Dragons star Zac Lomax

Picture Credit: Twitter

St. George Illawarra Dragons centre Zac Lomax was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism during his team's victory over Newcastle Knights on Sunday. Notably, Lomax has been slammed for voluntarily and deliberately jumping on Newcastle enforcer Tyson Frizell. He was involved in this act while having fun post a Dragons try.

As one would imagine Frizell wasn't too pleased with the gesture and pulled Lomax back on the ground. However, despite an angry reaction from the Newcastle athlete, it was Lomax who attracted much of the criticism.

Post the provocating jump from Lomax and a scuffle of sorts that happened in the aftermath of the event, broadcaster Phil Gould said it wasn't the right thing to do and lambasted the athlete for his action.

"Ridiculous," Gould said on Nine. "You could injure someone's knee or back or anything like that," he added.

"He's not your teammate," he further said.

Meanwhile, Fox League commentator Andrew Voss also expressed his opinion on the incident. He said: "That’s just ordinary. No apologies, Zac Lomax you are kidding yourself."

It is pertinent to note that the two athletes involved were teammates for three seasons before Frizell parted ways with the Dragons after the conclusion of the 2020 season.

However, when he was asked to explain his action after the end of the game, Lomax calmly said that Frizell is an old friend and is a great player before. The 22-year-old said stated that Frizell could have been "hard to handle" and he wanted to keep him off his top game.