{"id":416126,"date":"2026-01-16T04:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/416126\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T04:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:44:10","slug":"peter-vlandys-welcomes-zac-lomax-back-agent-defends-lomax-eels-storm-where-will-he-play-rugby-league-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/416126\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter V\u2019landys welcomes Zac Lomax back, agent defends Lomax, Eels, Storm, where will he play, rugby league news"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Zac Lomax strives to gain entry back into the NRL after a failed defection attempt to R360, he can consider ARLC boss Peter V\u2019landys in his corner.<\/p>\n

Lomax walked out on the Eels with three years left on his contract to pursue a move to R360 but the rebel league postponed their start date by two years, leaving the outside back in limbo.<\/p>\n

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The Storm are very interested in signing Lomax, but due to conditions of his release, he won\u2019t be allowed to play for another club until 2029 unless the Eels give him permission.<\/p>\n

A pretty price or a star player will likely be needed to be paid by the Storm or any other interested club to sway the Eels into letting Lomax play elsewhere in 2026.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Eels\u2019 wishlist in any potential deal<\/a> with the Storm is said to be any one of Stefano Utoikamanu, Jack Howarth or Xavier Coates.<\/p>\n

V\u2019landys has always been against R360 and warned players there would be major consequences for those was quit their NRL contract to join the controversial competition.<\/p>\n

However, V\u2019landys is welcoming back Lomax with open arms.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to player agent Steve Gillis, who helps manage Lomax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s public knowledge there\u2019s been conversations between Melbourne and us,\u201d Gillies told Code Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of trying to navigate the termination document with the Eels and how we may or may not be able to open the door for Zac to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is the NRL wants the best players in the world playing in the competition. They can see and accept that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeter V\u2019landys said, \u2018Yes, he\u2019s welcome back\u2019. I think that\u2019s fantastic \u2026 I think common sense will prevail and something will get sorted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis intention may have been to go and play rugby somewhere, but when Melbourne come knocking, you give them an audience. If they knock on your door and say, \u2018We\u2019re interested in your player\u2019, you pick up the phone and ring that player straight away to tell them Craig Bellamy is interested in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gillis is a staunch defender of Lomax, who has negotiated an early release from his deals with the Eels and the Dragons before that. <\/p>\n

The agent understands the criticism his client has copped because of this, but noted there were other circumstances at play that fans should be aware of. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know the scoreboard reads poorly with (quitting) two clubs in two years but if I was doing the Melbourne Cup form here today, and analysing it, there are circumstances as to why things changed,\u201d Gillis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he originally signed with the Dragons, Paul McGregor (former coach) said to him, \u2019You are my fullback, we are signing you to play fullback\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played one game at fullback, went to centre, then found himself on the wing and wasn\u2019t happy at the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went to Parramatta. About a week after signing, Brad Arthur (former Eels coach) was sacked. A couple of weeks later Clint Gutherson, who helped woo him to Parramatta, went to St George.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can never question his performances or effort on the paddock \u2026 He is a good fella, a very decent fella.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Zac Lomax strives to gain entry back into the NRL after a failed defection attempt to R360,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,219561,8089,219563,763,4569,4466,761,762,158,219558,4598,118633,16205,85,31582,68980,42318,219557,66722,219562,219559,167476,219560],"class_list":["post-416126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-controversial-competition","tag-craig-bellamy","tag-failed-defection","tag-fox-league","tag-jack-howarth","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-paul-mcgregor","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-player-agent","tag-rule-changes","tag-sports","tag-st-george","tag-star-player","tag-start-date","tag-steve-gillis","tag-storm-coach","tag-stunning-reveal","tag-termination-document","tag-vlandys","tag-world-playing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416126","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=416126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}