Rugby League Ashes: Why Herbie Farnworth could illuminate series for England
Making the journey from Blacko in Lancashire to the bright lights of Brisbane, England’s Herbie Farnworth has emerged as an NRL star in Australia.
Arguably the best center in the world, he is also the “cheat code” that England hope can help earn their first Ashes series victory against the Kangaroos since 1970.
Farnworth is one of six men in Shaun Wane’s England squad to play in Australia’s premier competition.
While former Australian forward Aaron Woods and other pundits from outside the UK have fueled Wane’s squad with negative comments about their quality, his talents cannot be underestimated.
A key member of the team that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2022, Farnworth was named one of two Dally M centers of the year in both 2023 and 2024 and was instrumental in England’s 2-0 win over Samoa 12 months ago; He scored three tries and emerged as the best meter maker of the series.
Farnworth showed his class at the Dolphins throughout 2025, scoring 12 tries in 19 games until a hamstring injury ended his season at the beginning of August and affected the Queensland side’s finals effort.
Wane has repeatedly referred to him as “one of the best center backs in the world”; This view was confirmed by England captain George Williams, who looks set to become Farnworth’s clubmate in the near future.
“Herbie is incredible,” the England stand-off said. “He’s one of the best players in the world at the moment. He’s a cheat code playing in the NRL so we welcome him to our team with open arms.
“He creates something out of nothing. He’s a good lad himself, I’ve known him for a long time. He’s killing it in the NRL.
“In the last series we played against Samoa, it was like he was playing a different game than everyone else. He was running like he was playing under 7s.”
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“He’s been the Dally M center for the last two years and he missed this year a little bit and I thought this was his best year at center. He’s in good form and he’s someone I’m looking forward to playing with.”
