- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
After screaming it with insinuation and then emblazoning it across the papers in lemon juice, Phil Gould’s message has been received loud and clear – Paul Gallen and Robbie Farah are to blame for everything wrong with New South Wales.
The Panthers supremo could take no more after the Blues extended their infallible streak to one trophy in 11 series, and with the goading of a provocative Paul Vautin in his ears, he went on the attack to specifically pinpoint the pair for criticism by using indeterminate generalisations.
For those who missed his rant and subsequent column, Gould cited a culture of “selfishness” in the New South Wales camp originating from a “domineering” leadership group too obsessed with helicopter-parenting the team’s revolving door of playmakers.
But while the transcript shows that Gus certainly went bananas on the Blues seniors, it wasn’t reckless hyper-bananas. He kept his shirt buttoned-up and his finger-pointing finger in his finger-pointing holster.
He knew that despite there being an extremely long list of blameworthy Blues from the last ten years, a narrow identity parade could be derived using powers of deduction the moment he empathised with the ball-players, praised the forwards and pardoned the coach.
Taking out all of these options, and remembering that Bozo has lifetime amnesty, all that was left was two obvious names that fit his description as senior members who ached for team control: the hard-working hard-heads of Gallen and Farah.
Well played, Gus, you crafty old sponge of rinse. You made your point, and better still, by avoiding individual accusations, you’ve done so while covered in phone books. You’re immune from retribution, which from those two I can only dream would be something involving either silence or violence.
But anyway, enough about Gus’s mazey rants and agendas and hidden desire to provoke us to beg him to return to top-line coaching. I want to know the important opinions. I want to know the people’s views.
Is the former supercoach on the money? Is the last diabolical decade in New South Wales really the majority fault of the captain and his deputy?
Following on from Tim Gore’s fine piece calling for their immediate dumping, I want to look further beyond a Game 3 swansong and in to the sunset.
With Gallen a confirmed retiree at the end of this series and Farah in deep twilight, how will this pair be remembered at Origin level?
Will they be recalled as all-time greats who represented the jumper with distinction? Or as the figureheads who oversaw a period in New South Wales history so shameful that I looked up property listings in Launceston?
Are they the posterboys for self-indulgent ball-hoarding? Or will stratospheric tackle counts and run metres earned in the game’s cauldron supersede abysmal win-loss records to see them elevated to gladiator status?
To help you put it in perspective, here are some pertinent points about the pair’s achievements at interstate level.
Did you know that Gallen has played the same amount of Origins as Blues behemoths Johns and Laurie Daley? And not once has he been caught taking recreational drugs or coaching one of the most boring sides in Origin history. It’s quite the feather.
But do we appreciate his tireless attitude that could turbocharge him to seven superhuman carries in a set? Or do we bemoan the trade-off demand that makes him a lingering first-receiver?
As for Farah, he hasn’t played in nearly as many matches as Gallen. But in his favour, he once played with a disfigured shoulder for nothing more than $30,000 and a free week at Coffs Harbour. He also never repeatedly clubbed a bloke in the head in HD.
Do we give thanks for Farah’s unerring direction and bloody-minded leadership? Or do we want to slap him when he pulls rank on kicks?
I’m absolutely bolted to this fence on this one.
In the undulating days of emotion that usually follow a 10th series loss in 11 years, there’s no better time than to make rash determinations such as this.
Gallen and Farah: will they be remembered as Blues legends, or just a couple of selfish veterans that Gus roasted with cryptics?