{"id":67528,"date":"2026-08-08T03:04:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/67528\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:04:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:04:52","slug":"nrl-2026-english-international-morgan-smithies-signs-with-perth-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/67528\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: English international Morgan Smithies signs with Perth Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Perth Bears have locked in experienced forward Morgan Smithies on a three-year deal with an option for two more seasons as he becomes the latest Englishman to sign with the new franchise.<\/p>\n<p>The club has called it the \u201cBlitz of Britain\u201d, with Smithies joining fellow English internationals Harry Newman, James McDonnell and Mikolaj Oledzki as part of its inaugural squad. <\/p>\n<p>Smithies, 25, spent five seasons in the Super League before he moved to Canberra in 2024 where he\u2019s been a key cog in their middle forward rotation. <\/p>\n<p>But he\u2019ll head west at the end of the year to beef up Perth\u2019s forward pack. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe opportunity to make history and be a part of the Perth Bears was too good to refuse,\u201d Smithies said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be great to reconnect with a few of the lads from back home in Perth. Mal and his staff have assembled a very strong roster and it\u2019s an honour to be a part of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a new chapter for my family as well. We are committed to the Perth Bears and it\u2019s an exciting opportunity to build our life in Western Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bears coach Mal Meninga is excited to have Smithies on board for at least the next three years, with the club to unveil its inaugural home jersey on Friday ahead of the Storm\u2019s game against Manly in Perth the following day. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMorgan is a fantastic person who has succeeded at just about every level of the game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s only 25 years old and has played nearly 200 games across Super League and the NRL.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe brings big-game experience, a fantastic work ethic and, most important of all, is a selfless teammate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m delighted Morgan and his family believe in what we are creating in Perth and I have no doubt he will be a big part of this club for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read related topics:<a class=\"topic_tag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/topics\/perth\" data-tgev-container=\"story-topic-links\" data-tgev-label=\"Perth\" data-tgev-order=\"1\" data-tgev-metric=\"npv\" data-tgev=\"event10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Perth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Perth Bears have locked in experienced forward Morgan Smithies on a three-year deal with an option for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[86809,57531,86792,17327,37398,58300,86815,86800,47330,86788,86806,86783,37453,86817,86811,39981,86786,86785,86818,86802,60704,86816,25418,85284,86795,86796,20839,20369,2184,86789,86797,86814,9715,37416,65981,8964,86794,86801,86807,86784,86781,86813,86808,35736,86798,372,6097,48707,64810,86805,85282,39448,86790,1406,86804,86782,3121,335,12377,59720,31134,86810,3514,86787,35578,39770,38263,50327,40472,86803,86799,86793,36798,42880,40224,49553,36000,54754,38650,86791,45571,86812,353],"class_list":["post-67528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-s-forward-pack","tag-s-game","tag-s-roster","tag-17327","tag-37398","tag-a-big-part","tag-a-fantastic-person","tag-a-fantastic-work-ethic","tag-a-few","tag-a-key-cog","tag-a-lengthy-deal","tag-a-new-chapter","tag-a-part","tag-a-selfless-teammate","tag-a-significant-revelation","tag-a-three-year-deal","tag-a-very-strong-roster","tag-an-english-international","tag-an-exciting-opportunity","tag-an-honour","tag-an-option","tag-back-home","tag-bears","tag-bears-coach-mal-meninga","tag-bears-roster","tag-big-game-experience","tag-board","tag-britain","tag-canberra","tag-english-star-morgan-smithies","tag-fellow-english-internationals-harry-newman","tag-five-seasons","tag-friday","tag-his-family","tag-his-staff","tag-history","tag-international-star","tag-its-inaugural-home-jersey","tag-its-inaugural-squad","tag-james-mcdonnell","tag-just-a-day","tag-just-about-every-level","tag-lengthy-deal","tag-long-term","tag-mal","tag-mal-meninga","tag-manly","tag-many-years","tag-mikolaj-oledzki","tag-morgan","tag-morgan-smithies","tag-my-family","tag-nearly-200-games","tag-nrl","tag-only-25-years","tag-our-life","tag-part","tag-perth","tag-perth-bears","tag-shape","tag-signings","tag-smithies","tag-super-league","tag-the-blitz","tag-the-bears","tag-the-club","tag-the-end","tag-the-following-day","tag-the-game","tag-the-lads","tag-the-latest-englishman","tag-the-new-franchise","tag-the-next-three-years","tag-the-nrl","tag-the-opportunity","tag-the-perth-bears","tag-the-storm","tag-the-super-league","tag-the-year","tag-their-middle-forward-rotation","tag-this-club","tag-two-more-seasons","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}