{"id":355861,"date":"2025-12-18T10:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355861\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T10:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:35:07","slug":"kiss-verdict-on-nrl-stars-world-cup-chances-if-he-makes-code-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355861\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiss’ verdict on NRL star’s World Cup chances if he makes code switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach-in-waiting Les Kiss has admitted that NRL star Zac Lomax will be in the running to represent Australia at the 2027 Rugby World Cup if he makes the switch to rugby union.<\/p>\n

Lomax, who plied his trade on the wing in rugby league, walked out on a three-year contract with NRL outfit the Parramatta Eels and was heavily linked with a move to the rebel league, R360.<\/p>\n

R360\u2019s launch postponed<\/p>\n

However, R360\u2019s plans to launch its global rugby series next year have been pushed back until 2028 which means there is uncertainty over Lomax\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old is highly rated in rugby league circles as he has represented Australia at Test level in the 13-a-side code and the New South Wales Blues in the State of Origin.<\/p>\n

It has been suggested that he could become a target for rugby union clubs in Japan or France while according to a Code Sports report, Lomax<\/a> has received a two-year offer from Super Rugby Pacific outfit the Western Force which is worth around AUS$450,000 a season.<\/p>\n

Lomax is weighing up that offer and although it means he would take a pay cut from his NRL contract with Parramatta, the lure of joining the Force and chasing a Wallabies jersey and playing at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia could be weighing on Lomax\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

Kiss<\/a>, who is currently coaching the Queensland Reds and is set to take over the Wallabies<\/a>\u2018 coaching reins from Joe Schmidt in August 2026, said he would keep an open mind to the potential of selecting Lomax if he does switch codes.<\/p>\n

State of the Nation: Joe Schmidt left \u2018with more questions than answers\u2019 as Wallabies\u2019 struggles continue<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe small discussions I\u2019ve had around that is that if a player is interested, and if they\u2019ve had some history in their youth that they\u2019ve been involved in the game, it always helps,\u201d he told News Corp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think someone like Zac has from my memory, of some people talking about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose types of people, if they have the appetite, then I think the conversations are always open.<\/p>\n

\u2018Smart decisions should always be there\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just put your head in the sand over these things, but I do think good, smart decisions should always be there and we should be open to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere that goes, that\u2019s not for me, and a full decision at this stage, it\u2019ll be in other hands as well because there\u2019s a lot of things that come into play for those things to happen, but why not have the conversations if they\u2019re interested?\u201d<\/p>\n

If Lomax decides to join the Force he will face stiff competition for a spot in the Perth-based outfit\u2019s starting line-up as one of the wingers.<\/p>\n

Current Wallabies flyer Dylan Pietsch is on the Force\u2019s books while they also signed former All Blacks speedster George Bridge on a two-year contract in August.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Wallabies: Joe Schmidt includes injured trio and rookie prop in 40-man squad for training camp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies coach-in-waiting Les Kiss has admitted that NRL star Zac Lomax will be in the running to represent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,761,762,44,158,15131,85],"class_list":["post-355861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-news","tag-nrl","tag-rugby-world-cup","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355861","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=355861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}