{"id":420280,"date":"2026-01-18T02:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/420280\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T02:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:00:13","slug":"rlpa-sends-warning-to-nrl-over-lomax-drama-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/420280\/","title":{"rendered":"RLPA sends warning to NRL over Lomax drama – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rugby League<\/a> Players Association has warned NRL<\/a> clubs against using players as bargaining chips as the Zac Lomax<\/a> contract impasse drags on.<\/p>\n

Lomax remains in limbo after being granted an early release from the final three years of his Parramatta Eels<\/a> deal, a release that prevents him from joining another NRL<\/a> club without the Eels’ approval.<\/p>\n

That clause has become the sticking point, with the Eels refusing to sanction a move unless there is an “appropriate exchange of value”, despite strong interest from the Melbourne Storm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Eels have reportedly identified Xavier Coates<\/a>, Stefano Utoikamanu<\/a> or Jack Howarth<\/a> as potential trade options, a stance Melbourne is reluctant to entertain.<\/p>\n

RLPA chief executive Clint Newton<\/a> said the players’ union would strongly oppose any scenario where players are pressured into moves against their will.<\/p>\n

“We certainly wouldn’t be supportive of any horse-trading situation where it’s conditional on player X or player Y going to Parramatta,” Newton told the Sydney Morning Herald.<\/p>\n

“That’s not something we would encourage or support.”<\/p>\n

\"NRLSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 16: Zac Lomax preparing to take a run during the round two NRL match between Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers at CommBank Stadium, on March 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Joshua Davis\/Zero Digital Sports)<\/p>\n

Newton added that contracted players have the right to see out their deals, and said he expected clubs to respect that principle throughout negotiations.<\/p>\n

Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos defended the club’s position, saying the Eels should not be disadvantaged following Lomax’s decision to seek an early exit.<\/p>\n

“As far as we’re concerned, we won’t be consenting to him signing with another club unless there’s an appropriate exchange of value,” Sarantinos said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had a representative player leave our roster who now wants to join another club.”<\/p>\n

Lomax’s future remains unresolved just weeks out from the NRL’s trial matches, after the collapse of the proposed R360 rebel rugby union competition and his decision not to pursue a Super Rugby move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rugby League Players Association has warned NRL clubs against using players as bargaining chips as the Zac…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-420280","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\/420280","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=420280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}