Bear hunt begins: Marquee star rules out move to NRL's newest outfit
Dolphins star Herbie Farnworth has all but ruled out a move to the NRL's newest club at the end of his 2026 contract, pledging his allegiance to the Redcliffe-based outfit for the long haul.
The unveiling of the Perth Bears as the competition's 18th side from the 2027 season has opened the floodgates for poaching raids across Australia, with Farnworth – one of the most high-profile targets – to hit the open market from November 1.
Payne Haas, David Fifita, Jahrome Hughes and Angus Crichton are among the top names off contract at the end of 2026.
A proud Englishman, Farnworth loomed as a tempting target for the Bears – the 2021 census indicating more than a third of Perth's population had English ancestry, with almost 170,000 residents born in England.
However, the two-time Dally M centre of the year declared he had no desire to leave the Dolphins, and was intent on securing his future under coach Kristian Woolf.
Loading
'It's always nice to be wanted from different clubs, especially teams coming in, but I'm very happy at the Dolphins,' Farnworth said.
'I'd be a bit silly to pass up on the opportunity to play with the likes of Jack Bostock in the next couple of years and Issy Katoa … we've got some great players and some really good young players who are going to kick us on in the future, so I'd love to play with them for the next couple of years.
'I'm just focusing on my footy, that's the main thing – if you keep playing good footy, that [my future] takes care of all that sort of stuff. I'm sure we can get a deal done here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Intruder grabs DCE, gets decked by security
A Manly fan ran onto the field and grabbed Daly Cherry-Evans after the loss to the Titans, before getting tackled by security.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Don't understand that stuff': DCE responds to Roosters rumour and Qld axing after Manly loss
Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans has broken his silence on his Queensland axing and swerved questions the Roosters have gone cold on him after the Sea Eagles loss to the Titans. Cherry-Evans put in a poor display in Manly's horror 28-8 loss to the Titans capping a disappointing week for the Sea Eagles skipper after being axed by Billy Slater. 'The start of the week was tough, Sunday got the news, Monday had to go to training and face the boys,' Cherry-Evans said. 'After that it honestly started to feel normal. This is not the first time that I've been dropped from the Queensland side. 'So I guess I've had experience to take it on board and like I said pre-game, you can't just worry about the things you can't control, and the initial news was tough but yeah I moved on and thought we were going to come here tonight and play some really good footy. 'Based on our preparation, it looked like all the signs were there and unfortunately the most important part of the week is showing up on game day and we didn't do that.' Cherry-Evans was pressed on whether he saw his Origin axing coming but dodged the question. 'No, I just got the call on Sunday and then just, yeah, moved on from there,' Cherry-Evans said. 'I think I got the call on Sunday which was tough and processed it pretty quickly during the week and moved on, and yeah as I said the focus has been on Manly all this week so it's again disappointing to lose back-to-back games.' Cherry-Evans was then pressed on reports from Sam Walker's manager the Roosters have gone cold on signing him after his form slump. 'No, I'm not, I don't sort of understand that stuff,' Cherry-Evans said. 'Sort of stay out of it. All I can do is control my footy at Manly and speculation will be speculation but yeah, no, just obviously we've just lost a couple in the row so it'd be silly for me to be worrying about stuff like that.' Intruder grabs DCE, gets decked by security As Manly and Titans players shared pleasantries on the field post-game, a Sea Eagles fan ran onto CBUS Super Stadium and grabbed Daly Cherry-Evans as the halfback was talking to a Manly staff member. Cherry-Evans looked around, stunned by the embrace that come out of nowhere, before a swarm of security guards grabbed the intruder and tackled him to the ground. Cherry-Evans didn't look phased by the incident, which was captured on Fox League's cameras. Kevin Walters sai: 'Hang on, there's a bit going on in the background. Yvonne Sampson added: 'There's an over zealous Sea Eagles fan who's ran onto the pitch and looks like he was quickly dealt with by security.' Manly enforced injured in big blow In a big blow for Manly, Haumole Olakau'atu suffered a dislocated shoulder and is facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines. 'He dislocated his shoulder there so he'll get scans over the weekend and if there's bone damage then potentially you have to do reconstruction,' Seibold said. 'If it's muscle only or the ligaments only then potentially you can rehab it over six weeks but he's going to be gone for a while. 'But just summed up the night you know he's going for a try and dislocates his shoulder, so we will miss him of course. He is a quality player.' Seibold admitted his side were outplayed by the last placed Titans. 'We were outplayed, defensively we missed far too many tackles, which is an attitude thing,' Seibold said. 'We actually started really well the first 10 minutes, but after that we were well outplayed so we couldn't get ourselves back in the contest.' Seibold was pressed on why his team has been so inconsistent this season. 