{"id":199210,"date":"2025-12-24T05:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/199210\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T05:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:11:07","slug":"perth-bears-lock-up-signing-number-seven-for-inaugural-season-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/199210\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth Bears lock up signing number seven for inaugural season – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Perth Bears<\/a> have signed their seventh player for the 2027 NRL<\/a> season, with Sean Russell<\/a> confirming he will join the Western Australian outfit.<\/p>\n

Russell joins the previous signings of Harry Newman<\/a>, Toby Sexton<\/a>, Liam Henry<\/a>, Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui<\/a>, Luke Smith<\/a> and Emarly Bitungane<\/a> as the first batch of players unveiled in the opening seven weeks of recruitment by Mal Meninga’s side as they prepare for admission to the NRL<\/a> in 2027.<\/p>\n

The outside back will be a likely walk up starter for the Bears when they join the NRL<\/a>, with the outside back able to play wing, centre or fullback.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Perth Bears signing tracker<\/a><\/p>\n

The deal for Russell is a long-term, four-year one, and will see him be a Bear from 2027 through to the end of 2030. Coach\u00a0Meninga labelled it a ‘fantastic day’ for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s another fantastic day for the Perth Bears<\/a> with Sean committing to our club on a long-term deal,\u201d Meninga said in a club statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSean is an outstanding talent who possesses the characteristics I am looking for as we continue to build our inaugural roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a proven try-scorer and a fantastic defender. I have no doubt he will be a very important piece in our roster for many years to come\u201d.<\/p>\n

Russell, who debuted for the Parramatta Eels<\/a> in 2021, has played 61 NRL<\/a> games, registering 24 tries, while also serving as a back-up goal-kicking option.<\/p>\n

He represented the Prime Minister’s XIII in 2024, and he said he was delighted to join the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s already a lot of excitement and anticipation about the Bears entering the NRL<\/a> I am delighted to have the opportunity to be a part of it,” Russell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus right now remains on the Eels and giving all that I have for 2026. They have supported me throughout my career and I am forever grateful.”<\/p>\n

Russell’s signing could be followed by more in the coming weeks, with rumours suggesting the club is closing in on Josh Curran<\/a> and Tyran Wishart<\/a>, while they are also believed to be well in the race for Nick Meaney<\/a> and Jesse Colquhoun<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Perth Bears have signed their seventh player for the 2027 NRL season, with Sean Russell confirming he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-199210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}