Tigers’ Robbie Farah will have shoulder needled on Sunday against the Panthers

THERE are two things you can assume about Robbie Farah this season — he’ll play on painkilling injections and rival players will target his dodgy shoulder.

Robbie Farah during warm up for Wests Tigers training at Concord Oval. pic. Phil Hillyard

THERE are two things you can safely assume about Robbie Farah the rest of this season — he’ll have his share of painkilling injections, and rival players will forever target his dodgy left shoulder.

Farah declared himself a certain starter on Sunday when he leads the Wests Tigers into action against Penrith at Leichhardt Oval.

It will have been 11 days since he played in Origin II with his collarbone separated from his shoulder.

The effort will go down as one of the toughest and bravest in Origin history.

Robbie Farah Wests Tigers training. pic. Phil Hillyard

But Farah knows he’ll have to put up with similar pain the rest of the years, especially with players to direct traffic at his left shoulder.

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Farah will require a needle on Sunday, and knows Penrith will give it a decent working over.

Queensland will try and do likewise in a few weeks when the Blues try and rap up a second straight Origin series.

“I’m sure they (Penrith) will (target) it, but I’m confident I’ll get through the game,’’ Farah said.

“If anything, it’s getting stronger by the day, so there are no issues with that.

“Every time you go out on to the field, you expect to be targeted and put under pressure, so it will be no different.

“I trained yesterday with the boys and got through the ball session, but didn’t do any contact.

“I was keen to play last Friday against Manly, even though I was really sore. The pain is something you can control, and once you get a needle, the pain is OK. It’s more (the pain) after the game and the next few days after you’ve played, and it flares up again.’’

Farah said the main issue with last week was the chance to pick up an infection from having two needles in the space of 72 hours.

There is no further damage he can do to his shoulder, he said, and there’s a good chance he can skip surgery at season’s end, especially if he doesn’t lose any strength or range.

Tigers teammate Keith Galloway has had shoulder problems in the past — he has a giant bone that sticks out of his left collarbone — yet he brought up 200 games last Friday.

While Origin II was painful, Farah said it was a mental relief for him, knowing he could continue to play with the injury.

And Tigers fans will be relieved their skipper will be back this weekend.

They desperately need a win, and a result at their spiritual inner-west home for the first time this season.

The Tigers capitulated on a Sunday afternoon against Canberra, then were stunned by the Gold Coast on wet night earlier this month.

Originally published as Tigers’ Robbie Farah will have shoulder needled on Sunday against the Panthers