Paul Kent on Robbie Farah's hard fight to become NSW hooker

THE soul of NSW's Origin revival begins, like any good comeback story, in a homemade gym in a backyard.

THE soul of NSW's Origin revival begins, like any good comeback story, in a homemade gym in a backyard, with three parts desire and one part talent.

The gym belongs to Jeff Fenech. The man sweating in front of him is 29 years old and punches like a fighter. Short and sharp, no wind-up. "He should have a fight," says Fenech, who has spent the second part of his life looking for the next good one.

This, though, is about football, and State of Origin, and a man who this time last year was thought about in a far different light than what he is now. Before Origin I last year we still wondered whether Robbie Farah had it. Up to then Danny Buderus was pencilled in for the job but got hurt. Mick Ennis was the incumbent and carrying injury. Farah emerged as last man standing.

Swirling around among this was the fatal flaw that inflicted the Blues; that deep down inside, in that place you don't talk about, they still doubted themselves.

Nobody knew the forces at work inside Farah at the time. His mum Sonia was in the final stages of pancreatic cancer, an act of bravery he got to witness every day.

He was picked to play the City-Country game, second prize in the raffle, with no secret kept that it was his Origin trial.

GAL'S PAIN TRULY INSPIRING

There was doubt voiced over him among former Blues, where it is an uncomfortable truth that most seem to find an opinion come Origin time. Quite publicly, they questioned whether he had the toughness for Origin. By then Farah had been training with Fenech some time. Weekly boxing sessions that not only sharpen condition but reinforce the cast-iron will.

Twenty years earlier another NSW player with similar doubts over him, Steve Mortimer, started making his way to Fenech's gym at Newtown Police Boys Club to train under Johnny Lewis, looking to find whatever it was in that gym that made brave men tougher.

Soon after, Mortimer led NSW to its first series victory, changing Origin forever. Similarly, Farah showed his newfound desire through performance. He got man-of-the-match in City-Country.

Picked for NSW, he then turned in an effort that will underline the rest of his career. Man of the match in Game II, he was knocked out in Game III and played for another 30 minutes, on instinct, before his head cleared and he could get back to the game plan. He was named Blues' player of the series, the doubts forever eroded.

Robbie Farah

Farah's emergence is such that he has now gone beyond being part of the team. He is now a leader, and so he carries a fresh burden tonight.

NSW ACE IS THEIR PACK

The Blues go into the match with a rookie five-eighth in James Maloney and a halfback, in Mitch Pearce, seeking the same redemption Farah found last year.

Farah himself, has been troubled by doubts of late. He admitted it after the Tigers beat the Cowboys almost a fortnight ago, snapping a seven game losing streak.

"Even though I've been happy with my form for the whole year, you kind of start to doubt yourself and I found in the last couple of weeks I started to doubt if I was going as good as I thought," he said.

Beside him coach Mick Potter called him "the best hooker in the game", which, to be fair, owes itself to admiration more than sound judgment. But Farah is fast closing on Queensland captain Cam Smith, who most already regard as the best hooker that ever played the game.

Farah's performance last year exposed the possibilities, something Maloney and Pearce must acknowledge. Against Smith, Farah showed NSW a truth they have only in recent years been willing to admit. There is no magic bullet.

The only solution to Queensland's superior talent is hard work. Skin off your knuckles kind of hard work.

STERLO: NSW MUST WIN PIVOTAL MOMENTS

The Blues must take it tonight. After seven years the missed tackles, dropped balls and bad decisions have all run out. Queensland has won seven in a row and want 10.

For some of those seven years it seemed the Blues played like they were waiting out Queensland's run. Hoping they might lose interest. It won't happen, and it can end only one way.