‘Perfect pro’ Farnworth gives England hope of Ashes victory

“He would walk into the Australian team,” continues Tomkins, “and we’ve not had that for many, many years. He’s massive, one of those players who can make something from nothing by themselves, with their individual brilliance.”

Farnworth might be an unfamiliar face in the UK outside rugby league’s heartlands, but in Australia, where he has been based since he was a teenager, he is huge. And with good reason. In the eyes of Sam Tomkins – former England captain, now assistant to the head coach Shaun Wane – “he’s the best centre in the world”.

Farnworth’s story of dancing feet and swift hands has an unusual twist. He is from the small village of Blacko in the Lancashire hills, outside the traditional M62 rugby league corridor, and he played rugby union at his grammar school in Skipton. He was also an excellent footballer, with Burnley and later with Manchester United, but his uncle Brian Foley, who worked at Wigan Warriors, encouraged him to give league a go – putting him through his paces on the Blacko village green with six training poles for company. He was a natural, later excelling at the renowned amateur nursery Wigan St Patricks.

At 14, Foley took him to Australia in the summer holidays, where he played for Burleigh Bears – and two years later, he had signed for Brisbane Broncos, playing for their youth team and then making his first-team debut in 2019. He has since switched to the Dolphins, Broncos’ rivals, and would have been voted the best centre in the NRL for the third year in a row if wasn’t for a hamstring tear in August which ruled him out of the rest of the season.

The hamstring is now good to go, and he’s “got goosebumps” for the first Test which kicks off at Wembley on 25 October. Wane will announce his squad tomorrow, after late ­fitness checks on yesterday’s Super League Grand Finalists. Farnworth has long been inked in.

Rugby league’s Ashes date back to 1908, but this will be the first series since 2003 – because of various historic and ongoing struggles to arrange fixtures between the two countries. The most recent attempt to arrange a series, in 2020, was kiboshed by Covid. England (then known as Great Britain) last won a series in 1970, something Wane has been keen to remind his team about.

Tomkins, who finally hauled his battered body off the pitch earlier this year after a glorious French swansong with Catalans Dragons, first met Farnworth when Foley brought him over to Australia. Tomkins just thought he was a young fan – he would soon change his mind.

Farnworth’s early progress with Brisbane had the wires buzzing and he made his international debut in the 2022 World Cup. He twice pulled England back from the brink in the semi-final against Samoa, a rip-roaring try from 50 metres in the dying minutes electrifying the Emirates crowd, only for England to lose in golden-point extra time.

“As soon as he came into the England set-up, I saw how hard he worked,” says Tomkins, who was Farnworth’s captain in that tournament. “Obviously he’s supremely talented with amazing footwork, a good understanding of the game, a high skill level and very athletic, but he was always the last one on the training field and that’s why he’s the player he is. He’s the best English centre I’ve seen in my time playing. He’s the ­perfect professional.”

Farnworth is one of a handful of the likely England squad who play in the NRL – currently booming, after a record-breaking Grand Final between the Broncos and Melbourne Storm last weekend. Both winger Dom Young, star of the 2022 World Cup, and Kai Pearce-Paul play for Newcastle Knights. Insiders also expect AJ Brimson to be included.

The knowledge those players bring with them will be a huge asset, and Tomkins hopes it could make the difference in a series where England have a fighting chance.

“To have ­players who’ve played against these guys is invaluable,” he said. “It’s going to be very close. We’re going to be underdogs, but when I started playing for the international side in 2009, they were so much ­better that we needed a miracle to win. We don’t need that any more. ”

For Farnworth, as for the ­others, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Photograph by Janelle St Pierre/Getty Images