Robbie Farah to play for Wests Tigers without the captaincy for first time in 142 games
AFTER recovering from injury, Robbie Farah will run out for the Wests Tigers on Monday without the captaincy for the first time in 142 games.
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FOR the first time in 142 games, Robbie Farah will run out for the Wests Tigers without the captaincy.
Farah will return from a knee injury to wear the Wests Tigers’ No.9 jumper against Parramatta at ANZ Stadium, which will be the first time in eight seasons he takes orders rather than dishes them out.
While there will be $2 million worth of off-contract halves talent on display with Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses and Corey Norman, the expected 40,000-plus Easter Monday crowd will be just as keen to see how Farah adjusts to his new role.
Farah told The Daily Telegraph last week how he had a renewed enjoyment for the game after he stood down from the role and passed over the captaincy to popular prop Aaron Woods.
On Tuesday Woods said Farah’s return would be a boost, especially when the game required the young Tigers’ to keep a cool head.
“We need Robbie to chime in at the right time, and as you’ve seen the last couple of weeks, we’ve got out to leads, teams have come back, so we need Robbie to bring that calm head and take control of moments in the game when we need him most,’’ Woods said.
“If Robbie does that, it will go long way to us winning.’’
Dene Halatau, the trusty utility who featured with Farah in the Tigers’ 2005 premiership side, said the representative hooker would bring plenty of stability to the middle.
“His work rate in the middle, he’s a leader on the field and very competitive, and he’s always in good nick,’’ Halatau said.
“Whenever he comes back from injury, he’s always been in good shape, and he shores things up in the middle. And there’s no doubt he’ll tackle himself to a standstill on the weekend.’’
Despite last year’s well-publicised falling out with coach Jason Taylor last year — and the threat of being demoted to NSW Cup if he didn’t find a new home — Farah was always going to be given first crack at hooker if fit.
Meanwhile, the immediate futures of Brooks and Moses, as well as Norman, will continue to be a hot topic if they all have blinders on Monday.
Free agents at the end of the season, Brooks and Norman both claimed they’d let their football do the talking.
“Like I’ve said 100 times, I’ll just worry about playing footy, and let my manager and the club worry about that,’’ Norman said.
Brooks added: “It’s not about the money. It’s about what will best suit me and will let me play my best footy.’’
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Originally published as Robbie Farah to play for Wests Tigers without the captaincy for first time in 142 games
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