If New South Wales coach Ricky Stuart is serious about breaking the Blues’ six-year State of Origin drought, he must pick Wests Tigers’ hooker Robbie Farah over Danny Buderus and Michael Ennis for the entire 2012 series.
Since the first game of 2006, NSW have scored an average of 14.9 points per game while conceding an average of 20.5 points to Queensland.
This means what the Blues desperately need is a form player with both attacking flair and a robust defensive game. The statistics indicate that Farah fits this bill.
Out of the three main candidates for the Blues’ number nine jersey, Farah is clearly having the strongest season in attack. This year he has created many scoring opportunities for his Tigers teammates through one line break, four line break assists and two try assists while gaining an average of 52.6 metres per game.
Before being injured in Round 8 Buderus had registered no line breaks, no line break assists, no try assists and had gained an average of 38 metres and yet was guaranteed selection.
Similarly, Ennis has produced no line breaks, two line break assists and only gained an average of 19.2 metres per game. Ennis does have one more try assist than Farah, however he has also made two more handling errors and conceded six more penalties.
One key reason why pundits tend to dismiss Farah as an origin contender is that he is supposedly a defensive liability. However, the statistics also indicate that Farah is currently the strongest defender of the Blues’ hooking candidates.
Farah has only missed 13 (5.3 percent) of the 243 tackles he has attempted this NRL season, a much better figure than those registered by both Buderus (7.91 percent) and Ennis (7.31 percent).
Also, in seasons 2009, 2010 and 2011, not only was Farah’s average number of missed tackles per game lower than Ennis’, it was also lower than the figure recorded for Queensland and Test hooker Cameron Smith.
Similarly, the 44 tackles Farah made in last month’s City-Country encounter indicate that Farah can hold his own defensively against representative standard players.
Some critics, like NSW legend Steve Roach, have argued that Buderus and Ennis should be picked ahead of Farah because “his [Farah’s] game doesn’t suit Origin”.
This argument can be linked back to game two 2009 when Farah turned in a particularly poor performance and was subsequently dropped for Ennis.
However, a review of Farah’s performance from game one of the 2009 series shows that the argument that his game doesn’t suit origin is just plain wrong and that he is definitely up to Origin standards.
In that match not only did Farah run for 77 metres, register 38 tackles and a line break assist but he also set up a try for Jarryd Hayne in the 68th minute with a chip-and-chase in a performance which prompted Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Andrew Stevenson to rate him as “one of the Blues’ best” in the 28-18 loss.
Through analysing the statistics it has become obvious that not only is Robbie Farah NSW’s strongest hooker in both attack and defence, he is also capable of handling the rigours of Origin football.
Knowing this it’s clear that he is the best candidate for the NSW number nine jersey throughout the 2012 series.
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