Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah is ineligible to play in reserve grade finals

OUT-of-favour Tigers hooker Robbie Farah is ineligible to play in the reserve grade finals and the NSWRL says it won’t be making special dispensation for him.

HE needed three games to reach 250 in the NRL for his beloved Wests Tigers.

Now Robbie Farah is going to fall just three games short of being eligible to represent the Tigers beyond week one of the finals series in reserve grade.

Tigers coach Jason Taylor has axed his Origin hooker to the NSW Cup for the past month and has no intention to bring his $900,000-a-season rake back for the final two NRL games.

Under reserve grade’s competition rules, Farah needed to have played eight times to qualify for the finals.

Pictured is Robbie Farah playing reserve grade for Wests Tigers.

Farah will play his fourth game this weekend against ­cellar-dwellers Newcastle, then bring up his fifth game in week one of the finals next weekend. The Tigers are third on the ­ladder.

The only way he could have continued was if the Tigers reached the NRL finals, which they won’t.

Some fans will wonder why Farah can be denied September football yet Jarryd Hayne can play in the NRL finals after only notching five games for the Gold Coast Titans.

There was a chance Farah would have pulled the pin on his own season anyway once the NRL squad finished.

Robbie Farah at ANZ Stadium.

NSWRL boss Dave Trodden, whose organisation runs the NSW Cup — and has known Farah through his time at the Tigers and the Blues Origin team — said there would be no special dispensation for Farah, nor had the Tigers raised the issue.

“If they did there’s no capacity for any compromise,’’ Trodden said.

“The rules are there to make sure teams aren’t stacked, and teams who play in the finals series are truly representative of the teams who qualify.’’

Farah still has a year to run on his deal with the Tigers, but South Sydney are just one of several clubs keen to sign him.

Originally published as Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah is ineligible to play in reserve grade finals