A court order confirmed on Tuesday morning prohibits Zac Lomax from entering into a contract, working, training, or playing with any NRL club until 31 October 2027 without the Eels' written consent.
Crucially, Parramatta haven't slammed the door and are willing to work with Lomax and his agent to find an NRL club that wants to sign him in exchange for "appropriate value" for their football program.
Parramatta set a dangerously high standard for letting Lomax go to another club, with Melbourne proposing multiple deals, including two final proposals.
One being a $750,000 transfer fee to bring Lomax to the club, and the second seeing the Storm agreeing to sign Ryan Matterson, paying out the remainder of his $416,000 contract and $300,000 in cash.
Matterson was set to be contracted this year with 2027 being an option controlled by the team if he was to head to the Storm.
The Eels forward rejected the move, as he wanted the second year of his deal with Melbourne guaranteed instead of an option per all reports.
There are two tools a club can use to compensate another in a swap or transfer:
Cash sits entirely off the salary cap.
It goes directly into the receiving club's football department budget: things like for recruitment, retention, staff etc.
It frees equivalent space on the receiving club's book without the acquiring club necessarily paying wages to any specific player.
Player swaps are the third option, and the most complex.
Any play offered a compensation must be a genuine football asset, not a salary dump the acquiring club is trying to offload.
Both the NRL and the receiving club can reject a player swap on those ground.
The player himself must agree to the move, and no player can be traded without their consent under the standard NRL player contract.
With these tools in hand, here are five clubs that could realistically put together a package Parramatta could accept.
2. Canterbury Bulldogs: Matt Burton
This is the most explosive deal on this list and the one that puts a failure grade on the Bulldogs ability to put their team around him and their halves combination.
Burton is contracted until the end of 2027 and with questions surrounding his future and the recent interest from the NFL, as well as being linked to the Gold Coast Titans, the North Queensland Cowboys and the Perth Bears in the off-season, there is a lot of speculation about what Burton will do next.
Despite Phil Gould denying rumours that he will go anywhere, this could be a move worth entertaining if they do decide there needs to be a fundamental tweaking to how they're putting the Bulldogs roster together.
The 26-year-old Origin winger would align with the Bulldogs in terms of premiership aspirations and his status as a quality player.
With elite goal-kicking, yardage game and another aerial threat to put in the Bulldogs backline, the Bulldogs could build their spine with Lachlan Galvin and Mitchell Woods, two halves who are seen as part of the club's long-term plans, and Lomax could slot into the other wing spot, making Marcelo Montoya a solid back-up or expendable option for the club.
Burton could push the Lorenzo Talataina timeline back another 12-24 months if the Eels see appeal for him in the halves, but could also see him be a very elite centre option on the left edge next to former teammate Josh Addo-Carr, who would be the second best kicking option at the end of a set after Moses.
Already with premiership winning experience as part of the 2021 Penrith side on the left side next to Brian To'o, his game translates on the biggest stage.
Burton with an estimated salary of $700k salary for 2027 would be the primary compensation, with the Eels completely absorbing Burton's wages, while Canterbury would also fully absorb Lomax's salary in full at almost, if not, a similar number as part of what was agreed on in the Eels contract.
Gould would almost refuse certainly and it's unlikely Burton would agree to this move.
It's also hard seeing Burton go from five-eighth to centre for the Eels in the likes of Jack Wighton when he moved from the Raiders to the Rabbitohs.
If the Bulldogs' football department ever reaches a point where they decide Burton isn't central to their premiership aspirations, this would be a deal that the Parramatta Eels would very likely say yes immediately to.
