Melbourne have been accused of asking NRL CEO Andrew Abdo to “apply a blow torch” to Parramatta, as part of a desperate bid to sign Zac Lomax to the Storm.
Lomax’s battle to join Melbourne for 2026 is set to go before the NSW Supreme Court on March 2, with Parramatta refusing to grant him permission to link with the Storm.
The Eels are adamant Lomax knew he would need their permission to play for another NRL club before the end of 2028 when he was released from his $700,000-a-year contract last November in support of his bid to join R360, before the breakaway rugby competition’s launch was postponed.
Melbourne have since made three separate offers to Parramatta to try to free him to play this season, all of which have been rejected.
The most recent of those came this week, when Melbourne offered Parramatta $300,000 for Lomax to play for them this season, with $211,000 of that in salary-cap relief.
The courtroom battle has left Lomax with next to no chance of playing for Melbourne against the Eels in round one, given he is also unable to train with the Storm.
However, court documents obtained by AAP show the nature of the ongoing feud between Lomax and Parramatta, following his November release from the club.
The most telling passages contain claims from Parramatta that Melbourne chairman Matt Tripp last month raised with his Eels counterpart Matthew Beach the possibility of salary-cap sanctions if the clubs could not reach an agreement.
Parramatta have also accused Melbourne CEO Justin Rodski of messaging Abdo on January 21, asking for head office to apply pressure to Parramatta.
In court documents viewed by AAP on Friday, the Eels claim Rodski sent the following message to Abdo:
“Hi Andrew, not getting anywhere at this point, can you apply the blow torch and get this done,” the message is said to have read.
“Lomax staying in the NRL is obviously a win for the game.”
That then prompted the Eels to write to Abdo the following morning to ask whether sanctions would be imposed if an agreement was not reached.
According to the documents, Abdo is said to have responded denying the NRL “had made any such statement to the Storm”.
The documents also show Lomax will claim his release from Parramatta included a clause that the Eels “would not unreasonably” withhold their consent for him to join another team, and that there was an “implied term of good faith”.
The 26-year-old will also argue that Parramatta always knew there was a prospect he could want to return to the NRL with them or another club before the end of 2028.
In turn, he says Parramatta are restraining him from playing in the most competitive rugby league competition in the world, and the most lucrative available.
In response, the Eels said Lomax’s exit had impacted their football department, given they could not sign another player of the winger’s calibre on a three-season deal that late in the year.
Under the terms of Lomax’s exit, the NSW State of Origin representative was not blocked from playing rugby union or signing with rugby league clubs outside of the NRL.
Lomax confirms in the court documents that he received offers from Rugby Australia on December 19 and 23 to play Super Rugby, but it was worth less than his previous rugby league deal.
He also claims that the Storm then made an “unsolicited” approach to him, before the two parties entered a “non-binding agreement” for him to join them.
Parramatta says that then prompted train-and-trial deals to be sent from the Storm to Lomax in early January. Lomax contests certain details of that allegation.
