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In a an age of rugby league where there are consistent ‘worst kept secrets in the game’ the announcement that Wests Tigers have optioned to show their club captain Robbie Farah the door is a bombshell.
He isn’t out the door just yet but the writing is on the wall given the all too familiar phrase offered in the press release that Farah “has been granted permission to investigate opportunities to continue his playing career at another club”.
The obvious question from such a shock announcement has to be, why?
Well, there are actually a host of reasons – both logical and full of lunacy.
But first let’s look at why Tigers fans should not have to deal with this latest issue.
Most importantly is the pride Farah has brought the Tigers. The man bleeds black, white and gold. He is a Leichhardt Wanderers junior, a 2005 premiership winner and since 2013 one of only four life members of the club. Oh, and of course he is the current first-grade captain, a role he has fulfilled since 2009 (in turn making him the club’s longest serving skipper).
Also, Farah has for a number of seasons been regarded one of the game’s best hookers. He has played for his country on eight occasions since 2009, captained NSW City four times, has been the NSW Blues’ first-choice hooker since 2012, captaining the state on numerous occasions in his 13 State of Origin appearances. This illustrates his consistency, and the respect and recognition he has earned through a long and successful career.
Finally, Farah is experienced. Of course being a club captain and enjoying the illustrious representative career he has would already paint such a picture, but this point really cannot be understated. In a team that features more puberty acne than seasoned veterans, a player with nearly 250 first-grade games should be considered a resource of such quality that Gina Rinehart would have a dig at it.
But alas the Tigers are casting their skipper adrift, and that possibly boils down to one or several of the following reasons.
The most obvious reason, and one the Tigers administration can easily explain, is the salary cap dilemma the club finds themselves in.
If reports are correct (when will the NRL decide to make player payments visible so that we may end the farce regarding third-party payments?) then Farah is earning approximately $900,000 a season.
This is a huge sum and places him in the elite earners of the game. Obviously with the club having salary cap issues, in which atrocious management has seen long departed players receive continued payments and current players offered ridiculously back-ended contracts, the ability to free up close to a million dollars is a welcome proposition.
The problem with this explanation however lies in the maths.
Attributing $900,000 to a single player in theory sounds like a lot, but really it isn’t. With a cap of $6.8 million in 2015, Farah’s payment occupies just 13 per cent of the Tigers’ cap this season.
Given approximately four players of the 25-man squad would (should) be receiving minimum wage salaries of $80,000, this leaves more than $5.5 million to pay the remaining players – divided evenly they would all be earning a healthy sum of $279,000.
Given the amount of fringe first graders and bargain buys – Kevin Naiqama, Kyle Lovett and Delouise Hoeter – in the roster, coupled with newly promoted first graders such as Mitch Moses, it defies belief that the Tigers would not have room for Farah’s salary. Only James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Chris Lawrence would also be receiving high wages.
Wanting to pay such a cost is of course a separate issue, and that brings us to what is the most likely cause of Farah’s departure, Jason Taylor.
I should point out that I have previously chastised Taylor’s time with the Tigers on several occasions. Put simply, I don’t have a high opinion of him, but I will try to present this fairly and logically.
I won’t pretend to know the inner relationships between player and coach, but the relationship appears less than cozy. In general that is acceptable, a coach and his players do not have to be best mates for the coach to do his job (just ask Rick Stone).
But given the very public Farah versus Michael Potter fiasco last season that derailed the club’s finals chances and ultimately led to the coach’s (undeserved) sacking, it is possible that the club has decided it safer to remove a divisive player.
That’s not to say these are Taylor’s personal wishes, just that the club may have decided that to rebuild they need to set Farah adrift rather than start from scratch with a third new coach in four seasons.
Some would say it is easier to sack an underperforming coach than an entire team. In many ways the Tigers have done both and neither with Robbie Farah.
He is a player who holds so much influence over the club, commanding respect and providing headaches in equal measure, that some would argue he has too much influence. Sadly, this season his performances have been underwhelming to the point where I would say this has been his poorest season of NRL since his debut in 2003.
You could argue that he has been playing with injury but unfortunately that may not change with Farah’s body finally acting its age. The missed matches are piling up.
When it comes to the curious case of Robbie Farah there are arguments for why he should remain at the club and arguments for why he must be moved on. Perhaps this is the crux of the problem, both the Tigers and Farah need one another and have outgrown one another in equal measure.
Farah can still be extremely useful to the club on and off the field, but in this business age he has been deemed too expensive.
He deserves more loyalty than has been offered but, similar to Benji Marshall, an inability to meet in the middle over dollar value has left Farah and the club between a rock and a hard place.
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