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'Hammer and Herbie Show' far from Phinished yet
Joel Gould, AAP • September 23rd, 2026 3:04 pm
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Herbie Farnworth have big plans to build their Dolphins one-two punch | Photo: Jono Searle/AAP
Two aces won't beat three of a kind in poker, but in the NRL it is a different story when Dolphins dashers Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Herbie Farnworth are at large.
In their case, a pair of aces is sometimes all you need.
The Dolphins premiership window is well and truly open, and with the duo signed up for next year, that opportunity will also present itself in 2027 whatever happens in the sold-out preliminary final with Sydney Roosters on Friday night.
For Dolphins fans the million-dollar question is whether the fullback and centre duo known as "Hammer and Herbie" will be in 2028 and beyond.
The key to the answer, and where the depth resides, is to listen to them both speak about why they came to the club, how they feel about their experience and what drives them.
Farnworth, 26, left Brisbane after the 2023 grand-final loss to join the Dolphins, and it was not on a whim.
"I felt like there was a better pathway at the Dolphins for me to go on and become the player I thought I could be," the strike centre said.
"There was great young talent here like Isaiya Katoa, Josh Botock and (Kurt) Donoghoe and some really strong leaders at the club like Felise Kaufusi, Jesse Bromwich and Kenny Bromwich. It was all positive. I thought they would be a very strong side. I am glad I did."
Herbie Farnworth and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow have relished their move to the Dolphins | Photo: Dave Hunt/AAP
Tabuai-Fidow, 25, became a marquee fullback at the Dolphins and State of Origin regular for the Maroons after leaving North Queensland when Scott Drinkwater blocked his path. He scored the first ever try for the club in the inaugural 28-18 win over the Tricolours in 2023 and has not looked back.
"It is something I am really proud of," he said.
"I came down for an opportunity that was unknown at the time but I knew what type of players we had. We went out and showed what type of team we were going to be."
There was a try in the 26-16 qualifying-final win over the Warriors in Auckland that summed up the Hammer/Herbie one-two punch and why it is a partnership both want to ensure continues. It is the kind of lethal combinations that sets clubs up for extended finals campaigns.
Tabuai-Fidow made a break from his 20m line with a step and a silky trot, found Farnworth, who jinked before popping an inside pass for his mate to casually catch and put down one-handed under the sticks. The air went out of Mt Smart Stadium at that moment.
It looked easy but it didn't happen by chance.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scored a classic try in the qualifying final | Photo: Andrew Cornaga/AAP
"It is something we work on a lot me and Hammer, to follow each other and especially if there is a little bit of space," Farnworth said.
"I try and get an arm free and give it to him and if he has got space … he is away."
Farnworth, with an NRL-high 75 offloads and 161 tackle busts for the season, is good at what he does.
Tabuai-Fidow, boasting 66 tries in his 77 NRL games for the Dolphins, suggested they were just warming up.
"It is either him making the break or I am. It is something cool we have connected with on the field and we do it at training too. It is not new. It is still building," Tabuai-Fidow said.
Farnworth, born in Lancashire in the UK, has taken 12 years to ascend to the top of the NRL after leaving home with his uncle Brian Foley to try his hand in Australia. From little things big things bloomed - from six to eight-week summer vacation stints playing at Burleigh Bears to under 20s and full-time at the Broncos.
"The standard of play out here was unbelievable so I knew it was going to be difficult on that front," Farnworth said.
"Leaving all my family and friends and starting afresh was almost the hardest.
"It was the toughest thing I ever did but the best thing I ever did."
Now a hero to many, Farnworth had his own idols growing up. The Burgess brothers from the home country were obvious, and some less obvious.
"I was a big Warriors fan growing up. I had all the jerseys I used to love (Shaun) Johnson and (Sam) Tomkins," Farnworth grinned.
Herbie Farnworth has proven himself to be a game breaker at the Dolphins | Photo: Jono Searle/AAP
Tabuai-Fidow and Farnworth also grin when asked the stock-standard questions from journalists about their contract talks.
They have been around long enough to know the questions are coming and media savvy enough to know how to answer politely and positively.
The Dolphins head honchos are confident both will stay long-term.
Fans, of course, sweat on every word, particularly with social media assertions about Farnworth moving to the Roosters, which he has rebuffed.
"After the World Cup," England international Farnworth grinned, when asked on a timeline for his decision for the umpteenth time.
Cairns-born Tabuai-Fidow has told his management to wait until "after the grand final" so he can get the biggest two games of his life done and dusted.
"The club has been good to me and I am loving it down here. With what we are building here, we can do something special," Tabuai-Fidow said.
"I don't want to leave."
He is optimistic his outside back partner, whom he rates the best centre in the world, will remain on deck.
"He has gone to heights that no-one else has gone to. I think they will get him over the line and I think he wants to stay too," Tabuai-Fidow quipped.
The man known to youngsters and old stagers as "Hammer" values his freedom, his home state and his coach Kristian Woolf. He gets a healthy dose of all of that, and is well paid, at the Dolphins.
The words "close connection" are often on his lips.
"I have loved it here since day one," he said.
"It is cool to see all the boys that started here wanting to stay because of the things we have built here as a team and as brothers."
