Zac Lomax has signed a two-year deal with the Western Force, with the rugby league outcast eyeing off playing at next year’s World Cup with the Wallabies.<\/p>\n
One week after being denied a return to the NRL, Lomax has now officially linked with the WA outfit for the rest of the 2026 season as well as next year.<\/p>\n
That will allow him enough time to attempt to crack the Australian squad for next year’s home Rugby World Cup, before a return to rugby league is allowed in 2028.<\/p>\n
“Like any player, the dream of one day representing the Wallabies on a truly international stage and potentially competing at a Rugby World Cup is a powerful motivation,” Lomax said.<\/p>\n
“This is a huge opportunity and a challenge I’m really looking forward to embracing. Stepping into a new code will push me as a player and that’s something that genuinely motivates me.<\/p>\n
“The chance to be part of what the Western Force are building and to test myself at the highest level of rugby union is something that really excites me.”<\/p>\n
The NSW State of Origin star had attempted to sign with Melbourne for this year’s NRL campaign, after leaving the Eels in October to join the abandoned R360 competition.<\/p>\n
However a clause in his Parramatta release meant he could not join another club until the end of 2028 without the Eels’ written consent.<\/p>\n
Lomax’s push to play for the Storm regardless was set for a NSW Supreme Court hearing last week, before the parties agreed to a deal that allowed him to return to the NRL in 2028.<\/p>\n
Court documents in that case also revealed he had received an initial offer from Rugby Australia last December that was below the $700,000 a year he was receiving at Parramatta.<\/p>\n
A revised offer from Rugby Australia four days later also fell below the mark, but the Force confirmed on Monday they had remained in contact with Lomax ever since.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old’s code swap comes after Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii did likewise at the end of 2024, while Blues teammate Angus Crichton is bound for the NSW Waratahs.<\/p>\n
Crichton, who played the 15-man game growing up, said he had felt for Lomax through the Eels ordeal but backed him to make it in rugby.<\/p>\n
“He put himself in that position so I’m not going to say I felt sorry for him, but as a person you do have care for people,” Crichton said. <\/p>\n
“He was in a pretty compromised position but it’s good to see that he’s come out of it because he’s a quality player.<\/p>\n
“He’ll be good [at rugby]. He’s a great athlete, he’s a good player. He’ll go well wherever he is.”<\/p>\n
Crichton’s backing comes after Suaalii labelled Lomax a “special player”, capable of cracking the Wallabies set up.<\/p>\n
“I think a lot of rugby people would love for him to come across,” Suaalii said last week.<\/p>\n
“He can definitely play the game, I believe.<\/p>\n
“Zac has the aerial ability, he can kick a ball, he’s strong, he’s fast. He’s a very good rugby league player.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax has signed a two-year deal with the Western Force, with the rugby league outcast eyeing off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,158,760,85],"class_list":["post-528013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nrl","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528013","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=528013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}