Brisbane Broncos centre Herbie Farnworth’s hopes of representing England at this year’s World Cup have taken a massive hit after he went off with a serious-looking injury at the weekend.
The 22-year-old, who comes from Blacko in Lancashire but went to Australia to join the Broncos as a teenager, has been in fine form this season, scoring ten tries in twelve NRL matches.
He crossed for a brace of tries in their 24-18 win over Canberra Raiders on Saturday, but he was forced off in the second half with a bicep injury.
It was first feared that Farnworth had suffered a dislocated shoulder but the Broncos confirmed it was a bicep problem and the initial fears are that he could be out for the rest of the season.
England coach Shaun Wane revealed earlier this year that Farnworth was strongly in contention to make his World Cup squad, and his form has been outstanding since then, so this is a massive blow for both coach and player.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters was clearly devastated that one of his star players will be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
“Without jumping too far ahead, Herbie has pretty severely hurt his bicep and it looks like a long termer for us, possibly for the season.
“It’s a massive blow. He’s a much-improved player. His defence has been great on the left-hand side. We’ll get our support behind Herbie but it’s a brutal game at times.”
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