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Robbie Farah needs to grow up

28th March, 2012
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Robbie Farah, always one to court controversy. (Image courtesy FoxSports)
Expert
28th March, 2012
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7222 Reads

Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah appeared on NRL on Fox last night, and displayed the petulance of a teenage girl grounded for smoking. Whilst some fans have defended Farah, saying that he showed some real fight, the truth is that he came across as petty, sensitive and immature.

If every Wests player was as defensive as Farah was last night, the Tigers wouldn’t have had a try scored against them this season.

Matty Johns grilled Farah right from the get go, but the questions were neither personal nor offensive. They were the questions every NRL fan, let alone Tigers fans, wanted answered. Yet Farah took them as a personal affront.

For those that missed the show, some of the ‘highlights’ included:

After Johns asked about the Tigers being premiership favourites, Farah got the interview off to a frosty start by snapping back “Well, who made us favourites, Matty?”.

I’m not even sure what that answer means. Is he suggesting that the Tigers aren’t that good?

When Matty suggested the Tigers have been soft, Farah replied that “Our footy hasn’t been soft, it’s definitely been disappointing.” Half right Robbie. You’ve been soft and disappointing.

When Matty said that the Tigers missing 48 tackles against the Raiders was soft, Farah replied “Yeah, but did we scramble well?”. I have no idea how anyone could think that’s a defence for being soft.

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If you defend well and aren’t soft up the middle, you don’t need to scramble. I’m sure Timmy Sheens didn’t re-watch the game and say “Gee our scrambling was good!”

When Matty said that the Dragons punched straight up the middle against the Tigers and that it was soft, Farah replied “That’s your opinion, mate. I’m sure people have their opinion on you.” Wrong Robbie. That’s not opinion, its fact. And there was no need for the personal rebuttal on Johns.

The interview went on with Matty asking questions about Farah’s relationship with Benji Marshall and rumours they’ve fallen out, whether Timmy Sheens has the support of the playing group, and the club potentially signing Willie Mason. Farah handled all those questions, to his credit, very well.

Especially when he said the rumours surrounding him and Benji are ‘bulls*t’, and that they only surface when the club has lost a few games.

Farah’s point that no one is more disappointed with the Tigers form than the players themselves was also one of Farah’s better moments.

At this point it seemed like Farah had calmed down, got control of his emotions and realised that the questions weren’t personal, but insightful.

But as the interview wound down, Farah said to Johns “We used to be mates”, before then unleashing with the comment: “I love a good ambush”.

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Not content with that little outburst, Farah then took to Twitter and tweeted: “Just got ambushed on NRL on Fox. Pretty fired up ATM to be honest and pretty pissed off. Wanted to unleash more then I did.”

Robbie, it wasn’t an ambush. Matty Johns asked all the questions that rugby league fans wanted to know.

They weren’t personal, they weren’t insensitive, and they weren’t offensive. Furthermore, Johns halfway through the interview revealed that he had told Farah what questions he was going to ask.

As for Farah wanting to “unleash more”, what exactly was left unsaid? He is suggesting he would have gone after Johns even more?

If Farah wanted to go on a show and have a giggle and talk about his restaurant, then he appeared on the wrong footy show. NRL on Fox is a serious rugby league show for serious rugby league fans. It’s been a revelation this year and provided viewers with real insights about the NRL.

Sadly, the main insight from last night’s show is that Robbie Farah is petulant, sensitive and overly-defensive. C’mon Robbie, grow up.

Highlights:

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