{"id":275643,"date":"2026-02-09T19:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/275643\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:39:48","slug":"zac-lomax-court-latest-updates-delayed-legal-showdown-with-parramatta-eels-puts-hopes-of-melbourne-storm-round-1-berth-on-thin-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/275643\/","title":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax court latest updates, delayed legal showdown with Parramatta Eels puts hopes of Melbourne Storm Round 1 berth on thin ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star winger Zac Lomax now faces an excruciating wait for approval to play for the Melbourne Storm in Round 1 after his legal showdown against the Parramatta Eels was officially delayed.<\/p>\n

The matter was initially scheduled for a two-day hearing<\/a> before Justice Francois Kunc starting this Thursday.<\/p>\n

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But CODE Sports reported<\/a> that a directions hearing on Monday afternoon confirmed the matter would spill into the first week of next month, starting Monday March 2. The court was told during a directions hearing late on Friday afternoon that this could happen.<\/p>\n

Significantly, this year\u2019s NRL competition kicks off with two games in Las Vegas the day prior, before the Storm and Eels meet on March 5 at AAMI Park.<\/p>\n

Eels vs Lomax: “I applaud Parramatta!’ | 02:58<\/p>\n

It means the court fight between the Eels and Lomax mightn\u2019t be finished by the time the NRL season kicks off, consequently leaving Lomax\u2019s hopes of a Round 1 berth hanging by a thread \u2013 especially as he hasn\u2019t been allowed to train with the Storm.<\/p>\n

But even if Lomax does get the green light to represent the Storm, it\u2019d be a mightily tight turnaround to play in their season-opener.<\/p>\n

The Eels have taken action after Lomax quit the club just one year into a four-year deal, telling Parramatta he wanted to defect to R360<\/a>. But when the rebel rugby union competition delayed their launch until at least 2028 \u2013 leaving the player in contract limbo for 2026 \u2013 Lomax attempted to join the Melbourne Storm.<\/p>\n

“Wish him well” – Penisini on Lomax | 00:44<\/p>\n

As part of their release, the Eels included a clause that Lomax couldn\u2019t sign with another NRL club for the duration of his contract period \u2014 until the end of 2028 \u2014 without their written permission.<\/p>\n

The Eels have so far played hardball, knocking back the Storm\u2019s offer for financial compensation offers of $200,000 and $300,000.<\/p>\n

Parramatta said it was forced to take legal action in the NSW Supreme Court when Lomax and his representatives indicated that the terms of his release were not binding.<\/p>\n

The Eels are seeking a declaration that the contract is valid, while Lomax is set to argue that it represents a restraint of trade and Parramatta has not negotiated in good faith.<\/p>\n

\u2014 with NCA NewsWire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star winger Zac Lomax now faces an excruciating wait for approval to play for the Melbourne Storm in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12587,155310,155312,155308,155307,155309,155314,155313,81756,13891,155306,83745,9492,13893,111,139,64,13902,69,115882,9486,213,155311,13883],"class_list":{"0":"post-275643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-berth-hanging","10":"tag-competition-kicks","11":"tag-contract-period","12":"tag-court-fight","13":"tag-court-twist","14":"tag-excruciating-wait","15":"tag-financial-compensation-offers","16":"tag-fox-sports","17":"tag-las-vegas","18":"tag-legal-showdown","19":"tag-luke-keary","20":"tag-melbourne-storm","21":"tag-nevada","22":"tag-new-zealand","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-north-america","25":"tag-northern-america","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-parramatta-eels","28":"tag-penrith-panthers","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-star-winger","31":"tag-united-states-of-america"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}