By Nick Wright
Harrowing though the memories of his grand final defeat as a Bronco were, Herbie Farnworth has vowed to cast aside frustration and help transform his new club into a premiership force.
The Dolphins marquee recruit’s first official day in Redcliffe coincided with the return to preseason for coach Wayne Bennett, the man who had signed him to Red Hill as a teenager.
Herbie Farnworth at Dolphins training.Credit: Dolphins Media
Coming off a hamstring injury that kept him out of the England squad which took on Tonga in a three-Test series, Farnworth declared he was fit and eager to take his game to new heights in 2024.
How exactly would the 23-year-old do that?
He hinted he would be a redefined player, fighting to overcome the demons of the Brisbane Broncos’ last-minute defeat to the Penrith Panthers.
“It was super tough, for anyone that’s lost a grand final it’s definitely tough to get over it – especially in the way that we did,” Farnworth said.
“But I’m pretty keen to just move on now and start working hard for this club, and hopefully, we can bring something back here in the next year or two.
“I’ve got a lot of things to improve on. I had a little look at last season on where I can be better. I won’t share fully because I don’t want to give away anything, but it will be a good year, this year.
“The body’s feeling good, I had a long nine-week break, so I’m just keen to be back training and getting fit again.”
Farnworth appeared relaxed for his first session at Kayo Stadium, laughing off suggestions he had been training at the Broncos in the off-season after being filmed with some of his former teammates.
“I didn’t train with the Broncs, just all my mates are from there,” Farnworth said.
Herbie Farnworth has left the Broncos for the Dolphins.Credit: Getty
“Being from England, I haven’t got many of the contacts apart from through work. The off-season just happened to be with some of the off-season Broncos boys, I think it got blown up a bit.”
Despite initial suggestions he was gunning to be an NRL fullback, Farnworth was adamant he was not out to unseat incumbent Dolphins’ No.1 Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow if it did not best fit the side.
He established himself as one of the game’s most lethal centres last season, running for the fourth-most post-contact metres (1514) and fifth-most running metres (4376), while making 16 line breaks.
Farnworth’s ability to come out of his side’s end was crucial to Brisbane’s charge to the 2023 decider, complimenting forwards Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan and Thomas Flegler.
Now the latter is also in Dolphins colours, utility Kodi Nikorima believes a foundation can be laid to ignite their attack.
“[Flegler] was big-time last year, especially during the finals series with Payne there – they had that one-two punch, so this year it’s looking like it will be him and Jesse [Bromwich] up front,” Nikorima said.
“The thing I like about that is he brings a lot of aggression. You’ve also got the maniacs in our team like Tom Gilbert and Ray Stone, so if I’m a halfback opposing them I wouldn’t want to be taking it too deep into the line because it can only end bad.”
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