{"id":513026,"date":"2026-03-02T02:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T02:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513026\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T02:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T02:42:11","slug":"zac-lomax-in-last-minute-negotiations-as-he-chases-eels-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513026\/","title":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax in last-minute negotiations as he chases Eels exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zac Lomax’s <\/a>NRL future remains in limbo as his lawyers conduct last-minute talks to secure his release from Parramatta.<\/p>\n

Minutes before a NSW Supreme Court hearing was due to begin on Monday morning, lawyers for both Lomax and the Eels asked for more time to carry on negotiations that had run overnight.<\/p>\n

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Lomax quit the Eels in November in a failed bid to join R360 before the breakaway rugby union competition’s launch was postponed.<\/p>\n

But his former club blocked his next move, a proposed shift to NRL powerhouse Melbourne for the 2026 season, which started in Las Vegas on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Zac Lomax wants to join Melbourne Storm, but the Eels are holding him to the terms of his release last year\u00a0Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Eels claimed the winger knew he would need their permission before tearing up his $700,000-a-year contract and moving to another NRL club.<\/p>\n

A seven-day trial was set to begin on Monday, but lawyers for both sides asked Justice Francois Kunc for some time to keep trying to settle the matter outside of court.<\/p>\n

“I always wish parties well in their attempts to resolve their differences,” Justice Kunc quipped while granting the adjournment.<\/p>\n

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Parramatta made their legal move to try to secure compensation for Lomax’s Melbourne move.<\/p>\n

The Storm have made three separate offers to the Eels to try to free him, most recently a deal worth $300,000 with $211,000 of that in salary-cap relief.<\/p>\n

Lomax, represented by prominent barrister Adam Casselden SC, was not in court on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Parramatta chief executive Jim Sarantinos was in court as Eels fan and esteemed barrister Arthur Moses SC represented the club.<\/p>\n

A settlement would keep Lomax in line to make an early-season return to rugby league as the Storm’s season begins on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Closing submissions in the contract case are set down for March 17, after round two, with Justice Kunc likely to need further time to consider his decision.<\/p>\n

It puts any hope of Lomax taking to the NRL field in purple before round four under serious threat.<\/p>\n

Melbourne’s bid to land the NSW Origin representative has taken on added importance after star winger Xavier Coates was ruled out until round 10 with injury.<\/p>\n

While that gap could have been filled by rising star Sua Fa’alogo, he’s needed in the number-one jersey after star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen left in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax’s NRL future remains in limbo as his lawyers conduct last-minute talks to secure his release from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-513026","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\/513026","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=513026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}