Inside the last-ditch meeting between Eels and Storm to broker deal for Zac Lomax

2 weeks ago 8

Melbourne and Parramatta remain in a stand-off over Zac Lomax despite a meeting between the respective club chairs on Tuesday, where a deal for Ryan Matterson to join the Storm and an improved financial offer from the Melbourne club were put on the table.

Lomax has been locked in a dispute with the Eels over his future after they agreed to release him from his contract last year to pursue an opportunity with rugby union start-up R360. With the breakaway competition now on hold until the end of 2028, Lomax hopes to resume his league career by linking with the Storm, but Parramatta have refused to budge on a clause preventing him from joining another NRL club without their permission.

Storm chairman Matt Tripp and Eels counterpart Matthew Beach met in Sydney in a bid to thrash out a deal. However, it appears there won’t be a resolution outside of court after the parties were unable to come to terms.

The Eels had previously rejected Melbourne’s offers of $200,000 and $300,000 as compensation because the money didn’t improve their salary cap position.

The Storm tabled a counter-proposal that included increasing their transfer offer and also providing the Eels with cap space through a potential player transfer.

Sources not authorised to speak publicly told this masthead that Parramatta were keen to revisit the possibility of offloading Matterson to the Storm.

This masthead has previously revealed Parramatta’s desire to get Matterson off the books, but, while the issue was revisited on Tuesday, the parties couldn’t reach an agreement.

The Storm are adamant that was their final offer, meaning both parties – unless one backs down – are headed to a Supreme Court showdown in the first week of March. That almost certainly means there won’t be an outcome before the season kicks off, thwarting Lomax’s bid to debut for the Storm against his former club in round one.

Lomax’s future was a hot topic at the NRL’s season launch at Mrs Macquaries Chair on Tuesday.

“I played for Australia with him a couple of years ago. He’s a great character, Zac, a really good guy, and a really good player as well,” said Storm captain Harry Grant.

NRL players gather for the season launch at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair on Tuesday.

“I love the fact that our club is always looking to improve, always looking to get better. Obviously, Zac fits that mould for sure. But at the end of the day, it’s out of my control. All I can do is hope that Zac is doing OK with it all. I hope he’s got the right support around him at the moment and, fingers crossed, we can see him back in the game.”

The potential consequences of flirting with R360 were laid bare last year when the Australian Rugby League Commission warned it would impose 10-year bans on players who committed to the proposed global rugby roadshow.

ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has since said Lomax would not be subjected to such a penalty and the NRL would register a new contract for him.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo had a similar message on Tuesday.

“I want the best athletes in the world playing in the NRL and NRLW competition, full stop,” Abdo said. “It all has to happen within our rules and clearly there are now discussions happening between Zac and the Eels. That’s the subject of a court case and I don’t want to talk to specifics.

“But our blanket statement, as the CEO of the game, we want the best athletes coming and playing our sport.”

That is welcome news for Melbourne and Grant.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got a short career,” Grant said. “And you don’t want to miss out on these opportunities. I think anyone in our league – you’ve got a limited time to play, limited time to be an athlete – sometimes opportunities come up. I don’t want to see anyone rubbed out of the game [and] miss those opportunities to maximise their potential.”

While Craig Bellamy’s side are eager to have Lomax on board, Parramatta have put their former teammate behind them.

“He made his decision after the season that he wasn’t going to be with us, so we’ve just moved on, I guess,” captain Mitchell Moses said.

“Definitely as a playing group we’ve moved on and we haven’t thought about it. He hasn’t done one training session with us, so we’ve moved on. It just gives another one of these other boys an opportunity to come in, take a jersey, and come into what we’re trying to do.”

Moses said he was glad the club was standing up for itself on the issue.

“I’ll back the club in whatever they do, whatever decision they make,” he said. “They’ve got our full support as a playing group, whatever they do, we’ll back them. It’s out of our control.”

A hearing in Parramatta’s case against Lomax has been pushed back until March 2, just three days before Melbourne begin their season against the Eels at AAMI Park.