After being a standout winger for the Eels and Blues this season, Zac Lomax has made it clear where he plans to play for Parramatta in 2025. Following an outstanding season in which he was chosen one of the wingers in the NRL’s Dally M Team of the Year, Lomax is scheduled to make his debut for the Kangaroos in Friday night’s Pacific Championships Test match against Tonga.
The flyer sought a release from his contract with the Red V after Dragons coach Shane Flanagan rejected Lomax’s demand to play centre. In the end, he reportedly reached an agreement to join Parramatta in 2025 for a four-year contract worth $2.6 million. Lomax assumed he would play in the centres when he decided to join the Eels, but the 25-year-old’s future seemed uncertain after veteran Parramatta coach Brad Arthur was fired halfway through the previous year.
Many critics argued that Lomax should be left on the wing for the upcoming season by new Eels coach Jason Ryles after his career-best season on the wing, which featured 14 tries in 21 games for the Dragons and a key role in the Blues’ State of Origin series victory. However, Lomax has flatly denied those rumours, telling The Sydney Morning Herald that he will play for Parramatta at his chosen position.
“Next year, I will definitely be at the centre,” Lomax told SMH. “I wanted to go try things out for myself. Something needed to change. And Parramatta is where that change is. I entered this season with confidence and the mindset that, wherever I played, I wanted to be the best [player] in that position and excel at it.
Lomax said that training at fullback for the entire preseason and then being moved back to the wing once the season started was one of the reasons he was frustrated with the Dragons. He claimed that even though he enjoys playing on the flank and relished “every minute” of the season, the representative star still sees his future at centre.
Zac Lomax addresses reports about Clint Gutherson’s future
Lomax is thrilled about the next phase of his career at the Eels, but club captain and fan favourite Clint Gutherson, who has become a target for the Dragons, may be going in the opposite direction.Despite winning Parramatta’s 2024 player of the year award, Gutherson has been granted permission to negotiate with other teams for the upcoming campaign, which puts youthful sensation Isaiah Iongi in the lead to wear the No. 1 shirt for the Eels.
Even though the Eels recruit believes the veteran fullback still has a lot to give whatever team he ends up with, Lomax says he would love for Gutherson to continue at Parramatta but acknowledges that his departure might be best for everyone. “I wish ‘Gutho’ could be at Parra, but I know he has to do what’s best for himself because he’s been and still is a fantastic player,” Lomax remarked. There are rumours that he may be joining the Dragons. For them, that might be an excellent purchase. He will play well wherever he goes.
But according to Lomax, his top priority right now is the Kangaroos and making sure his Test debut against a Tonga team that beat the Australians in their most recent meeting in 2019 is one to remember. Lomax claims that while being in camp with the Kangaroos in Brisbane, he has been communicating “regularly” with Ryles, his new Eels coach, and that Parramatta’s poor 2024 15th-place result only serves to increase their motivation for the upcoming campaign.
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