When the first-choice NSW hooker suddenly comes on the market, one can reasonably expect a feeding frenzy as clubs rush to sign him.
Yet since news broke that Robbie Farah and the Wests Tigers would part ways in 2016, all we have seen is teams rapidly distancing themselves from Farah.
Certainly there is an element of sandbagging taking place – teams are no doubt reluctant to show their interest publicly for fear of driving up Farah’s already steep asking price.
In addition, some clubs are already well stocked at hooker.
But even at age 31 Farah remains an elite representative player, with at least one more contract worth of high-level play left in his tank.
So why has the mad rush been away from Farah? In fact the consensus thus far is that only three NRL teams make much sense: the Knights, Rabbitohs and Titans. Yet two of these clubs have already distanced themselves from the Tigers skipper.
For the Knights, who have had a revolving cast at dummy half this season and have a forward pack that is, Sims brothers aside, among the worst in the competition. The inclusion of Farah would be immense. While Jarrod Mullen is a fine player and Trent Hodkinson may represent a smart buy-low acquisition as I have argued in the past, Farah would immediately improve the team’s playmaking.
The Rabbitohs have one of the top five hookers in the competition, Issac Luke, departing at the end of the season and no strong candidate to replace him. Cameron McInnes has not shown much to get excited about thus far in his first grade career, and mid-season arrival Paul Carter is probably better suited to an impact role off the bench. Moreover, the Rabbitohs are now firmly among the glamour clubs of the competition, with a deep and loyal fan-base that craves further success after their drought-breaking premiership last season.
However the Rabbitohs have already publicly removed themselves from the race (for what that’s worth), and it is hard to believe that they can find the room in their salary cap for a player of Farah’s prodigious wage demands.
The Titans make the most sense as a team with a young spine and presumably oodles of room to move under the cap. For Farah it would be a move out of Sydney and the media focus that comes with being a high-profile player at a high-profile club. A fresh start and a leadership role would likely suit Farah no end.
Yet coach Neil Henry was ambiguous at best when asked about his team’s interest in Farah.
So if a team as desperate for both high-class players and marketable stars as the Titans is lukewarm on Farah, then is there something more to the story?
The answer may lie in basic organisational leadership theory.
A rugby league team is much like any other organisation, they just happen to specialise in playing football. So, broadly speaking, what can be said of any organisation can also be applied to a football team.
In the case of the Tigers something that has long been acknowledged is that Robbie Farah is a potent figure within the organisation. Whether it was Tim Sheens, Mick Potter, or even Benji Marshall, every major departure from the Wests Tigers in recent years has been accompanied by rumour and innuendo about the role of ‘coach’ Robbie.
That Farah might be a locker room problem is hardly new information. 12 months ago I wrote a piece about the potentially bright future ahead for the Tigers.
In that piece I spoke about their remarkable core of exciting young players under contract for a number of years. With players like Aaron Woods, Tim Simona and James Tedesco on long-term deals, I argued that the club had the building blocks for success. Of course this season has not quite gone to plan, but the team still has as high a ceiling as any in the league.
However that piece 12 months ago also included the following caveat: “and most importantly, can Robbie Farah play nicely with others?” Even 12 months ago, before Jason Taylor joined the club, it was clear that Farah was not regarded in some quarters as an altogether constructive presence.
No one outside the club can know for sure, as the hidden workings of any club stay just that: hidden. But smoke and fire and all that and it is hard to believe that the stories of Farah directing traffic more than normal for a player have been invented from thin air each and every time.
For a new coach such as Jason Taylor, particularly a coach with one noted failure (depending on how one chooses to assess Taylor’s time at the Rabbitohs) already on his resume even the perception of an alternate source of truth within the locker room may be problematic.
The very fact that Farah has, for the first time really in a career of being an 80-minute player, regularly been substituted at times this could be seen as reflecting the relationship between player and coach.
If Farah is indeed more hassle than he is worth for the Tigers and coach Taylor, then it is likely that other clubs will be aware of it given the essentially insular and incestuous nature of the NRL. This may go a long way towards explaining the reluctance among other NRL clubs to advertise their interest in a player who otherwise ticks a lot of boxes.
There also remains the problem of Farah’s colossal salary, which even if it is not as high as the $900,000 a season that has been reported, is surely in that vicinity. Even with the salary cap going up that is an eye-watering amount for player who is very, very good but probably doesn’t make many people’s top 10, let alone top five players.
So even if a club chooses to ignore the mountain of rumour about Farah’s tampering in the broader workings of the Tigers, simply justifying his wage may be too much to bear.
Which leaves us where exactly? Well the north of England or the south of France most likely. If the NRL is closed to him, Farah may have to settle for the semi-retirement that is life in the English Super League.
Which would be a shame. Whether you believe that he has been a problem child off the field or otherwise, it cannot be argued that he has been a wonderful player for both the Tigers and NSW, and very loyal to a club in the days where loyalty is all-too-commonly discarded in favour of dollars.
It is never a good thing for the league and its clubs to lose players of the quality of Farah, though for the Tigers it may well be a step forward.
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