Lomax finds new home with $2.6m Eels deal after wing complaints

The Parramatta Eels have moved quickly, locking up Zac Lomax on a $2,600,000 contract that will run from 2025 to 2028—and, most importantly for wantaway Dragon Lomax, will see him handed a centre jersey.

Lomax, 24, was released from the last $1.7 million leg of his deal with the St George Illawarra Dragons last week and immediately began talking to Brad Arthur and the Eels.

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He will now earn $650,000 a season over the next four years playing for Parramatta and will join in 2025. The Sporting Base understands Arthur and Parramatta’s bosses are eager to get him into the system midway through this season, but Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has been quite firm about wanting a great trade in return.

The biggest stopper there is the Eels have very few players the Dragons want.

Either way, it’s just a matter of time before Lomax pulls on the blue and gold. The deal, which will cost Lomax $200,000 a season through 2025 and 2026, is expected to be announced this week.

All of this was originally sparked because Flanagan favoured Jack Bird and Moses Suli in the three and four jumpers and moved Lomax to the wing to accommodate.

Despite immediately shining in the flanking role—with some even suggesting he’s hit career-best form on the edge—the 24-year-old Dragons junior pushed back against the shift. He asked St George Illawarra brass for a release several times before having that granted in April. He immediately moved to meet with the Eels.

“I met with Zac at my home,” Arthur told the Sydney Morning Herald while negotiations were still ongoing recently. “We’ve got genuine interest and we want to bolster our squad. We always said we were short an outside back. He’s off contract for ’25.

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“I was very impressed. He seems like a mature young man who knows what he wants out of his life.”