Zac Lomax's brutal Dragons reality emerges amid Eels contract sticking point

Zac Lomax will reportedly have to sacrifice up to $425,000 if he is to leave the Dragons and join the Eels. Lomax was last week granted permission to leave the Dragons at the end of 2024, two years before the end of his lucrative contract at the Red V.

The agreement means the club won't have to pay out the 24-year-old when he leaves at the end of the season. Lomax is reportedly unhappy at having to play on the wing instead of his preferred centre position, with the Eels understood to have the salary cap space to pay him a centre's salary if he makes the switch.

Lomax met with Parramatta immediately after getting permission to leave from the Dragons and even attended a family dinner at the home of coach Brad Arthur. But according to 2GB’s Neil Breen, while Parramatta are considered his likely destination, if he is to join the club in 2025 he will have to take a significant pay cut.

Lomax is pocketing $800,000 from the Dragons this year, and that figure was reportedly set to rise to $850,000 next year and $875,000 in 2026. That deal would have meant he would be the most expensive winger-centre in the NRL.

It is understood the 24-year-old is set to be offered a three-year deal from the Eels worth around $650,000 to $750,000 a season, which will see him miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars. "The problem for Zac Lomax is it will be a three-year offer (from the Eels), and each year will be about $150,000 to $200,000 short of what he was going to get paid at the Dragons," Breen said. "That's the pay cut he's taking."

Speaking to the SMH, Arthur confirmed he'd sat down with Lomax and says he had been "impressed" with the young gun. "I met with Zac at my home," Arthur said. "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." St George Illawarra have made it clear that part of allowing him to leave the club is that the club won't foot any of his salary next year.

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Shane Flanagan hits out at criticism to let Zac Lomax leave

After agreeing to let Lomax leave the club, Flanagan said captain Ben Hunt had not only backflipped on his desire to leave but could even extend with the Dragons for another season. Hunt went through his own contract dramas with the Red V in 2023 and came under fire for requesting a release so he could move back to Queensland to be closer to his family. Hunt was criticised for saying the Dragons were not his "first choice" team and that he would prefer to join any of the Queensland clubs.

The Dragons ultimately denied Hunt's request for a release - who only signed a two-year extension eight months before trying to get out of his contract. Flanagan took over as Dragons coach this year and convinced his star halfback to stay at the Red V. And now reports suggest he could be set to extend his current deal by a further year into 2026.

The revelation comes after Flanagan hit out at criticism around letting Lomax go after denying Hunt's request. "Ben wants to be here," Flanagan said. "Ben will see out his contract and maybe go further so don’t confuse the issue of Ben and Zac. They are two different issues."

Flanagan has been forced to respond to swipes from the likes of Billy Slater, who accused the Dragons of "double standards" over the Lomax and Hunt sagas. "I remember when Ben Hunt asked for a release at the Dragons everyone was having a go at Ben Hunt and actually having a dig at his integrity ... but then Zac Lomax wants to do it and everyone's like, 'Ah, OK, we'll look at that if we can get a player in return'," Slater said on Nine's The Billy Slater Podcast.

"For the club to have double standards like that - it's got to work for both parties ... It's a little bit double standards when you're accepting to or you're open to releasing one sort of player ... but you're not going to look into a Ben Hunt situation. What works for one doesn't work for the other."

Last week Flanagan responded to Slater's suggestions, saying the club isn't interested in a player swap and Lomax would not leave the club this year. "There is no player swap going on," Flanagan said.

"Zac is here for the rest of the year, I don’t know where all of that has come from. We’ll just move on... and hopefully, this is the last time we speak about it." When pressed on why the Dragons agreed to grant Lomax an early release from his contract, Flanagan was blunt. “We can’t have people who don’t want to be here. That’s the main point."