Rugby league international back Zac Lomax has signed a two-year deal with \u2060Rugby Australia to play Super Rugby for the Perth-based Western Force and potentially the Wallabies.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old, who played union \u200cas a child, was granted early release from his contract by the \u200cParramatta Eels last November with a view to taking \u200cup a contract with the rebel R360 rugby union competition.<\/p>\n
When the \u200claunch of R360 was put on hold, he tried \u200cto sign with another National Rugby League club, the Melbourne Storm, but the move was blocked in court by the Eels earlier this \u200cmonth.<\/p>\n
A tall, athletic winger or centre, Lomax \u2060is exceptionally good in the \u200cair and a top class goalkicker – an area of the game \u200bwhere the Wallabies have struggled in recent years.<\/p>\n
“This is a huge opportunity and a challenge I’m really \u200blooking forward to embracing,” Lomax said in an RA news release.<\/p>\n
“Stepping into a new code will push me as a \u2060player and that’s something \u200bthat genuinely motivates me.<\/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.”<\/p>\n
Australia \u200chost the World Cup next year.<\/p>\n
Joseph Suaalii, who made the switch from league in a big money deal in late 2024, said last week that he thought Lomax would thrive in the 15-man game.<\/p>\n
“He’s a special player, you’ve seen what he’s done in league,” Suaalii told reporters.<\/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. I’m sure … \u200che’d be a very good rugby player as well.”<\/p>\n
Suaalii’s former \u200bteam mate at the Sydney Roosters Angus Crichton will also \u200cswitch to rugby union next year in a bid to make the Wallabies team for the World Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n
A third Rooster, dual code test winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, has signed up to play club rugby in \u2060Japan from later this year, which \u2060would make him eligible \u200cfor a return to the Wallabies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rugby league international back Zac Lomax has signed a two-year deal with \u2060Rugby Australia to play Super Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-530197","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\/530197","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=530197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}