{"id":379299,"date":"2024-03-25T00:48:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T01:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=379299"},"modified":"2024-03-25T02:02:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T02:02:32","slug":"unbelievable-rookie-puts-doubts-on-lomax-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=379299","title":{"rendered":"'Unbelievable' rookie puts doubts on Lomax pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffarramatta<\/a>'s potential pursuit of wantaway Dragons<\/a> star Zac Lomax<\/a> might have been put to rest over the weekend after an eye-catching debut from Blaize Talagi.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old \ufeffscored a try in his first NRL<\/a> appearance, running over the top of Manly<\/a> superstar Tom Trbojevic<\/a> in an epic moment as the Eels scored a 28-24 victory.<\/p>\n

Talagi \ufefffinished with 10 runs for 89 metres and made four tackle breaks, while also overcoming a shaky start in defence to make 20 tackles with just three misses.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tigers dealt brutal home truths over Leichhardt future<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Burgess rumour 'won't go away' amid Souths slide<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Eels star's resilience lauded after family tragedy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

While there is plenty of room for improvement for the former Australian Schoolboys standout, head coach Brad Arthur<\/a> admitted there was no surprises within the Parramatta locker room after his impressive first-up effort on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It was good – we got what we knew we would get from him," Arthur said.<\/p>\n

"He enjoyed the collision, he liked the physicality, he kept going after the game. When he got a couple of things wrong, it didn't bother him.<\/p>\n

"We knew we'd get all that and he's only gonna get better with experience.<\/p>\n

"I know Blaize is only a kid, but he was able to not let it worry him \u2026 they are a pretty hard team to defend against and he did a pretty good job."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheParraEels\/status\/1772076240599724530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Talagi spent time playing at five-eighth coming through the grades, but given the presence of Dylan Brown in the blue and gold, he appears unlikely to play there any time soon and looks set to feature in the centres for the Eels.<\/p>\n

The club was reportedly interested in acquiring the services \ufeffof Lomax, who has expressed his desire to play in the centres and is disgruntled with his current role at St George Illawarra under new coach Shane Flanagan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, with the emergence of Talagi out wide for the Eels, as well as the likes of Will Penisini and Bailey Simonsson still on deck as quality centre options, Lomax could potentially be surplus to Arthur's requirements.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Clint Gutherson also backed the youthful \ufeffinflux at Parramatta and believes the club are in a good spot for 2024 and beyond.<\/p>\n

"We've got a lot of young kids there that are really pushing their case and working hard," the captain told Wide World of Sports in pre-season.<\/p>\n

"We've got Blaize Talagi who is coming through, he played a bit of 20s and stuff last year, and the growth I have seen from him has been unbelievable."<\/p>\n

Parramatta will be boosted by the return of Maika Sivo in round four, with the hulking Fijian winger missing the start of the year due to suspension.\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffarramatta's potential pursuit of wantaway Dragons star Zac Lomax might have been put to rest over the weekend after an eye-catching debut from Blaize Talagi. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":379301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379304,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379299\/revisions\/379304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/379301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}