Rugby League Ashes: Why Herbie Farnworth can shed light on the England series

Having made the journey from Blackow in Lancashire to the bright lights of Brisbane, Englishman Herbie Farnworth has emerged as an NRL star in Australia.

As the best center in the world, he is also the ‘cheat code’ that England hope will help secure a first Ashes series win over the Kangaroos since 1970.

Farnworth is one of six men in Shaun Wynn’s England squad playing in Australia’s premier competition.

His ability cannot be underestimated, even with former Australian striker Aaron Woods and other pundits from outside the UK providing Wayne’s side with scathing comments about their quality.

A key member of the side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2022, Farnworth was named one of the 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 – scoring three tries and emerging as the best counter-maker in the series.

During 2025, Farnworth showed his class for the Dolphins, crossing 12 tries in 19 games until a hamstring injury ended his season in early August and affected the Queensland side’s finals push.

Wayne has repeatedly referred to him as “one of the best centers in the world”, a view supported by England captain George Williams, who looks set to be a teammate of Farnworth’s in the near future.

“Herbie is unbelievable,” the English front said. “He’s one of the best players in the world right now. He’s a cheat code playing in the NFL, so we welcome him to our team with open arms.”

“He creates something out of nothing. He’s a good kid too, which I’ve known for a long time. He’s killing it in the NFL.”

“In the last round we played against Samoa, it was like he was playing a different game to everyone else. He was running like he was playing under sevens.”

Gold Coast Titans fullback AJ Brimson, a new signing to Wayne’s squad, added: “In my opinion, he was the best center [in the NRL] this year.

“He’s been Dally M’s midfielder the last two years and narrowly missed this year and I think this was his best year at the position. He’s in good form and he’s someone I’m looking forward to playing with.”