Herbie goes bananas as Dolphins' dazzle bears fruit

The Advertiser

10 hours ago

There was once a hit film called Herbie Goes Bananas and the Dolphins have a star centre living up to that billing.
In the 1980 movie, the owners of the Volkswagen Beetle known as Herbie uncover counterfeiters in Mexico.
At the Dolphins there's Herbie Farnworth, the England international carving up defensive systems of NRL teams that aren't the real deal when it comes to defence, or stopping him at least.
He's uncovered plenty of defensive deficiencies.
Farnworth now has 40 offloads for the season, the most of any back in the NRL.
He is one of the key reasons why the ninth-placed Dolphins have a positive points differential of 140, the most of any side apart from third-placed Melbourne.
Farnworth has been working on variations of his late offload at training but he has already showcased the art with precision this year on his way to 10 tries and seven try assists.
The 25-year-old is making the Dolphins one of the best teams to watch and his connection with fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and his fellow outside backs is set to be crucial in the clash with South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
"I'm not too sure what it was that sparked it, but I seem to be getting my arm free a lot, so I'm just going to pop (the pass) and see what happens off the back of it," Farnworth said.
"We've got some speed, obviously Hammer (Tabuai-Fidow) loves second phase play so it suits him too, and (centre) Jake Averillo as well."
The Dolphins have scored 428 points this year, second only to the Storm, while their defence is the sixth best in the NRL.
Kristian Woolf's men lost their opening four matches when points were hard to come by.
In recent wins over Canterbury, St George Illawarra and North Queensland they scored 158-18 to showcase their flair before coming back to earth with a 26-20 loss to Newcastle last week.
"At the start of the year we'd either be all out attack or a bit too dull," Farnworth said.
"Then we found a good period where we're mixing and matching both. Obviously on the weekend it didn't quite work for us, but hopefully we bounce back this week and get back to getting the two points."
Farnworth has lost his wing sensation Jack Bostock for the season after he ruptured an ACL in the loss to the Knights in Perth, having scored four tries the week before against the Cowboys.
"It's obviously terrible. It didn't look great when he did it, so we kind of all knew that finishing the game," Farnworth said.
"He's had a great year so far, and knowing Jack he's going to bounce back even better. It's very sad news.
"I rang him (Monday) night when he got his scans. He's actually handling it far better than anyone thought.
"He's a very tough kid and he's going to bounce back hard next year. To score four tries the week before and then do that injury, it's a tough one."
The Dolphins have named former Wests Tigers flyer Junior Tupou to replace Bostock against the Rabbitohs.
There was once a hit film called Herbie Goes Bananas and the Dolphins have a star centre living up to that billing.
In the 1980 movie, the owners of the Volkswagen Beetle known as Herbie uncover counterfeiters in Mexico.
At the Dolphins there's Herbie Farnworth, the England international carving up defensive systems of NRL teams that aren't the real deal when it comes to defence, or stopping him at least.
He's uncovered plenty of defensive deficiencies.
Farnworth now has 40 offloads for the season, the most of any back in the NRL.
He is one of the key reasons why the ninth-placed Dolphins have a positive points differential of 140, the most of any side apart from third-placed Melbourne.
Farnworth has been working on variations of his late offload at training but he has already showcased the art with precision this year on his way to 10 tries and seven try assists.
The 25-year-old is making the Dolphins one of the best teams to watch and his connection with fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and his fellow outside backs is set to be crucial in the clash with South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
"I'm not too sure what it was that sparked it, but I seem to be getting my arm free a lot, so I'm just going to pop (the pass) and see what happens off the back of it," Farnworth said.
"We've got some speed, obviously Hammer (Tabuai-Fidow) loves second phase play so it suits him too, and (centre) Jake Averillo as well."
The Dolphins have scored 428 points this year, second only to the Storm, while their defence is the sixth best in the NRL.
Kristian Woolf's men lost their opening four matches when points were hard to come by.
In recent wins over Canterbury, St George Illawarra and North Queensland they scored 158-18 to showcase their flair before coming back to earth with a 26-20 loss to Newcastle last week.
"At the start of the year we'd either be all out attack or a bit too dull," Farnworth said.
"Then we found a good period where we're mixing and matching both. Obviously on the weekend it didn't quite work for us, but hopefully we bounce back this week and get back to getting the two points."
Farnworth has lost his wing sensation Jack Bostock for the season after he ruptured an ACL in the loss to the Knights in Perth, having scored four tries the week before against the Cowboys.
"It's obviously terrible. It didn't look great when he did it, so we kind of all knew that finishing the game," Farnworth said.
"He's had a great year so far, and knowing Jack he's going to bounce back even better. It's very sad news.
"I rang him (Monday) night when he got his scans. He's actually handling it far better than anyone thought.
"He's a very tough kid and he's going to bounce back hard next year. To score four tries the week before and then do that injury, it's a tough one."
The Dolphins have named former Wests Tigers flyer Junior Tupou to replace Bostock against the Rabbitohs.
There was once a hit film called Herbie Goes Bananas and the Dolphins have a star centre living up to that billing.
In the 1980 movie, the owners of the Volkswagen Beetle known as Herbie uncover counterfeiters in Mexico.
At the Dolphins there's Herbie Farnworth, the England international carving up defensive systems of NRL teams that aren't the real deal when it comes to defence, or stopping him at least.
He's uncovered plenty of defensive deficiencies.
Farnworth now has 40 offloads for the season, the most of any back in the NRL.
He is one of the key reasons why the ninth-placed Dolphins have a positive points differential of 140, the most of any side apart from third-placed Melbourne.
Farnworth has been working on variations of his late offload at training but he has already showcased the art with precision this year on his way to 10 tries and seven try assists.
The 25-year-old is making the Dolphins one of the best teams to watch and his connection with fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and his fellow outside backs is set to be crucial in the clash with South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
"I'm not too sure what it was that sparked it, but I seem to be getting my arm free a lot, so I'm just going to pop (the pass) and see what happens off the back of it," Farnworth said.
"We've got some speed, obviously Hammer (Tabuai-Fidow) loves second phase play so it suits him too, and (centre) Jake Averillo as well."
The Dolphins have scored 428 points this year, second only to the Storm, while their defence is the sixth best in the NRL.
Kristian Woolf's men lost their opening four matches when points were hard to come by.
In recent wins over Canterbury, St George Illawarra and North Queensland they scored 158-18 to showcase their flair before coming back to earth with a 26-20 loss to Newcastle last week.
"At the start of the year we'd either be all out attack or a bit too dull," Farnworth said.
"Then we found a good period where we're mixing and matching both. Obviously on the weekend it didn't quite work for us, but hopefully we bounce back this week and get back to getting the two points."
Farnworth has lost his wing sensation Jack Bostock for the season after he ruptured an ACL in the loss to the Knights in Perth, having scored four tries the week before against the Cowboys.
"It's obviously terrible. It didn't look great when he did it, so we kind of all knew that finishing the game," Farnworth said.
"He's had a great year so far, and knowing Jack he's going to bounce back even better. It's very sad news.
"I rang him (Monday) night when he got his scans. He's actually handling it far better than anyone thought.
"He's a very tough kid and he's going to bounce back hard next year. To score four tries the week before and then do that injury, it's a tough one."
The Dolphins have named former Wests Tigers flyer Junior Tupou to replace Bostock against the Rabbitohs.