{"id":393181,"date":"2026-01-05T13:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393181\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:30:21","slug":"eels-sign-brian-kelly-as-potential-replacement-for-zac-lomax-ahead-of-2026-nrl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393181\/","title":{"rendered":"Eels sign Brian Kelly as potential replacement for Zac Lomax ahead of 2026 NRL season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Kelly is poised to replace Zac Lomax in Parramatta’s backline after being released by Gold Coast to sign a two-year deal at the Eels.<\/p>\n

Kelly had been linked with the Eels in recent weeks before both clubs made the immediate move official on Monday.<\/p>\n

He looks set to slot into the starting side for Jason Ryles’s second season as coach following Lomax’s release only one season into a four-year deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NSW representative Lomax had been linked with breakaway rugby competition R360 before its postponement plunged his future into limbo late last year.<\/p>\n

Kelly will be the beneficiary of Lomax’s misfortune, though, set to join Josh Addo-Carr and Will Penisini as a walk-up starter in the outside backs.<\/p>\n

Bailey Simonsson, Jordan Samrani and Joash Papalii are among other options as the Eels look to build on improvements showcased in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Brian Kelly joined the Titans in 2019. (Getty Images: Chris Hyde)<\/p>\n

“We had an opportunity to strengthen our outside backs which was a positional area of need, and Brian certainly fits that need very well for us,” Eels general manager of football Mark O’Neill said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Jason and the coaching staff are looking forward to working with Brian, who adds a greater attacking dimension to our game.”<\/p>\n

Kelly had been contracted with the Titans for 2026 but exits as the club prepares for its first season under rookie coach Josh Hannay.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old made his NRL debut at Manly in 2017 before linking with the Titans 2019 two years later.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brian Kelly is poised to replace Zac Lomax in Parramatta’s backline after being released by Gold Coast to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[10968,64,63,4560,30241,2485,761,762,158,16390,6658,159,85,22958,22332],"class_list":["post-393181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-10968","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brian-kelly","tag-eels","tag-gold-coast","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-parramatta","tag-r360","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-titans","tag-zac-lomax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393181","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=393181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}