choice, to go to rugby. I can’t believe there wasn’t one another NRL club that had a crack at him through all this. It says a lot.”
Lomax has signed a two-year deal with the Western Force, with the rugby league outcast eyeing off playing at next year’s World Cup with the Wallabies.
One week after being denied a return to the NRL, Lomax has now officially linked with the WA outfit for the rest of the 2026 season as well as next year.
That will allow him enough time to attempt to crack the Australian squad for next year’s home Rugby World Cup, before a return to rugby league is allowed in 2028.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo told The Agenda Setters Lomax would be welcomed back to the NRL despite defecting to rugby union for two years with his rugby league career in limbo.
Abdo said that the NRL only wanted the best for Lomax, who was expected to return to the NRL in 2028 after brokering a deal with Parramatta to release him one year early on the four-year deal he walked out on to play R360.
“Professional sport players come and go, you have to accept that. We want the best athletes possible playing rugby league and staying in the NRL competition,” Abdo said.
“Zac will always be welcome to come back. We look forward to seeing that happening at some point in the future if it does.”
Zac Lomax will play rugby union for two years. Credit: Jason McCawley/Getty Images
Respected journalist Riccio questioned if Lomax would be able to just walk back into the NRL in 2028.
“There is genuine baggage with Zac now. He’s left a contract early at St George Illawarra and now at Parramatta, and now he’s off to a rival code,” he told the panel.
Outspoken former NRL journeyman Woods believed the NRL should have been tougher after relinquishing a threat to ban players who went to R360.
“What changed in the last six months? They were going to get a 10-year ban, and now they’re welcome back,” he told the panel.
“They put that threat out there, and everyone got scared off, except Zac who signed a deal for a code that wasn’t even there… but now he’s welcome back with open arms. “He’s only gone to rugby because there are no other NRL clubs for him to go to.”
Lomax himself said earlier today he had a “dream” of playing for the Wallabies.
“Like any player, the dream of one day representing the Wallabies on a truly international stage and potentially competing at a Rugby World Cup is a powerful motivation,” Lomax said.
“This is a huge opportunity and a challenge I’m really looking forward to embracing. Stepping into a new code will push me as a player and that’s something that genuinely motivates me.
“The chance to be part of what the Western Force are building and to test myself at the highest level of rugby union is something that really excites me.”
David Riccio and Aaron Woods on The Agenda Setters: Rugby League. Credit: Channel 7/Channel 7
The NSW State of Origin and Australian star had attempted to sign with Melbourne for this year’s NRL campaign, after leaving the Eels in October to join the abandoned R360 competition.
However, a clause in his Parramatta release meant he could not join another club until the end of 2028 without the Eels’ written consent.
Lomax’s push to play for the Storm regardless was set for a NSW Supreme Court hearing last week, before the parties agreed to a deal that allowed him to return to the NRL in 2028.
Court documents in that case also revealed he had received an initial offer from Rugby Australia last December that was below the $700,000 a year he was receiving at Parramatta.
A revised offer from Rugby Australia four days later also fell below the mark, but the Force confirmed on Monday they had remained in contact with Lomax ever since.
The 26-year-old’s code swap comes after Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii did likewise at the end of 2024, while Blues teammate Angus Crichton is bound for the NSW Waratahs.