'I think mate, it comes back to attitude, being consistent individually, collectively, that's not just the players, that's the staff who've got to come up with some answers because we're a really good footy team, right?' Seibold said. 'Like in our first month of footy, outstanding this year, even like two weeks ago, well three weeks ago, very good against the Broncos and a couple weeks earlier they were really good against the Cowboys, but it's the story of our season. I think we missed the jump there, Titans made us pay.' Seibold took ownership of the side's preparation as they currently sit outside the top eight. 'We've done it every away trip this year, we did it up in Townsville, played really well up there,' Seibold said. Moses to miss six weeks with calf injuryNRL: Mitch Moses has been ruled out of the second State of Origin game with a training injury. 'We did it over in Perth, it was a really competitive game. We've tried to do this, rather than travel on our days off, because we've had such a pretty heavy playing load, rather than travel on days off we've tried to train and then travel that evening. 'But when you get beaten there's always going to be questions around, was that the right prep? So I take ownership on that and I thought that's what we needed. 'We planned that way back in November, so it's not as though we just came up with it last week.' Cherry-Evans saved some praise for former teammate Kieran Foran, who was brilliant against his old side. 'He's a good friend and one of the great competitors of our game,' Cherry-Evans said. 'So there was absolutely no doubt he was coming out here tonight to put it over his old side and he did exactly that tonight, he was really good wasn't he?'
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Perth Now
Aussie swimmers try to surface from post-Olympic blues
An unsettled Kaylee McKeown went from a "dark place" mentally to no place of her own. She's living in holiday rentals. Fellow golden girl Mollie O'Callaghan was in a "hole". She's still trying to dig herself out. Struggling Shayna Jack went to the jungle "to find myself". She got home, lost her beloved dog, and isn't over the mental toll. Zac Stubblety-Cook went from Paris and more Olympic glory to questioning if he wanted to keep swimming. "The post-Olympic blues is always something to be mindful of," Stubblety-Cook said in Adelaide at Australia's swim trials for next month's world titles. "I think people underestimate what it is. "We had such a successful Games, especially our female team. "To come off the back of that, of course you're going to feel a bit alone. I think that's just normal." Stubblety-Cook, an Olympic gold and silver medallist, is among a chorus of swimmers in Adelaide detailing the mental lows that followed their highs. And the Dolphins' leadership group member said there was a positive among the negatives. "Everyone is a human and it's nice to see a bit of the human side of the sport," he said. Dolphins teammate Lani Pallister said the human factor was often overlooked, compounding post-Olympic problems. "This is going to sound really brutal but I think sometimes people forget athletes are also people," Pallister said. "There's so much expectation put on Australian swimmers ... we're expected to win multiple gold medals. "And sometimes if you don't race at your best, it's almost the public that bring you down." Even those that race at their best were impacted. McKeown, the only Australian to win four individual Olympic gold medals, took four months off after Paris. "I was in a really dark place mentally," she said. "When you go from such a high, straight back to such a low, and you're left scrambling for ideas on what you're going to do next, it is hard to find your feet once again." After her break, and with her coach Michael Bohl retired, she changed swim clubs and moved to Queensland's Gold Coast from the Sunshine Coast. "I spent four months in a group where I wasn't finding myself really happy," McKeown said. "I made the quick decision a week before nationals (in April) and moved back to Sunny Coast. "I still haven't got a house to live. I'm in Airbnb's. "It has been a really hard transition; just the things that people don't really see when you come and race." O'Callaghan was the nation's most successful athlete in Paris, collecting three golds plus a silver and bronze. Post-Olympics, she took five months, trying to find her identity outside of the pool. The 21-year-old admitted she was still searching but was pragmatic about her problems. "You have to always step in that dark place to get the best out of yourself," O'Callaghan said. "That's what sport is about. It's putting yourself in that hole to see how mentally strong you are - and I've definitely done that this season." Her teammate Jack won two golds in Paris at her first Olympics - she missed the Tokyo Games, having just served a two-year doping ban. Jack, who was cleared of intentional doping, had a European Great Dane named Hugo - he was the sole reason she got out of bed many days while suspended. After Paris, Jack went on the television show I'm A Celebrity ...Get Me Out Of Here. Soon after returning home, she lost Hugo to cancer. "I went to the jungle to try and find myself ... but when I got home and finding out that I was losing my dog, it was a huge mental toll," she said. "He got me through everything to come back in the first place. "I had two weeks with him; there was regret just around whether or not I did everything for him. "I felt a lot of that guilt. Did I do right by him, by choosing my swimming a lot of the time, and choosing my career over my dog?" Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
