Wests Tigers coach surprises by starting Robbie Farah on the bench against Parramatta

WELL that didn’t go to plan. Jason Taylor’s decision to start Robbie Farah on the bench against the Eels was just one of a number of surprises from the Tigers coach.

Tigers vs Parra

YOU can’t imagine Craig Bellamy sitting Cameron Smith on the bench in his return from injury.

But Robbie Farah said he was “sweet” with Jason Taylor’s late call to make the former Wests Tigers captain sit out the first 17 minutes of Monday’s 8-0 loss to Parramatta.

Farah thinks it was the first time he has started an NRL game on the bench since 2009.

Robbie Farah’s bench start caught everyone by surprise.

Taylor stunned just about everyone with his decision to shift Dene Halatau from the back row to dummy half, while he also kept Manaia Cherrington in his 17 man squad.

It is unheard of for a coach to have three dummy halves in his squad.

Taylor then made the decision to take Farah out of the game when the result was on the line to give Cherrington his first touch in the 72nd minute.

Taylor was adamant the decision was only done to help ease Farah back into the NRL in his first game of the season after returning from a knee injury.

Asked when he last started off the bench, Farah said: “I was thinking about that.

“I think the last time was round one when I was coming off back surgery in 2009, maybe. I remember starting off the bench in that game. Maybe backing up from Origin there might have been a game too, I don’t know.”

Robbie Farah made his long-awaited return from injury yesterday.

It was a move that was always going to spark more speculation about Farah and Taylor’s testing relationship. But Farah showed no disappointment when asked about Taylor’s decision, and whether it worked.

“I don’t know. I guess it is something you will have to ask the coach,” he said.

“That was his call and I was happy coming off the bench. I guess, my first game back from injury and I guess it saves an interchange as well. That was the reason behind that so that was all sweet.”

But he hopes to be back in the Tigers starting side when they run out against the Sharks on Saturday.

Robbie Farah is tackled during his return match against the Eels.

“Hopefully. It is always nice to wear the No.9 so we will see how we go.”

Taylor explained that the decision was only designed to make Farah’s return from a knee injury easier.

“The idea was to just keep Robbie out of that first 15 or so minutes so that he didn’t have to do all that defence,” Taylor said.

“And then we were confident he’d get through the game from there. We had Manaia on the bench in case we needed some spark later in the game which we did but we just couldn’t find the play the ball speed to give Manaia an opportunity late in the game.

“Robbie would have got to the end of the game had we needed him to, which is why we held him out of the start. It was a simple plan which worked well but we didn’t get a result.”

Farah also said bringing Cherrington into the game late to replace Farah was aimed at giving the team spark.

Asked if he was exhausted at that point, Farah said: “Look, you are always stuffed out there on the footy field so you just always plays through it.

“If I had to stay out there there is no doubt I could have played out the rest of the game but he obviously wanted some fresh legs on there with the speed that Cherro provides.

“That’s his call.”

Originally published as Wests Tigers coach surprises by starting Robbie Farah on the bench against Parramatta