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PRICHARD: Hard-hats required at Wests Tigers this week

30th August, 2015
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Look who's back! (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Expert
30th August, 2015
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Who cares who wins the minor premiership? Who cares who gets the wooden spoon? Who even cares who wins the grand final? Right now, all anyone wants to know is what is going to happen next at Wests Tigers.

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That may be an exaggeration, but surely even the most fanatical of supporters who always have their team’s fortunes at the top of their care list no matter what else is going on would still be fascinated by the drama surrounding Robbie Farah and Jason Taylor.

Farah had already established a big lead in the public relations battle – and then he went out and played a blinder for the Tigers as they smacked the sorry behinds of the Warriors at Campbelltown on Sunday.

Then afterwards came one of the most uncomfortable media conferences imaginable as Taylor and Farah fronted up. They sat close together, but were effectively miles apart.

Taylor made it clear he wanted to put the accent on veteran players Pat Richards and Keith Galloway having gone out winners in their final home game for the Tigers and not dwell on the events of the past week.

But Farah was happy to make clear his intention to remain at the Tigers next season, despite the coach not wanting him.

Asked if, as far as he was concerned, the match he had just played was his last home game for the Tigers, Farah answered with a very definite “no”.

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Asked if he could work with Taylor next season, were it to turn out that way, Farah said “yeah, that’s never been a problem from my end, that’s never been a problem and it won’t be a problem”.

The Tigers have handled the Farah situation poorly and really have no excuse for not handling it much better. The fans have made it abundantly clear they are behind Farah.

How it all pans out remains to be seen, but we will find out a lot from how resolute the powers-that-be at the club are this week.

There is only one game to go. My guess is that they will put the hard-hats on with the aim of getting to the end of the season and then having the matter reach its conclusion at least without the background of regular media conferences for the players and coach that are scheduled in-season.

It is late in the season and Farah has a contract for another two years worth almost $2 million in total, so the difficulty for him in finding another NRL club – and one that he would really want to go to – is clear.

But you never rule out anything in this game. It is still possible something suitable could open up for him – particularly since the Tigers are prepared to pay a big chunk of his salary if he were to go.

If the Tigers don’t blink, it is hard to see Farah being at the club next year. That is, unless he can’t find something else that he likes here and doesn’t want to go to England. Then, he might just become the highest-paid reserve-grader in the history of the game. Talk about bizarre.

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But back to that other matter of who will win the competition. Now that Sydney Roosters and Brisbane are set to fill the first two places in the top eight I’m prepared to narrow it down to them.

North Queensland is wobbling at the wrong end of the season, South Sydney appears satisfied with making cameos rather than adopting a starring role and now injuries are hitting the Rabbitohs on top of that, and Melbourne isn’t quite good enough.

I’m not convinced that either Cronulla or Canterbury can go all the way and St George Illawarra is just making up the numbers.

This week’s final round couldn’t have worked out better for the Roosters and Broncos. Brisbane plays Melbourne at home on Thursday and the Roosters play Souths at home on Friday.

The two qualifying finals on the first weekend of the post-season are played on the Friday and Saturday, which means the Roosters and Broncos will each get plenty of time in which to recover and then prepare to try to win straight through to week three of the finals.

Any advantage could be important in a tough competition like the NRL.

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