{"id":428117,"date":"2026-01-21T16:54:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/428117\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:54:25","slug":"nrl-news-former-broncos-and-storm-star-linked-with-return-as-160-game-player-calls-time-on-pro-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/428117\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news: Former Broncos and Storm star linked with return as 160-game player calls time on pro career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Brisbane Broncos<\/a> and Melbourne Storm playmaker Brodie Croft could be set for a NRL<\/a> return after a number of years in the Super League. While former Newcastle Knights forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon appears to have called time on his professional career.<\/p>\n

Croft has spent the last four years in the Super League where he won the Man of Steel award in 2022. However, his stint in the NRL didn’t go to plan having struggled to nail down a starting position at the Broncos and Storm.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Broncos and Storm playmaker Brodie Croft (pictured far left) is ‘believed’ to be on the radar for the Perth Bears, while former Newcastle Knights forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon (pictured far right) has called time on his professional career. (Images: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

After 65 games, Croft moved to England where he has nailed down a role playing for the Leeds Rhinos in recent years. His form has also seen him attract interest from a number of NRL clubs in the last 24 months.<\/p>\n

And it appears the Perth Bears are interested in Croft with the new NRL club seeking another playmaker for their inaugural 2027 season. Croft is out of contract with the Rhinos at the end of the 2026 season. He is free to negotiate with rival clubs.<\/p>\n

And the Yorkshire Evening Post<\/a> ‘believes’ the Bears are interested in bringing Croft back to the NRL. Croft reportedly received interest from the Dragons last year. However, he stayed put. But he could be set to join teammates Harry Newman and James McDonnell<\/a> to make the jump to the Bears.<\/p>\n

Both Newman and McDonnell have already been announced as Bears signings. Newman is a centre and will be keen to link-up with his teammate McDonnell in Perth.<\/p>\n

McDonnell is a second-rower with 110 games of experience in the Super League. The 26-year-old has 23 career tries across stints with Wigan, York City, Leigh Centurions and Leeds. And the Bears could continue to turn to the Super League ahead of their introduction next year.<\/p>\n

\"Brodie<\/p>\n

Brodie Croft (pictured) is reportedly attracting interest from the Perth Bears.<\/p>\n

(Albert Perez via Getty Images)Lachlan Fitzgibbon calls time on first grade career<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Fitzgibbon has called time on his first grade career. Fitzgibbon played 119 games for the Knights in the NRL, before moving to the Super League. He featured 41 times for the Warrington Wolves and played under coach Sam Burgess.<\/p>\n

However, he was released from his contract at the end if last season after a difficult year. And Fitzgibbon is set to return to Australia having signed for the South Newcastle Lions. He told The Newcastle Herald<\/a> he wanted to finish his playing days where he started. This is despite the second-rower feeling like he has plenty to give his junior side.<\/p>\n

\"Lachlan<\/p>\n

Lachlan Fitzgibbon (pictured) appears to have called time on his NRL and Super League career.<\/p>\n

(Ian Hitchcock via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm playmaker Brodie Croft could be set for a NRL return after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,4428,224533,141433,224532,94196,4466,761,762,4495,158,22798,85,14869],"class_list":["post-428117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-broncos","tag-brodie-croft","tag-harry-newman","tag-lachlan-fitzgibbon","tag-leeds-rhinos","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-newcastle-knights","tag-nrl","tag-perth-bears","tag-sports","tag-super-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428117","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=428117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}