Storm chairman Matt Tripp took aim at Parramatta for what he saw as deliberately taking the dispute public, accusing the club of running to the media to control the narrative around the Zac Lomax saga. Tripp suggested the Eels chose headlines over resolution, portraying Lomax and Melbourne as acting in bad faith while ignoring the broader context — including the fact Parramatta would have gained adequate compensation for a player who had already vacated the club.
Tripp said Melbourne attempted to handle the matter quietly and professionally, offering compensation to avoid escalation, only for Parramatta to harden its stance and air the issue publicly. In his view, the decision to brief the media and frame the Storm as "villains" was unnecessary and misleading, turning a solvable contractual dispute into a drawn-out public fight that Parramatta itself helped inflame.
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Nowadays, we usually leave some powder dry for mid-season opportunities (e.g. Walker & TDS last year), so I suspect cap space isn't the biggest issue at play.
Lomax will be around 350-400K in 3-4 weeks for the 2026 cap.
PLV would also know our cap space. If he was trying to swing it Storm way, or push Parra, he could have publicly screwed us with "you don't have the cap space, take the settlement money."
Good point too HOE
Exactly my thoughts, we're going to need to pay whoever comes in, so it proves there is some stashed money aside.
If Lomax came back I would not allow him to be goal kicker
Lomax's goalkicking:
2023 — dropped to 68%, a career worst; following partner issues.
2025 — dropped from 83% to 67% from late June to the rest of the season; following R360 interest and seeking a release.
Wonder what the sook calls this then!?
Also wonder what he calls running to the nrl to assist his troop knowing full well Lomax has a clear contract stating conditions!!
Adequate compensation is in the eye of the beholder.
You mean the compensation that we can't use to improve our roster while you get what you want and makes you stronger for 2026.
Well fark me Mr Tripp if the shoe was on the other foot would you tie your shoelaces together and Tripp over a deal like this that clearly helps one side more than thee other.
No Jim has made our position very clear from the outset the fact you want the nrl involved in this is something a chicken little move in itself the fact you refuse to acknowledge the terms of the Lomax release is also another key point to the terms that you refuse to admit.Heaven forbid our CEO only wants what's best for his club and it's members how farken dare he take a stance like that.A CEO doing his job who'd have thought that.
See you in court.
Looks like he's trying to force the issue before these emails that have been subpoenaed are made public. I'd say there's been some serious breaches of the NRL anti-tampering laws going on, with Melbourne, and the NRL desperate to keep it quiet.
I do not have much time for Victorian Billionaires. One such prominant family wanted to buy my business and so I retained a business broker and the son signed a confidentiality agreement, so we sent all relevent details including client list. The son contacted our broker and said "tell them to get out as fast as they can as my mates run a lot of these sites and they are just going to put us in". He then forced one his mates to put our intellectual property into a giant tender, which put our years of hard work (and a mortgage on our family home) and software development out into the market place which was snaffled up by the multinationals and just about ruined us. We have never financially recovered. Is this how you become a Victorian Billionaire? Deliberately deceive a family business to steal their IP and clients?
Mr Tripp may or may not know this other family but he is welome to repay our mortgage so I don't have to work until I am 90. We of course sought good legal advice but no one does pro bono on commercial litigation. In any event, we were told it would cost us a minimum of $300,000 to run the case which we would probably win but then they would immediately appeal and cost us another $300,000 for the appeal. No family business can afford that. Are billionaires as cunning as a fox?
No sympathy here Mr Tripp. Stick to your guns Mr Beach. Parra has the lawyer and finances to run this to its conclusion as well as some new found balls which is brilliant. DO NOT STOP UNTIL YOU WIN MR BEACH.
The swap for Bradman Best sounds the best solution.
I think Melbourne are just surprised here because Lomax only had one contract with us and it was legitimate. It's not how they usually operate...
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