{"id":461076,"date":"2026-02-05T23:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461076\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:41:09","slug":"ra-says-the-doors-always-open-after-nrl-star-lomaxs-r360-misfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461076\/","title":{"rendered":"RA says ‘the door’s always open’ after NRL star Lomax’s R360 misfire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rugby Australia<\/a> chief executive Phil Waugh<\/a> has left the door open for Zac Lomax as the NRL\u2019s prodigal son meets former club Parramatta in the NSW Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Days after RA confirmed the signing of NRL star Angus Crichton, Waugh said the 15-man code would be keen on any \u201cworld-class athlete\u201d pursuing a code switch.<\/p>\n

Lomax has been in limbo since being granted a shock release from his Eels deal amid speculation of a move to renegade rugby competition R360.<\/p>\n

R360 subsequently postponed its launch to 2028, with Lomax and the Eels set for a two-day Supreme Court hearing this month over his bid to return to the NRL.<\/p>\n

The State of Origin representative had agreed not to join an NRL rival until his original Eels deal lapsed after the 2028 season, but has been eyeing a move to Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Lomax had also toured the facilities of Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> outfit Western Force, and met with the ACT Brumbies<\/a> after R360\u2019s postponement.<\/p>\n

Waugh was unsure whether rugby union was still on the 26-year-old winger\u2019s radar as his matter was again heard in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d Waugh said at the official fixture announcement for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a world-class athlete and, as I\u2019ve always said, the door\u2019s always open to world-class athletes in our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waugh conceded that part of the appeal in signing Crichton for 2027 was the Sydney Roosters forward\u2019s history in rugby union.<\/p>\n

Crichton and fellow code-hopper Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii<\/a> were both elite schoolboy rugby talents. Lomax\u2019s union experience is limited to representing NSW in primary school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese young men grew up playing the game, and that\u2019s important,\u201d Waugh said.<\/p>\n

He said probable inside centre Crichton was a chance of playing in the Wallabies\u2019 home World Cup campaign, which begins against Hong Kong on October 1 next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of (Crichton\u2019s) DNA and growing up is building experience in rugby,\u201d Waugh said<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s been some time since he\u2019s been in that environment, the game changes a lot, he does have that history that you gain from having years in a sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to Angus having a good season with the Roosters and rugby league and then transitioning across into our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh has left the door open for Zac Lomax as the NRL\u2019s prodigal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-461076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461076","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=461076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}