NRL 2020: Why family matters to St George Illawarra Dragon Zac Lomax
He’s a rugby league tough guy with a soft side but a strong belief that miracles really do happen and that one day he will achieve a cherished childhood dream in the NRL beside his brother.
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He’s the new age rugby league young gun happy to wear his heart on his sleeve.
Zac Lomax, who starred against the Titans last round, says he cries a fair bit, loves his mum to death and is open about his great love for his family, his friends and his community in Temora.
The Wollongong-based young rugby league star also happily talks about how special his teammates are, the place partner Jess Sergis holds in his heart, how he loves being a St George Illawarra Dragon and his desire to be a “one club man”.
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He even tells a story of how he cried all the way to Sydney in the car when he and brother Hayden moved north to pursue their rugby league dreams as teenagers.
“As a family, mum and dad thought the best thing for us was to move up (to Wollongong) when we were 15 and 16. I went into year 10 and Hayden started a carpentry trade,” said Lomax, who rose through Illawarra’s junior ranks and also represented the Australian Schoolboys and under-18s NSW.
“I remember crying all the way to Sydney. I was already missing my family and friends and we knew we would be gone at least a couple of years.
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“I am a big softie. I am a crier. It’s probably not what you expect from tough rugby league players, big softies.
“ I am a mummy’s boy and always have been. I’m in love with my mum. There a lot of things that make me cry. I’ll stick up for what I believe in.”
The goalkicking fullback is also open about his dreams for the future and his No.1 goal of one day playing alongside his brother in the NRL.
“I get goosebumps talking to you about it. I just hope one day that opportunity does come,” Lomax said.
“He is the hardest worker you will ever meet. He goes about his business and doesn’t get much credit.
“He is a silent achiever. He has been stung with a few injuries which haven’t gone his way.
“But when that day happens, when we play together, it will be the best day of my life and Hayden’s as well. I can’t wait. Miracles can happen.”
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Lomax started playing with older brother Hayden, now 21, with the Temora Dragons when he was just four years old.
It was love at first touch.
“My dad and his dad were big advocates. My pop played for the Newtown Jets. Dad played Jersey flag for the Raiders. It ran in the family,” he said
And family is what matters most to Lomax.
So close knit are they that when he first moved to Wollongong to pursue his career his mum and little brother moved with him.
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“Dad used to commute and see us most weekends,” he said.
“You hear about country people going from a small environment to a big one and they come home because of homesickness.
“So they decided mum coming with us would be a big factor in keeping us there and helping kickstart our career.”
It worked. Lomax is now reaping the benefits of his families decision with St George Illawarra locking him down with a five-year contract extension pre season.
“I’d give up my life for my family and friends. we are so tight back home,” he said.
And while he loves his life and time with the Dragons he still misses his home and old team.
“Temora, the community, is important to me,” he said.
“It is tight and strong. I do feel like I play for them.
“I miss playing for the Temora Dragons so much. I’d give anything to play a game with all my mates again.
“This all happened so fast. I’d love to go back to the last game I played with them because I never though it would happen so quickly and that would be my last time with them.”