Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nJack Howarth could be a swap for Lomax.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
However, while both the Storm and the Eels have not been able to reach a mutual agreement, Anasta defended Parramatta\u2019s right to dig their heels in. <\/p>\n
Anasta believes Lomax knew the repercussions of leaving the Eels one year into a four-year deal to join R360 and has to live with the result, despite the rebel rugby union competition being delayed until 2028. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did the NRL need to get involved here?\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n
\u201cZac turned his back on the game. He said, \u2018See you later\u2019, knowing there was going to be a ban, knowing how strict V\u2019landys was on the decision to turn your back on our game and go to R360. Knowing that he was walking out on a contract and letting down a team and a club and their fans, as one of their best players on a long-term deal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should Paramatta not have the power to make whatever decision they want right now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bears roster build is solid but boring? | 07:08<\/p>\n
The NRL is keen to play mediator between the Storm and the Eels to keep a player of Lomax\u2019s ability in the sport, rather than lose him to a rival code. <\/p>\n
However, Anasta has little sympathy for Lomax, who knew the huge risks to his NRL future by turning his back on the sport, in what he believes is one of the biggest contract calls in history. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou dig your own hole,\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love Zac, I get along with him really well. I call it how I see it though. We all make decisions in our life, in our sporting careers as professional athletes, that we know have repercussions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what we do and he made one of the biggest calls ever in our game really and it blew up in his face. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo just because he\u2019s a great player, do we just welcome him back in because I get the image and what he brings to our game and the excitement that he brings and all that. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut Paramatta have the power for good reason. They deserve the power and it\u2019s up to them now. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe NRL don\u2019t really need to get involved here. It\u2019s as simple as this, Melbourne give us the player we want or he\u2019s not playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eels would love to get Stefano Utoikamanu back.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
With R360 scheduled to come to fruition as a competition in 2028, Anasta warned the reality is that Lomax may end up turning his back on rugby league again in the future. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe still don\u2019t know because R360, we\u2019re not sure where the hell they\u2019re at, but he could end up there in a couple of years anyway,\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo why would you let him have a free pass back and then all of a sudden he goes, oh, thanks, guys, I\u2019m going again?\u201d <\/p>\n
To that effect, the Lomax contract saga has been compared to Sonny Bill Williams walking out on the Bulldogs mid-contract to join Toulon in 2008.<\/p>\n
Rugby signings shake up Roosters | 07:44<\/p>\n
However, Dan Ginnane pointed out that Williams was not allowed to return to the NRL for half a decade before winning a premiership with the Roosters in 2013. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny how things change.. the most heinous thing ever done was Sonny Bill, what he did,\u201d Ginnane said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut he wasn\u2019t allowed to play for five years after that. Now it suited him fine. He was off, winning everything for New Zealand and Super Rugby. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut he didn\u2019t come back to the Roosters until a long, long, long time after.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe left the Bulldogs and went to Toulon and Choc Mundine actually paid three quarters of a million because Sonny Bill didn\u2019t have the money at the time and paid it to the Bulldogs to pay them off. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the deal was Sonny couldn\u2019t come back to the NRL for five years.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Braith Anasta is against the NRL\u2019s decision to intervene in the Zac Lomax contract saga and backed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,219794,217437,224819,56583,11101,8089,12732,224260,15915,224256,4569,4415,4536,4746,4466,32917,761,762,1736,158,677,9112,122342,20766,159,224254,224262,2619,7889,2815,85,41607,22332],"class_list":["post-428695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-bears-roster-build","tag-call-leaves-casualty","tag-conditional-release","tag-contract-saga","tag-cooper-cronk","tag-craig-bellamy","tag-dan-ginnane","tag-fan-day","tag-football-department","tag-hangover-risk","tag-jack-howarth","tag-james-tedesco","tag-junior-paulo","tag-mark-st-john","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-michael-ennis","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-zealand","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-parramatta-eels","tag-player-swap","tag-professional-athletes","tag-rugby-league","tag-rugby-signings","tag-rugby-signings-shake","tag-rugby-union-competition","tag-salary-cap","tag-sonny-bill-williams","tag-sports","tag-things-change","tag-zac-lomax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428695","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=428695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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