Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Eels CEO outlines conditions for Lomax to return to NRL
Sam Kosack • January 15th, 2026 6:54 pm
Parramatta CEO Jim Sarantinos has revealed the Eels will only allow Zac Lomax to return to the NRL with a rival club if they receive appropriate compensation.
Zac Lomax was granted a release after one year of his four-year contract as he sought to join the R360 competition.
The release was allowed on the condition he cannot return to the NRL with a rival club until his Eels’ contract runs out. However, since the delay of R360, Lomax is now attempting to return for the 2026 season, with the Melbourne Storm his most likely home.
The Storm have the salary cap space following the release of Ryan Papenhuyzen and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, and Lomax would be an ideal replacement if he is allowed to return.
Sarantinos says the Eels will not allow Lomax to join a rival club unless they get an “appropriate exchange of value”, likely a representative player.
“We agreed to certain terms with Zac as conditions of the release,” Sarantinos told The Daily Telegraph.
“That was agreed to by Zac to give himself the opportunity to explore other options outside the NRL.
“We made sure there were certain protections within the release for the period he was supposed to be under contract with us. He signed up for that.
“Things obviously haven’t worked out the way he was expecting them to and he is now looking at other opportunities within the NRL.
“As far as we’re concerned, we won’t be consenting to him signing with another club unless there’s an appropriate exchange of value.
“We have had a representative player leave our roster who now wants to join another club’s roster. I don’t see why we should be disadvantaged in that situation.”
The representative winger had previously broken his Dragons’ contract to join the Eels in 2024.
Speaking on SEN 1170 Breakfast, Michael Carayannis revealed multiple clubs, not just the Eels, have raised concerns with Lomax’s potential return at yesterday’s NRL clubs meeting with Andrew Abdo.
“(A) big talking point, which got quite animated, apparently during the meeting yesterday was when the Zac Lomax situation was raised,” Carayannis said.
“There was a couple of other clubs that really took the lead here and said, this is not against Melbourne, and no one's got anything against Melbourne… this is a matter of principle because Parramatta have done nothing wrong here.
“Parramatta have done what every other club would've done, now Parramatta are essentially, potentially, getting penalised for something that's not their doing.
“Zac Lomax has been in Melbourne this week… he hasn't trained with the club yet, because you can't train if you're contracted to another side.
“(This) situation hasn't got any closer to a resolution because Melbourne have offered Parramatta money and things like that, but they haven't got to a point now where Parramatta are comfortable with letting (him) go one year into a four-year deal to go join the Melbourne Storm.
“Until that happens, I don't think Zac Lomax should be playing in the NRL.”
SEN’s Glen Hawke echoed Carayannis’s sentiments.
“We've seen player empowerment grow in rugby league over the years, and largely that's been a positive thing… (but) what we can't have is a system where it only works one way,” Hawke told SEN 1170 Afternoons.
“That's not empowerment - that's entitlement.
“I do have empathy for Lomax. I really do.
“This isn't the position he thought he'd be in. R360 looked like a genuine opportunity. The fact it collapsed isn't his fault.
“But empathy doesn't change the fundamental issue here. Zac Lomax made a choice. He asked for a release. He agreed to the conditions. And now those conditions are inconvenient, so he wants them changed.
“That's not how this works.”
