Former NRL star Blake Ferguson has found a new club, less than a week after his contract with the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs was "terminated by mutual agreement".
The former NSW and Australian representative has returned to his hometown to play for the Wellington Cowboys just in time for round one.
Rumours surrounding Ferguson's exit from the Bulldogs have made their way around rugby league circles but Cowboys president Graham Blackhall said Wellington isn't reading into that.
"We are 100 per cent supporting him as we would the 25th player in our under 18s," he said.
"It would be the same for whatever situation we are in."
The Bulldogs and Newcastle RL have refused to make any further comments about the circumstances surrounding Ferguson's departure.
Having been cleared and registered with Wellington by Friday evening, Ferguson is expected to come off the bench on Sunday against Nyngan.
"It's a buzz, it's an uplifting inspiration for the club internally and externally," Blackhall said.
"Not just for the players but for everyone. It's uplifting to have someone of his characteristics and inspiration and just his attitude to be back home."
Blackhall said people around the club have stayed in contact with Ferguson since his departure in 2023.
"He gave me a bit of a call out of the blue and said he wanted to have a yarn then we went from there," he said.
"It's not like he cut strings and let go of the club, he always had that sense of belonging back home here.
"His family and everything are out this way, his partner has family back this way as well."
There are also plans to utilise the electric outside back off the field.
"We sat down and had a talk about his career but we spoke about expanding his leadership into a role of mentoring the young blokes," Blackhall said.
"He wants to do extra coaching with the outside backs around their positioning and he was so grateful to be a part of it. He's never really done anything like that before and he has the attitude to interact with everyone.
"We are talking about doing this with other agencies (outside of footy) to build opportunities and we want to create more opportunities not just on the field but off it as well."
Ferguson notched up 249 NRL games with four clubs between 2009 and 2021, including a premiership for the Sydney Roosters in 2018.
Also a six-time Indigenous All Star, he made nine Origin and seven Test appearances.
Ferguson finished his professional career in 2022 after helping Leigh gain promotion to the English Super League.
He has endured several off-field controversies - sacked by the Raiders, dropped from Origin and jailed in Japan.
