NRL<\/a> players to guide their inaugural campaign.<\/p>\nThe Eels are keen to retain Russell following Lomax’s shock departure, with the speedster suddenly becoming a key figure in Jason Ryles’ backline plans.<\/p>\n
![\"NRL](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\")
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 09: Jason Ryles, head coach of the Eels looks on before the round one NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the Parramatta Eels at AAMI Park on March 09, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
However, the Bears are expected to table a significantly stronger financial offer as they look to secure first-grade ready talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is interest there so Sean has some decisions to make,\u201d Russell’s manager Gavin Orr told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n
Russell featured in 20 matches for Parramatta in 2025, spending most of the year in the centres while also filling in on the wing.<\/p>\n
He finished the season with five tries and 15 goals.<\/p>\n
Parramatta are expected to open formal extension talks in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parramatta Eels junior Sean Russell is firming as the leading candidate to replace Zac Lomax on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-352006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"NRL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2204062477-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 09: Jason Ryles, head coach of the Eels looks on before the round one NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the Parramatta Eels at AAMI Park on March 09, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n