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Robbie can expect more than a stiff handshake in Origin 3

1st July, 2015
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Robbie Farah is no stranger to rough play. (Photo: AAP)
Roar Guru
1st July, 2015
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1565 Reads

State of Origin has come down to a decider and it’s about time Queensland stooped to the level of New South Wales to win the series.

Robbie Farah, the New South Wales dummy-half, has undergone surgery to put screws and a plate in his hand to stabilise a fractured metacarpal hoping to play Origin next week.

I don’t know what a metacarpal is but any surgery that takes you a step closer to being the Six Million Dollar Man can’t be a good thing. The Blues’ own doctor has told media he’s unaware of any player recovering in the time frame that Farah is aiming for.

If Farah makes it onto the field for Origin III, and that’s a massive if, the Queenslanders are being served up a free hit.

‘Attack their weakness’ is a time honoured and well-worn concept in any competitive environment. But what if you didn’t need to sift through hours and hours of game film, pore over game stats or create algorithms to filter advanced metrics and locate the enemy’s Achilles heel?

What if your opponent’s weakness was blatant, clear as day, staring you in the face? What if you just had to look over to the other side of the field and see one of your opponent’s key position players with a broken hand?

Next Wednesday morning, if it’s confirmed that Farah will play, every Queenslander in the state will stop pouring XXXX Gold on their Weetbix and break into raucous laughter.

Only a New South Wales side still giddy from last year would be smug enough to play Farah in his current state. The dummy-half touches the ball more than any other player on the field and New South Wales want the bloke who plays that position to do it with a busted meat hook? Are they serious?

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Tactically, focussing on an injured player is the same as sending your hulking second rowers at the opposing team’s halves defending on the fringes of the ruck. The advantage of launching a big man at smaller man is clear. Ensuring that you test out a player with a known injury isn’t all that different, the only question is where you draw the line.

In State of Origin, there should be no line.

Before Game 2, New South Wales made a lot of noise about making sure Billy Slater’s shoulder was structurally sound.

The Queensland game plan for Origin 3 must be seizing every opportunity to grab, squeeze and twist Farah’s bung paw. The Maroons need only look to Wendell Sailor’s efforts from a few weeks ago for inspiration.

Tackling Robbie Farah? Now is the perfect opportunity for Queensland to get three men in the tackle, wrestle him to the ground and apply some indiscriminate pressure to the hand and wrist.

Packing a scrum against Robbie Farah? Now’s the perfect opportunity for Cam Smith, Mr Teflon himself, to slide a hand into the scrum – away from the prying eyes of the referee – and get after those busted knuckles.

Shaking hands with Robbie Farah after the siren? Who cares if the game is over, show you’re a real Queenslander, squeeze that broken mitt so tight you can’t tell if his tears are from losing the game or because he knows he’ll have to switch hands during his morning shower because of you.

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If Malcolm Norman Meninga isn’t specifically instructing Nate Myles to bait Robbie Farah into swinging the injured hand at that enormous, indestructible dome that sits atop the shoulders of the Queensland number 10 then maybe it’s time for Michael Hagan to take the reins.

What better swansong could you envision for Justin Hodges, in his final game of State of Origin football, to accidently put his studs through the New South Wales number 9’s hand while getting up to play the ball than after being tackled by Farah?

It’s a shame that there will be no statistics to reflect how important these selfless acts could be to a Queensland victory.

Forget all those Disney movies you’ve watched and those ridiculous notions of respect, dignity and pride. Cast morals and ethics aside and be honest with yourself: if a team isn’t taking advantage of every opportunity available to win, it isn’t really trying to win.

And before all you Bluebaggers get on your high horse about how what I’m suggesting is disgraceful, an act that is lower than low, that it should be wiped out from the game, that I should be ostracised from rugby league entirely and sent to live in Melbourne, I’d refer you back to an incident on March 29, 2008.

This was when your glorious captain and talismanic loser performed surgery on a freshly stitched wound in Anthony Laffranchi’s head using only his fingers.

Bring on the Origin decider.

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