Lomax has left Eels 3 years early to ‘pursue opportunities outside the NRL’

Zac Lomax has been granted a release from the final three years of his blockbuster Parramatta Eels deal to “pursue opportunities outside the NRL,” which is more than likely a place in the fledgling R360 rebel competition.

The Australian winger (or centre, if you ask him) had just joined the Eels from the St George Illawarra Dragons to start 2025, and had been meant to earn $700,000 a year through to 2028 on the deal.

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“The club would like to thank Zac for his contribution during his time with the Eels in 2025, and we wish him all the best for the future,” a club spokesperson wrote in a short release message shared on Sunday, November 16. It’s understood the release was made then because now-free agent Lomax had been due back at preseason training on Monday.

Lomax has left just 25% of the way through his four-year Eels contract, having played just 19 club games in Parramatta colours, to reportedly take up a contract with R360 whenever it begins formally playing matches. While no numbers have been shared yet, it’s expected Lomax will earn as much as double what his Parramatta contract would have seen him make.

He joins Ryan Papenhuyzen — both managed by Clinton Schifcofske — in leaving his rugby league club before the end of his contract. “Pappy,” who was let go by the Storm a week ago, has also been heavily linked to the Saudi Arabia-backed idea that may start play next year.

So too Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who was just released from his own Melbourne contract in October.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has also been linked to an R360 signing.

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The question will now be whether Peter V’Landys and the ARLC have the backbone to enforce the 10-year bans they’ve been threatening for any rugby league player who speaks to R360, or joins the comp. Under those threats, Lomax, Pappy, RTS, and Asofa-Solomona, as well as Payne Haas if he defects, wouldn’t be able to play again until 2036.

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Most major rugby union nations, Australia included, have made similar threats regarding R360. For the time being, no one has been banned anywhere; no formal signings have been made by the rebel comp, of course.

R360 apparently aims to field six men’s teams and four women’s teams in year one.