{"id":431432,"date":"2026-01-23T04:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431432\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T04:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:19:11","slug":"showdown-locked-in-for-eels-lomax-nrl-courtroom-biff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431432\/","title":{"rendered":"Showdown locked in for Eels, Lomax NRL courtroom biff"},"content":{"rendered":"

A court date has been set to decide if Zac Lomax can join the Melbourne Storm before 2028. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

A courtroom clash between Parramatta Eels and their former winger Zac Lomax will be held within weeks as the NRL club tries to stop him jumping ship.<\/p>\n

The NSW State of Origin star has been in talks to sign with Melbourne Storm over recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old was granted a release from Parramatta at the end of last season to pursue a contract with the rugby union competition R360.<\/p>\n

Barristers Arthur Moses SC and Adam Casselden SC remained tight-lipped outside court. (Miklos Bolza\/AAP VIDEO)<\/p>\n

However, when R360’s kick-off date was pushed back from 2026 to 2028, he was left in limbo.<\/p>\n

Parramatta has taken Lomax to the NSW Supreme Court claiming that it agreed to release the goalkicking outside back from his contract but had not granted him permission to join a rival NRL club until 2028.<\/p>\n

The showdown has been set for an expedited two-day court hearing starting February 13.<\/p>\n

During a short court hearing on Friday, the club’s high-profile barrister Arthur Moses SC said the anticipated key issue would be whether the condition restraining Lomax from playing for other clubs was valid and enforceable.<\/p>\n

\"ZacThe Eels claim they have not granted Zac Lomax permission to join a rival NRL club until 2028. (Steve Markham\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Whether Parramatta will claim Lomax made misleading statements before securing his release for the R360 competition remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

The club will decide whether to expand their case after viewing material subpoenaed from Melbourne Storm, Lomax’s solicitor Ramy Qutami and his agent Clinton Schifcofske relating to the player’s exit.<\/p>\n

Lomax’s barrister Alex Casselden SC did not tell the court whether his client would object to the subpoenas.<\/p>\n

Neither barrister answered questions from journalists after the hearing.<\/p>\n

The matter will return to court on January 29.<\/p>\n

\"ParramattaThe Eels began their legal action after talks with Zac Lomax and Melbourne broke down. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

On Thursday the Eels released a statement saying mediation talks with Lomax and the Storm had broken down, prompting them to commence legal action. <\/p>\n

After the postponement of the R360 competition, the former St George Illawarra star became an obvious target for Melbourne, who have farewelled Ryan Papenhuyzen and Nelson Asofa-Solomona since their grand final loss to Brisbane.<\/p>\n

The Eels have said they would only waive their agreement with the winger if they were properly compensated by Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\"ZacZac Lomax has scored five tries in his six State of Origin appearances. (Bianca De Marchi\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Lomax, a three-cap Australian international who scored five tries in six Origin games for the Blues, only joined the Eels for the 2025 season after seeking a release from the final two seasons of his contract with the Dragons.<\/p>\n

His exit from the Red V appeared to stem from his dissatisfaction with being moved from the centres to the wing by St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan. <\/p>\n

In 19 games across his single season at Parramatta, Lomax scored nine tries and kicked 53 goals. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A court date has been set to decide if Zac Lomax can join the Melbourne Storm before 2028.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[4764,4765,64,63,4766,1348,3355,3359,761,762,44,3356,3354,3357,158,85,3358,1346],"class_list":{"0":"post-431432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-aap","9":"tag-aapnews","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-news","13":"tag-breaking-news","14":"tag-daily-news","15":"tag-global-news","16":"tag-national-rugby-league","17":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-news-app","20":"tag-news-headlines","21":"tag-news-today","22":"tag-nrl","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-today-news","25":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431432","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=431432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}