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0 Andrew Johns has urged disgruntled Dragons star Zac Lomax to front media and publicly put the unfolding saga around him to bed.
The Sydney Morning Herald this week reported Lomax’s management had contacted St George Illawarra with a formal request to negotiate with other clubs.
The Red V knocked back the proposal which would have likely seen the $800,000-a-year gun jump ship to Parramatta.
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On Sunday, a day after Lomax starred in a big round one win over Gold Coast, new coach Shane Flanagan admitted the player was “upset” about being moved to the wing this season.
Johns says the noise around the team will only continue unless Lomax fronts up.
“Until he commits if he’s going to stay or not, every week there’s going to be talk,” Johns told Wide World of Sports’ Freddy and The Eighth.
“The Dragons, they are a very high profile club, if Zac Lomax each week dodges it… he hasn’t been interviewed.
“There’s a way to stop it, come out and say, ‘you know what? I’m staying here the rest of the year, if I play on the wing I play on the wing’.
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“All he has to do is come out and say ‘that’s it, I’m staying for a year’.”
Lomax hasn’t found much support around the game in his fight against a positional switch and a potential Dragons exit.
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On Monday, Paul Gallen told Wide World of Sports the Dragons star will actually get his hands on the ball more at wing, and won’t have to defend as much as he would at centre.
It’s a viewpoint shared by former NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler.
“He’s a good winger. They do more work than anyone these days. I don’t know why anyone would want to play centre,” Fittler told Freddy and The Eighth.
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“Why would you want to play centre and not wing?
“He could be one of the really great wingers. There’s very few people who can go up in the air and catch it in their hands. He’s one of the best at it.”
Legendary coach – now Bulldogs football boss – Phil Gould, however, believes Lomax would be better at centre than on a wing. Johns also said he would play Lomax at centre if he was coaching the Dragons.
Gould added that the highly-paid star must do what coach Flanagan believes is best for the team.
“(Wing is) not his best position, but he’s got the ability to play it and play it well,” Gould told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus.
“At the end of the day it’s the coach’s decision and the coach is right, you can’t knock what the coaches decide.
“Zac’s got to get into line with that, whether or not he’s happy.
“We try to ingrain in them from a young age it doesn’t matter where you get picked, in which position… you’ve got a role to play and it’s your job to play that role.
“It’s quite common for a player to be picked out of position and not be happy with it. But he’s getting in and playing to the best of his ability, to his credit.”
The Dragons next play the Dolphins on Sunday.
