NRL star Herbie Farnworth might be a regular in the England rugby league side, but his career path could have looked a whole lot different.
The Lancashire-born talent, who featured in all three Ashes Test defeats, was a keen footballer growing up, and even spent time in the Manchester United development system.
However, he would take up rugby league permanently after moving to Australia and signing for Brisbane Broncos’ academy side.
Making his debut for the reigning Premiers in 2019, the 25-year-old went on to make 79 appearances for the Broncos, before moving to The Dolphins for 2024.
Farnworth is now a nine-time England player, and is widely renowned as one of the best centres rugby league has to offer.
But, his sporting journey could have been very different, and could have moved to a different sport entirely, if a former England boss had his way.
Former England rugby union boss reveals potential code switch for NRL star
Over the past decade, we have seen a number of huge talent make the move from the Australian competition to Union, with the likes of Joseph Manu, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Joseph Sua’ali’i all going over in recent years.
A switch to the 15-man code was something that could have been on the cards for Farnworth, with ex-rugby union boss Eddie Jones revealing that he was a keen admirer of the NRL star.
Jones, who was coach of England between 2015 and 2022, revealed on a recent interview that he wanted to bring him over to Union, believing he would have made an incredible player in opposite code.
“We definitely had a look at him,” said Jones. “He’d be an exceptional rugby player. Exceptional. He’s big, strong and fast.
“We’ve seen what Sua’ali’i has done for Australia. He’s probably as good a league player as Sua’ali’i was, and would bring a physicality to a back line that England probably doesn’t have at the moment.
The 65-year-old admitted that if a move were to happen, it was going to be at the end of his time as England boss, but due to the way the England Rugby registration rules are, the potential move never came about.
He said: “In the situation with England, you have to have a club sign them, and at that stage, we didn’t have any clubs that were interested in signing him because the budget situation in English clubs, particularly when I was finishing, was pretty problematic.
“There wasn’t any clubs that were prepare to go hard after him.”
Of course, union’s loss is league’s gain, with Farnworth currently contracted to The Dolphins to the end of 2027. There has been talk of him moving to R360, however as it stands Farnworth will be a league player for at least another two seasons.
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