{"id":526730,"date":"2026-03-08T12:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526730\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T12:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:23:16","slug":"brad-fittler-slams-ridiculous-zac-lomax-contract-saga-storm-vs-eels-legal-battle-andrew-johns-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526730\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Fittler slams ‘ridiculous’ Zac Lomax contract saga, Storm vs Eels legal battle, Andrew Johns comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Fittler<\/a> has slammed the “ridiculous” Zac Lomax<\/a> contract saga, while fellow NRL legend Andrew Johns<\/a> showed little sympathy for the ex-Parramatta<\/a> star.<\/p>\n

Lomax’s name has been front and centre of the rugby league world for the past few months, walking out on the Eels with three years left in his contract to join R360<\/a> before the competition’s start date was delayed, leaving him in limbo.<\/p>\n

The star winger then looked set to join the Melbourne Storm<\/a>, but due to the agreement signed as part of his release, Lomax got caught up in a messy legal battle.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE: F1 Australian Grand Prix coverage<\/a><\/p>\n

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The weeks-long back-and-forth between the two clubs over Lomax’s signature finally came to an end before round one, with the 26-year-old’s move falling over.<\/p>\n

It now leaves the NSW and Kangaroos flyer without a club, with early indications that he will head to union after being spotted at Rugby Australia headquarters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show regarding the contract saga, Fittler admitted he was hopeful of seeing Lomax back in the 13-man code, but took aim at the self-interest of NRL clubs and the star’s management for their handling of the situation.<\/p>\n

“I hope so,” the Roosters legend said.<\/p>\n

“It was like a divorce case, it was just money to lawyers and the problem with that is, we’ll never see our potential because clubs refuse to put the game first.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler has taken aim over the Zac Lomax contract saga.\u00a0Nine\/Getty<\/p>\n

“That’s the irony of what happened – the greatness of our game is tribalism, but we don’t get to see the potential because clubs never put the game before themselves.<\/p>\n

“It became so much more, Ryan Matterson got involved \u2026 how did his name come up?<\/p>\n

“It just became ridiculous. If we stepped in and spoke about the signing of that ridiculous part of the contract … that was the dumbest thing.<\/p>\n

“His management has got to take some type of responsibility.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lomax joined the Eels on a four-year contract after previously breaking his Dragons deal at the end of 2024, but the potential to play for a third club in as many years is increasingly unlikely due to Parramatta’s strict conditions surrounding his release.<\/p>\n

Johns admitted those in Lomax’s camp had “made their bed” after looking to join the rebel R360 competition before it fell through.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Zac Lomax.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“When it all came out with R360, Peter V’landys was quite open and strong about it – players and player managers knew there was a threat from Peter V’landys, yet they still went ahead of signed it,” the rugby league Immortal said.<\/p>\n

“They made their bed and signed for them and were told there would be a 10-year ban and they have reneged on that.<\/p>\n

“Part of me is like, you made your decision and unfortunately it didn’t work, but you broke two contracts and there has to be consequences.”<\/p>\n

Lomax has played 133 games for the Dragons and Eels, while also representing NSW on six occasions and featuring three times for the Kangaroos.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Fittler has slammed the “ridiculous” Zac Lomax contract saga, while fellow NRL legend Andrew Johns showed little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-526730","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\/526730","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=526730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}