England international Morgan Smithies is reportedly set to sign a monster deal to make a switch to incoming NRL club Perth Bears.
Smithies, who is in his third season down under has been a mainstay at Canberra since his arrival in 2024 but he’s reportedly set to leave for another NRL club.
The former Wigan Warriors man was subject to some Super League interest but he’s to remain in the NRL, albeit with a different club with it being reported that he will sign for Perth Bears, becoming their latest English recruit.
Perth enter the NRL in 2027 and plenty of their recruitment has hailed from Super League with Wakefield Trinity’s Tyson Smoothy the latest to sign a three-year deal with the Bears, however, Leeds Rhinos trio Harry Newman, James McDonnell and Mikolaj Oledzki will also make the switch.
Per the latest reports, they’ll link up with fellow countryman Smithies at Perth with the ex-Wigan man inking a three-year deal that carries an option of a two-year extension.
If try, that five-year deal would be one of the largest signed by an English player and certainly the biggest of any playing in the NRL.
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Morgan Smithies to make NRL switch in potential five-year deal
Halifax-born Smithies started his career with Wigan Warriors, for whom he made 114 appearances between 2019 and 2023 with his debut season seeing him rack up an impressive 24 appearances, not missing a game after his round eight debut.
He’d become a reliable piece of the pack at Wigan and such performances earned him England honours and an NRL switch, with the forward having gone on to make 66 appearances for the Raiders.
He helped take them all the way to a minor premiership title last year before their play-off elimination but he appears set for a new challenge at Perth.
What makes his move to Perth so intriguing is that reports had emerged in late 2025 that Smithies was in line to sign a new deal to remain at Canberra, however, he now looks set to depart the Green Machine to become part of the NRL’s latest franchise out on the West coast.
