{"id":397836,"date":"2026-01-07T16:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/397836\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:16:25","slug":"perth-bears-sign-bulldogs-forward-josh-curran-ahead-of-2027-nrl-entry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/397836\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth Bears sign Bulldogs forward Josh Curran ahead of 2027 NRL entry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The Perth Bears have landed their most experienced NRL player so far in their recruitment drive, signing Canterbury&#8217;s Josh Curran on a three-year deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Curran officially became the eighth player to join the franchise on Wednesday, confirming he would head west after finishing with the Bulldogs this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">It makes him the only player the Bears have signed so far with more than 100 matches of NRL experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The Indigenous All-Star will head up the Bears&#8217; forward pack alongside Liam Henry when the club enters the competition in 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Curran has the ability to play prop and back row for the Bears, with the versatility viewed as crucial in building the club&#8217;s inaugural roster.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-01-06\/nrl-keaon-koloamatangi-signs-with-dragons-from-rabbitohs\/106202500\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dragons sign potent Rabbitohs forward<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The Dragons describe Keaon Koloamatangi&#8217;s signing as the &#8220;biggest&#8221; in the club&#8217;s recent history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;This is an exciting opportunity that I just couldn&#8217;t pass up,&#8221; Curran said in a Bears statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;The chance to be a part of the Bears&#8217; inaugural squad, to have my name as one of their first signings, is surreal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;I&#8217;m passionate about getting out in the community, and to have the opportunity to create something from the ground up that can inspire a whole state also motivates me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;This is history for our game, and I&#8217;m super excited to be a part of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Bears coach Mal Meninga said Curran possessed a &#8220;unique combination of skill and finesse with the ball&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;He plays with intensity and a commitment to make his teammates shine,&#8221; Meninga said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t be more impressed with Josh off the field, too. He is a leader who spends countless hours investing back into the community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Curran&#8217;s signing comes after the Bears had made a play for South Sydney forward Keaon Koloamatangi, <a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-01-06\/nrl-keaon-koloamatangi-signs-with-dragons-from-rabbitohs\/106202500\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106202500\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">before he signed a monster five-year deal with St George Illawarra<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The Bears remain in the hunt for Tino Fa&#8217;asuamaleaui, making no secret of their desire to lure him west if he does decide to take up the option of leaving Gold Coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Perth Bears have landed their most experienced NRL player so far in their recruitment drive, signing Canterbury&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[89838,64,63,4026,25907,4577,761,762,158,22798,85],"class_list":["post-397836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-89838","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bulldogs","tag-canterbury","tag-josh-curran","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-perth-bears","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}