Zac Lomax’s hopes of debuting for Melbourne against former club Parramatta in round one have been thwarted – unless the feuding parties resolve the impasse outside of court – after his case was delayed until after the start of the season.
Lomax and Parramatta remain locked in a Supreme Court dispute, with the matter now scheduled for a five-day hearing from March 2-6. That means there won’t be an outcome until after the Storm’s season opener against the Eels on March 5 at AAMI Park.
Parramatta commenced legal proceedings to prevent Lomax from joining the Storm, given his release from a four-year contract was contingent on the Blue and Golds providing written consent. The Blues winger was granted a release to join breakaway rebel competition R360, but has been left in limbo after its inaugural season was put back until 2028.
Parramatta are seeking a player of comparable value in exchange for permission to allow Lomax to play at a rival club, with the Storm struggling to come up with a suitable swap.
Storm chair Matt Tripp and Eels counterpart Matthew Beach met in Sydney on Tuesday in a bid to end the stalemate. Despite Melbourne increasing their previous compensation offer of $300,000, the parties couldn’t come to an agreement.
Unless one side backs down, Lomax will be sitting out the start of the 2026 season.
Sources with knowledge of the situation speaking on condition of anonymity said an out-of court resolution was highly unlikely given the parties remain so far apart on what constitutes an acceptable outcome.
Jonah Pezet will make his Eels debut against his former club in round one.
Bellamy names Papenhuyzen’s fullback successor
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy will give homegrown youngster Sua Fa’alogo first crack at the vacant Melbourne No.1 jumper this season.
Bellamy, who last week committed to another two years at the Storm, will field several new faces in his squad this season following the departures of fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona, half Jonah Pezet and the concussion-related unavailability of second-rower Eliesa Katoa.
Storm young gun Sua Fa’alogo will be Melbourne’s fullback to start the 2026 NRL season. Credit: NRL Photos
Fa’alogo, who has played 22 NRL matches since debuting in 2023, has been identified by the Storm as the one to fill Papenhuyzen’s vacancy ahead of another Melbourne junior, Hugo Peel.
“Sua will get first shot,” Bellamy said on Thursday. “To his credit, he hasn’t been one of our fittest players in the past, but this year he’s come back very fit.
“He realises that to play that position, you need to be really fit and have endurance. We all know he has pace but he’s improved his endurance.”
Bellamy admits he didn’t expect to have two Victorians competing for the key fullback role.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy in December.Credit: Sam Mooy
“Probably not in the past but I think Billy Slater being our most famous fullback and still living here, he does a bit of work for us, so I think his concentration on the fullbacks has really helped Sua and Hugo,” Bellamy said.
Ahead of his 24th season in charge of Storm, Bellamy said he was not ready for retirement after committing until the end of 2028. In previous years he had only made commitments for one season at a time.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I thought I had a bit more time in me,” Bellamy said. “My wife, probably 12 months ago, wasn’t that keen on my going on, but she’s basically given me her support. I’ve committed to those two more years so that will be the plan.”
The 604-game coach led the Storm to last year’s grand final loss to Brisbane. He remains bullish about his side for this season despite some key player exits.
Bellamy admits he is thinking about retirement, even looking forward to it, but he’s not ready to say goodbye to full-time coaching any time soon and is excited about the potential of his young Storm side.
“We are all getting older and looking forward to retirement – maybe not looking forward to it, but we know it is close,” Bellamy said.
“It’s just working out what the right time was, or is. That is the hard part. I’m still enjoying what I’m doing here. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s a decision I’m going to embrace.”
Bellamy backed Cameron Smith to be a great aquisition for the Broncos after they signed the Storm, Queensland and Kangaroos legend as an assistant coach for this season.
“We’ve torn his membership up straight away,” Bellamy said with a laugh. “He actually rang me up and explained why he had taken on the job. He doesn’t have ties or contracts or anything [with Storm] so he can do what he likes with his life and he’ll be of great benefit to the Broncos. It was smart of the Broncos to get him there.
“We would have loved to see him here, but he lives in Queensland now and certainly, there are no hard feelings at all.”
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