Bears recruit James McDonnell says a couple of pieces of fateful happenstance - involving Leeds team-mate Harry Newman and girlfriend Olivia - have led him to be starting a new life in Perth.
The 187cm Ireland international signed a two-season deal with Mal Meninga’s Bears, where he’ll join Rhinos team-mate and England star Newman - one of the expansion franchise’s first captures for 2027.
McDonnell, who moved a little east from his native Wigan four years ago, tells NRL.com he would not be venturing much, much further in the same direction except for inadvertently photo bombing Newman’s highlights reel.
“I don’t think he recommended me - I think they’d seen a bit of me and Harry playing together,” said McDonnell, who will line up alongside Newman for Leeds in the February 28 Vegas clash with Hull KR.
“If you had an interest in Harry … we played pretty much every single game beside each other last year, you’d see a lot of me in his clips.
"I think they’d seen something that they liked so they just expressed interest and … I heard it through Harry initially but then it was a conversation with Mal.”
Negotiations go back two months, he says, adding: “There were a couple of logistics but from the off really, I was pretty keen to get over. It was just a case of fine tuning the contract“.
Having been stumbled across by the likes of Bears’ recruitment manager Dane Campbell via Newman’s highlights reel, the next hurdle in moving to the other side of the world was off the field.
“I’ve got a partner now for three years so it’s getting serious now where we’re obviously trying to plan the rest of our lives together,” the 26-year-old forward said of Olivia.
“It’s obviously a big commitment for her and obviously myself to go over there.
“It’s my dream that we’re chasing so obviously I’m thankful to the missus. She’s fully in board and really excited.
"It’s kinda worked out pretty well. She’s got friends over there. She had a step-dad that lived over there for 17 years in Perth, so he’s got the lay of the land. It’s aligned pretty well.
“I’d go on my own if I didn’t have any commitments, definitely, but obviously when you’ve got a partner it’s about them really. You want them to be happy and then you’re happy and you’re playing well really. That’s how it goes.
“But it worked out really well because she already had the connections over there in Perth so it was like a telling sign for us that it should work out well over there.”
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For Newman, a 25-year-old veteran of four Tests including England’s most recent international against Australia, it was now or never.
"I'm just excited about the opportunity. I’ve had the chance to go over to Australia before. I feel like if it’s not now, I won’t ever go," Newman said.
"I feel like I’m in a position where I’m ready to go and do those things. The lifestyle, where we’ll be living, where I’ll be training the teams we’ll be coming up against … it’s an exciting prospect.
“Look, I had some good chats with Mal. He’s been magnificent, the whole club has in terms of sorting out the move and sorting the logistics out for next year.
"Now it’s back to Leeds, the club that has given me everything on and off the field the last 12 years of my life. I’ve been here since I was 14.”
And he’ll be taking a piece of Leeds with him in his on-field “bodyguard”.
“Obviously he was mentioned and, look, I think he’s a fantastic player; someone I play alongside every week,” Newman said of McDonnell.
"He’s a workhorse and he’s got some great skill as well. He can bust a tackle. To go over there with him, it’s exciting.”
