John Junior Lomax (born 6 February 1966) is a New Zealand former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a , he captained

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and played for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

and

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

Background

Born in

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, Lomax played his junior rugby league for the

Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on ...

. His younger brother,

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, was also a professional rugby league player, who represented

Playing career

In 1989, Lomax, alongside his three brothers (Arnold, Tony and

), played for Wainuiomata in their

Wellington Rugby League Wellington Rugby League is the local sporting body responsible for the administration of Rugby league in the Greater Wellington region. It is responsible for the local competition of the same name, as well as its representative team, the Wellingto ...

Grand Final win over Upper Hutt. In 1990, Wainuiomata won the Wellington Rugby League and the national

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

competitions. That year, he represented the New Zealand Māori team against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He later played at the 1992 Pacific Cup. In 1992, Lomax and his three brothers represented Wellington against

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

.Coffey and Wood ''The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League'' All four brothers later played in the Lions 25–18 national Grand Final win over the

Northcote Tigers The Northcote Tigers are a rugby league club based in Northcote, Auckland, Northcote, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1910 as the Northcote Warriors though they became known as the Northcote Ramblers shortly afterwards.John Haynes ''From A ...

. In 1993, he was invited to be part of an Auckland Invitational XIII side that drew 16-all with the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

Canberra Raiders

In 1993, Lomax moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, joining the

in the

NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

. In Round 1 of the 1993 NSWRL season, he made his first grade debut in Canberra's 8–22 loss to the

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

. In his debut season for the club, he played 20 games, starting all 20 at . In June 1993, he made his debut for

, playing in their three-game series against

. At the end of the year, he was selected to go on the 1993 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France, playing in all five

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

es. In 1994, Lomax played 23 games for the Raiders and won the club's

Player of the Year award Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is h ...

but missed their

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

win over the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

due to suspension. A week earlier, he was sent off and charged for a high shot on Billy Moore in the side's 22–9 preliminary final win over the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

. In 1995, he played just 10 games for the Raiders but captained New Zealand for the first time in their mid-season series against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. On 23 June 1995, he captained New Zealand for the third and final time in an 8–26 loss to Australia. In October 1995, he represented New Zealand at the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was held during October in the United Kingdom. It was the eleventh staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was marketed as the Halifax Centenary World Cup, reflecting the tournament's sponsorship and the fact ...

, playing one game. In Round 12 of the

1996 ARL season The 1996 ARL premiership (also known as the 1996 Optus Cup due to sponsorship from Optus) was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be administered by the Australian Rugby League (ARL). Twenty team ...

, Lomax collected

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

's Adam Ritson with a high tackle, knocking him out. Following the incident, a routine scan discovered that Ritson had a life-threatening brain cyst, from which he would never fully recover, ending his career.

North Queensland Cowboys

In 1997, Lomax signed with the

, joining his former Raiders' head coach

Tim Sheens Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) clubs ...

at the club. In his first season at the Cowboys, he played 15 games, missing three weeks due to suspension. That year, he became the club's first New Zealand international when he played in the Kiwis' 30–12 win over Australia. In 1998, he took over as captain of the Cowboys and won the club's Player of the Year award. On 24 April 1998, he started at prop for the Kiwis in their 22–16 ANZAC Test win over

, his last game for his country. In 1999, Lomax played just eight NRL games due to injury.

Melbourne Storm

In 2000, Lomax moved to the

, playing just three games for the club before retiring at the end of the season.

Achievements and accolades

Individual

Mal Meninga Medal The Mal Meninga Medal is the name of the award that goes to the Canberra Raiders' Player of the Year. The award was named after former Raiders captain and coach, Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian profess ...

: 1994 *

Player of the Year: 1998

Statistics

NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL

International

Post-playing career

After retirement, Lomax became an organiser for the

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...

in Australia. In 2015, he was arrested and charged with blackmail during the

Royal Commission into trade union governance and corruption The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption was a Royal Commission established by the Government of Australia to inquire into alleged financial irregularities associated with the affairs of trade unions. The Australian Worke ...

. In October 2015, ACT prosecutors dropped the blackmail charge against him. He is believed to have received a large payout from the Australian Federal police for wrongful arrest In 2012, he was named at prop in the

's Team of the Century.

Personal life

Lomax's son, Tyrel, currently plays for

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

club

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

and represented the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

in 2018.

References

External links

World Cup 1995 details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lomax, John 1966 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Australian trade unionists Canberra Raiders players Manawatu rugby league team players Manawatu rugby league team coaches Melbourne Storm players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team captains North Queensland Cowboys players New Zealand emigrants to Australia Rugby league players from Wellington City Rugby league props Wainuiomata Lions players Wellington rugby league team players