Summary:
Zac Lomax has settled his legal dispute with the Parramatta Eels, agreeing he cannot return to the NRL without the club’s written consent before the 2028 season.
In a surprise development in the NSW Supreme Court, both parties reached a settlement that largely upholds the original terms of his release. Lomax will now be free to return to the NRL without Parramatta’s consent in 2028 instead of 2029 — but until then, he remains restricted.
This means he cannot join the Melbourne Storm unless the Eels provide written approval.
As part of the agreement, Melbourne must pay $250,000 towards Parramatta’s legal costs.
The dispute arose after Lomax was released from his $700,000-per-year contract to pursue an opportunity in the failed R360 rugby union competition. Parramatta included a clause preventing him from signing with another NRL club until November 2028 without their consent. Negotiations between Melbourne and Parramatta broke down over transfer fees and player swap proposals before the matter was resolved in court.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/zac-lomax-once-again-in-contract-limbo-after-settling-with-parramatta/news-story/28e01750be0a26c3e610008358d71d71
Replies
You just watch us get dudded by the refs thurs night. The nrl will feel sorry for melbourne
Thats given mate. just so long as they're not as harsh as the were to the Dragons in Vegas! Expect increased decibles from the cooking pots though.
Does the $250,000 come off Storm's cap? The salary cap includes inducements to play, like houses or cars or legal fees. What is the chance V'Landys, already with egg on his face for supporting the Storm's case that has been shown to have no legs by the settlement, will push for the inducement to play to come off their cap?
Apologiesif this has already been asked or responded to, but why are the Storm paying the legal fees when Lomax was the one taken to court? The Storm were subpoenaed, I get that, but shouldnt Lomax be paying the Eels legal fees??? What does Storm have to gain to make a settlement?? Are they purely paying $250k hush money??? We need ALL the details! Release the FILES!!
I think early on in proceedings Melbourne said they would cover his legal fees.
I get that, but we know that Melbourne was offering to pay legal costs with the view to obtain Lomax's services. Settling without going through the full legal process tells me that they were aware that they would not obtain his services, so therefore their new goal was to reduce the legal expenses. Is that it?? What happened between agreeing to pay the legal costs, to deciding they were best off settling?? There has to be some juicy stuff out there that made the Storm back off and agree to pay a quarter million for absolutely nothing. There is no guarantee that Lomax signs in 2028.. so is it a complete write off??? But I guess what im trying to get at is, release the files!!! What are they hiding!?
Arguing for costs is common in the Supreme Court. The losing side commonly cover some of the costs of the winner. The Judge usually decides that before proceedings close.
Yes it may have been negotiated, that's also possible.
But from my experience once a winner is declared, or is about to be declared the lawyers go straight to 'now who is going to pay for all this'.
Looking at Players off contract next year that we could possibly make a reasonable deal for
Paul Alamoti, Bradman Best, Jack Bostock, Herbie Farnworth, Campbell Graham, Sebastian Kris, Zac Laybutt,
Bula, Hammer, Levi Hoppa, Turbo, Burton
, Xavier Coates, Jaylan De Groot, Jojo Fifita, Tyrone Munro,Xavier Savage, Brian To'o, Sunia Turuva, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Dominic Young
There are a lot of players off contract there that maybe worth signing for next year using Matto money and maybe getting this year in a swap for Lomax. I really like Tyrone Munro. Tall, fast and strong and has massive potential. The other option could be Burton to play centre if he doesn't want to leave Sydney
Good choice there AE Munro does have that potential and has the perfect body type for nrl outside backs athletic as hell too exactly what we need.Be greedy go for Bradman Best aswell if we have a war chest I do wonder if they will still look at a 6 also.
Alamoti too seems to have come of age also.
I think Burton is a real possibility if he doesn't want marquee half money and go to Perth. Burton and Galvin doesn't work, they need a 7 with Galvin. Secondly Lomax would be a big upgrade on Montoya so I think the bulldogs might consider a swap deal for this year only, I'm sure Parra would then let Lomax sign wherever he likes for '27
-
7
-
8
-
9
-
10
-
11
of 11 Next