SMH<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cAnd that is we expect to be compensated in the form of a player or two for allowing Mitch to go home, from the club that shows interest. We will work through that process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s probably only 12 clubs that would fit his bill \u2026 There\u2019s no point sitting here and guessing who or what that [compensation is until Gav (Barnett\u2019s agent Gavin Orr) rings us and says \u2018Club A is interested in Mitch and this is what they can offer up. Or is there something else you prefer?\u2019 That\u2019s how that conversation starts. Until that happens, you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
George said a transfer fee \u2013 which doesn\u2019t provide any salary cap assistance \u2013 is off the table, paving the way for a potential deal to nab Lomax in return for their star forward.<\/p>\n
Both the Eels and Warriors would come out winners from the deal. <\/p>\n
The New Zealand side have several talented forwards ready to step up when Barnett leaves, but they are lacking serious strike power in their backline.<\/p>\n
Currently their wingers are Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, with new recruit Alofiana Khan-Pereira a backup.<\/p>\n
However, Tuivasa-Sheck has been linked to a return to rugby union, but even if he opts to stay at the Warriors, he is arguably a better centre anyway. <\/p>\n
Regardless, Lomax would instantly become the club\u2019s biggest backline strike weapon and if they can get him for Barnett \u2013 who they have agreed to leave anyway \u2013 it would be a no-brainer.<\/p>\n
As for the Eels, Ryles made it known on Tuesday that he would love Barnett at the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s certainly someone we\u2019d potentially look at,\u201d Ryles said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an Origin forward. I think that\u2019s an area of our roster that we can certainly strengthen. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think us, like many clubs, will be obviously looking in that space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch this space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax\u2019s return to the NRL is not off just yet, with the Eels ready to use him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-516439","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\/516439","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=516439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}