Robbie Farah reveals the truth about retiring Knights prop Chris Heighington
ROBBIE Farah has lots of time for his former teammate Chris Heighington — and even more stories. Like the one on the Gold Coast, or after the Tigers grand final, or how old he really is …
Tigers
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tigers. Followed categories will be added to My News.
CHRIS Heighington had a knack for updating his own Wikipedia entry.
“Deadset,” says former teammate Robbie Farah. “Heighno changed his age on Wikipedia to make people think he his younger. He is 37 in January but for many years he had everyone believing he was born in ‘83 not ‘82 so when it came to negotiating contracts he was trying to make people think he was younger than he was.
“Me and Dene Halatau picked up on it. I was like ‘mate you’re two years older than me not one’ and he was like ‘shh’ … it’s probably worked.”
SALARY CAP: It’s time for transparency
EXISTENTIAL: Axe left Sue ‘questioning everything’
It is hard to doubt Farah because a quick “Chris Heighington age” Google shows the Knights veteran as being 35, not 36.
Heighington announced his retirement this week with 334 games to his name but Farah said he was lucky to make it past the 2005 Tigers grand final celebrations.
“He got drunk in about 45 minutes and tipped a beer over Paul Sironen’s head,” Farah said. “We had to take him home and put him to bed about two hours later. He got a bit too excited as you could tell after his grand final interview with Matty Johns.
“He was excited after the full-time siren. That continued through to his drinking that night. He didn’t last too long.”
Given Heighington’s celebratory track record you could forgive him for being mindful when the Tigers players got together down the track.
“We were on the Gold Coast on a trip away,” Farah said. “It was a long couple of days of partying and we were worse for wear. There was one evening and we were struggling to go out.
“We were walking down the road about to head out. Heighno is like ‘I need a sugar hit, I need a sugar hit. I need something to get me up a bit’.
“He walks into a 7/11 and comes out with a Pepsi Max … he didn’t realise it was sugar free.”
Farah and Heighington will play against each other for the final time on Friday night. The close mates spent a decade together at the Tigers before Heighington was forced out.
Farah said the Tigers struggled to fill his absence.
“If you go and ask everyone who has played with him they’ll tell you he has had just as much impact off the field as he has had on it,” Farah said.
“He is a special sort of character. One of those blokes you love having at a footy club. I remember when he came here to the Tigers no one knew much about him … he just forced himself into the team with his work ethic
“We had a few characters in this squad in 2010-2012. Heighno, Bryce Gibbs, Beau (Ryan) left and you notice when they are gone.
“They make it enjoyable to come to work every day. I noticed the massive hole when Heighno and those boys left.”
Provided Heighington finishes the season injury free he will end his career as the seventh most capped player in NRL history.
Farah said aside from doctoring his age there were other reasons Heighington had managed a 16-year stint at the top level.
“I always have a dig at him saying it’s only 200 games because he only plays 30 minutes a game,” Farah said. “He always runs at me. That’s why he has played 330 games — he only runs at the little fellas in the game. I see him, he always makes a beeline for me every time he sees me. He is smart like that. I’ll send him a text before the game and tell him to stay away.
“To compete at that level in the engine room for 330-odd games shows the character he is.”