The rival clubs interested Zac Lomax following his mutual agreement to leave the Dragons have been revealed amid the potential for a player swap this season.
Lomax agreed to leave the Dragons at the end of the 2024 season and forgo the final two years of his $800,000 a season deal, but he could leave earlier if the right player swap becomes available.
“Zac Lomax has been granted permission to leave the Dragons at the end of the season despite having two years remaining on his contract,” Braith Anasta said on NRL 360.
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“Lomax is now free to negotiate with rival clubs for 2025. However, the Dragons are open to an immediate player swap for this season if the right player was offered in return. So big news today for the Dragons and also Lomax.”
Paul Kent believes it is a win for both parties because Lomax didn’t want to play wing and him leaving frees up money in the Dragons’ salary cap.
“Look, it’s a positive for Zac Lomax,” Kent said.
“He’s obviously made his intentions known fairly early in the season that he wasn’t happy playing wing and was seeking a release.
“I know a lot of fans aren’t fans of these sorts of things happening. The fact is contracts are there to basically keep both sides of the party honest. And that’s what they’ve done. They’ve come to an agreement. So good luck to him. I doubt very much they will find someone this year. But the opportunity is there.”
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Brent Read believes the Dragons had to offload Lomax because they couldn’t justify his pay packet as a winger.
“It’s obviously been simmering for a while now and he’s been unhappy for a while now,” Read said.
“We reported this story in the preseason that he was edgy about that move to the wing and I think they’ve just decided, look, it’s a lot of money to pay a winger. He is on $800,000 a year.
“It’s probably not great for their salary cap and if they can find another home for him and use that money to fix up other areas of the team and there are other areas of that team that need fixing, it’s a better investment.”
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Dave Riccio believes the Dragons have made a shrewd move because the timing of the announcement gives them the funds to chase players over the course of the 2024 season.
“I think the timing is what would jar a little bit with Saints fans guys that, we are a month into the footy season and suddenly the club declared that they’re willing to release one of their biggest names,” Riccio said.
“But I think it’s a hugely smart move by Saints because no longer for the remainder of this season are they being held to ransom or with a noose around their neck as far as this $800,000 salary being with them the whole year.
“So they get to October and suddenly they’ve missed out on a whole stack of players that have popped up in between.
“And I’ll give you a name, Sunia Turuva over at the Panthers who the Saints are keen to have a chat with.
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“They wouldn’t even be able to probably get to that conversation with an armful of cash like they are now in October if they wait that long.”
However, Kent questioned if Lomax was simply trying to get out of his deal with a struggling club to join a contender, which sparked debate.
“The thing that I wonder about though is how much is this about a player just not happy playing a position and how much is it an opportunity for a player to get out and get to a stronger club?” Kent asked.
“I think the position is a bit of a convenient excuse,” Read said.
“It’s a convenient excuse to get out of the club,” Kent agreed.
“We’re a bottom four team. We’re battling. We’re going to take some years to get back to serious contender status. So why not take the quick route now and just join another club, which goes to the whole loyalty argument, which we have here from time to time.”
“I think it is smart they’ve made the decision now,” Read said.
“It gives them all year to go and find a new player. It gives him time to find a new home and negotiate a new home. I think that’s well done.”
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“It gives the Dragons room to move,” Kent said.
“They don’t have the noose of holding on to him and finally losing him anyway. And they’ve lost the opportunity to follow.”
Anasta questioned the possibility of Lomax switching clubs before the end of the season.
“It gives him clarity, but he’s playing good footy by the way,” Anasta said.
“But you also don’t want him leaving anytime soon, disrupting this season, right? So Kenty doesn’t believe he’ll leave before the end of the year, but he’s still a chance of that, right?”
Read can’t see Lomax leaving this year because the Dragons will want a quality player in return that some clubs are unwilling to provide.
“I don’t think he will either simply because they’ve come out today and said, we want a player of a high standard,” Read said.
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“And I just think the clubs he’s looking at, Parramatta is the obvious one. You know, the guys of that standard, we’re talking Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Junior Paulo, those sort of guys, Mitchell Moses, Dylan Brown, they’re not going to let those guys go.
“So I think it’s unrealistic to think they’re going to get a deal like that in the short term.”
Riccio questioned how Lomax will handle playing for a club he has no future with.
“I agree. I don’t see Zac leaving immediately or this season,” Riccio said.
“I think it gets through the end of the year. And the strength of that will be the mental approach of Zac Lomax to finish this season, as we’ve seen from players in the past, certainly over the last couple of years, Stephen Crichton, plenty of the Panthers players have moved on. And I’ll be interested to see how Zac handles it.”
However, Kent believes Lomax has everything to play for now that he is on the open market effectively.
“He’s playing for cash now though he will be playing hard don’t worry,” Kent said.
“He’s putting himself in the shop window. He’s playing for the new contract. He’s not going to try and just sort of coast through the season and just mail in his performance to try and get through the year.
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“He’s playing for money and look, he’s on 800. What’s going to be interesting is if a rival club comes in and says, mate, we’ll take you, but we’ll give you 600, because I’m sure this deal from Dragons is we’re not going to supplement wherever you go.”
Read believes Lomax would not have pushed for a release had he not gained considerable interest from an NRL rival.
“I’m sure behind the scenes, they’ve been feeling out people to know what he’s going to get,” Read said.
“I’m sure he’s not doing this without knowing I’m going to get a pretty good whack wherever I end up. Parramatta is the obvious one.
“They’ve expressed their interest in him from the start. In fact, to the point where Mark O’Neill rang Ryan Webb this morning before this was announced and said, we’re coming through the front door, we want to talk to him.
“And Ryan said, look, wait till we make an announcement later today. We’ll talk about it then. And they’re trying to organise a meeting with Brad Arthur and Zac this week at some point.
“It feels to me like that is reasonably well advanced.”
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