I can clearly remember the first time I saw Dragons young-gun Zac Lomax in action two years ago – I knew I was watching something special.
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By now most fans, Dragons ones at least, no the name. If they didn’t they do now after he was named to debut against the Rabbitohs this week. He’s picked up a swag of junior honours, rep jumpers yada, yada, yada. We’ve heard all that before.
Kickoff has long bemoaned the NYC competition as one of the game’s great mistakes. As such, we’ve always looked at under 20s standouts with skepticism.
That’s why this column’s belief that Lomax looks the goods isn’t based on his exploits at WIN Stadium, or ANZ Stadium but the iconic Gibson Park Thirroul.
It was an Illawarra league match. Lomax was yet to turn 17 (sshhh don’t tell anyone) when he lined up for the Butchers against the league-leaders Wests.
In the centres he directly opposed Junior Vaivai, the best three-quarter in the league who’s now playing with Huddersfield in Super League.
It was a tough baptism early on, but Lomax held his own and got his own back in the second half, pulling the Butchers back into the game as they almost overturned a 26-0 deficit.
For a 16-year-old kid to do that in a men’s league as tough as the Illawarra’s, you knew, there and then, that he was the real deal.