Zac Lomax should have actually been the Blues’ fourth-choice kicker.
It’s hard to blame Zac Lomax’s poor goal-kicking for NSW’s loss in State of Origin 2. But stats show he probably shouldn’t have been given the important task of replacing Nathan Cleary in the first place.
Vision has emerged of the moment Cleary refused to follow-through with a practice kick at the Blues’ captain’s run on Tuesday in Perth – the first sign something wasn’t right. The NSW halfback felt a ‘pop’ in his groin during the session, and was later seen ‘visualising’ his goal-kicks rather than actually hitting them.
Lomax was seen standing with Cleary and practicing his own kicks off the tee, and the Parramatta winger took over the job during Wednesday night’s game. But stats from the 2025 NRL season have highlighted the fatal mistake NSW made in opting for Lomax ahead of Latrell Mitchell or Stephen Crichton.
Lomax has kicked 18 goals from 23 attempts this year at 78 per cent. It’s a respectable figure, but it actually should have put him as the Blues’ fourth-choice kicker.
Cleary has kicked a staggering 40 out of 44 attempts (91 per cent), while Mitchell is 22 out of 26 (85 per cent) and Crichton is 36 out of 43 (84 per cent). The stats show Mitchell and Crichton were both arguably better options than Lomax, whose kicking percentage declined in his last few seasons with the Dragons.
It’s not known whether coach Laurie Daley would have had a say in who replaced Cleary as the Blues’ goal-kicker, but it’s more likely the players decided amongst themselves. It might be a case of Mitchell and Crichton not wanting the extra responsibility, but that would be hard to justify seeing as they both captain their teams at club level. Crichton has been battling a quad issue that threatened to rule him out of Origin 1, and likely didn’t want to put any more strain on it.
Goal-kicking the difference as Queensland beat NSW
If someone simply had a look at the stats and figured out who’s been kicking them better, it might have resulted in Mitchell or Crichton getting the nod over Lomax. In all fairness to Lomax, he was kicking them sweetly in last year’s Origin series. He nailed five out of seven in Game 2, and three out of three in the decider (including a number from the sideline).
But the cold-hard facts are NSW scored more tries in the 26-24 loss on Wednesday night (five to Queensland’s four), but Lomax only converted two of them. Lomax also missed a sitter in Game 1 after Cleary gave up the kicking duties following three misses of his own.
It didn’t cost the Blues in the series opener, but it certainly did on Wednesday night. While none of Lomax’s three misses were easy, it reinforced the fact that goal-kicking is such an important factor.
And Phil Gould highlighted that on Wednesday night. “In the end they’ve been beaten on goal-kicking,” the former NSW coach said on Channel 9. “That’s what it was. They scored four tries in the second half and kicked one conversion … Queensland had the benefit of a penalty in the first half and that’s been the difference.”
Whether or not Lomax retains the kicking duties for Game 3 remains to be seen. Cleary has declared he’ll be right for the Panthers’ next game in Round 17 against the Bulldogs, which would put him on track for the Origin decider. But the extent of his groin injury hasn’t come to light, and there’s every chance he’ll need a stint on the sidelines.
