There’s been a retro atmosphere in the air recently when it comes to the Tigers. Not only has Robbie Farah just resigned with the club but there’s even talk that Tim Simona may be permitted to return to the NRL sooner than expected.
Not surprisingly, the depiction of Farah’s return has been framed in nostalgic terms, with one article after another commenting on his reunion with Benji Marshall and thinking back to his last view from the Leichhardt scoreboard before shifting to Rabbitohs colours.
That nostalgia isn’t hard to understand. While it happened a full thirteen years ago, the 2005 Grand Final victory feels more poignant as its final two architects start to move towards retirement.
Most fans would have expected at least one more premiership in the interim, so seeing Farah and Marshall together is a bit like seeing a future that never quite came to pass. There’s something compelling about that.
Meanwhile, the fact that Marshall has played his best footy since leaving the Tigers has proven what nostalgia, and a sense of belonging, can achieve.
At no point in his career at the Dragons or the Broncos did Benji ever demonstrate the depth of leadership he’s showcased so far this year. Even during his original run at Leichhardt you probably wouldn’t call him a leader in exactly the same way.
If Farah can manage to rise to Marshall’s level, then the Tigers have got a good chance of turning the back half of their season around.
With Matt Ballin out before he has a chance to gel with the team, and Matt McIlwrick and Jacob Liddle’s workload punctured by various complications, the Tigers have needed an experienced hooker for some time.
Seeing Elijah Taylor forced to don the No.9 jersey has indicated a pretty big hole in the team’s organisation.
At a positional level, then, Farah may be just what the doctor ordered. But will he fit the new culture?
(AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
No doubt, he has the club in his bones. That’s what can make him such a gun on the field. But it’s also what has made him clash with management so fiercely over the last couple of years as well.
Since he left, the club has also taken on a new culture. With the departure of James Tedesco for the Roosters and Aaron Woods for the Bulldogs, and the dissolution of the Big Three, it’s become clear that this can no longer be an outfit driven by big personalities.
Instead, in the medium term, as Ivan Cleary has realised, no player can afford to be bigger than the club.
Even Benji’s newfound brilliance has consisted partly in subsuming himself into the team and avoiding the kind of spotlight that was always trained on him the first time around.
It’s no coincidence, either, that Corey Thompson has been one of the most impressive players in 2018. Despite only being added for “further depth,” he’s shown that even the supposedly secondary players can make a mark under Cleary’s meritocracy.
Conversely, Cleary has shown that he’s prepared to drop players at a moment’s notice if they don’t conform to the expected standards or club culture. While previous coaches may have been more malleable in response to star players, it’s clear this is Cleary’s bus.
Farah could add a great deal to the Tigers, then, but this can’t be the Farah that sat, splendidly isolated, above the ground on the Leichhardt scoreboard on that final day.
Rather, this has to be a player who gels with the team as if he’s never been a part of it, and has to prove himself all over again. That’s what has made Thompson so great.
It’s also what has made Benji so great, since his time with the Dragons, Broncos and Auckland Blues has meant he has more to prove on returning to the Tigers.
With only a year and a half at South Sydney under his belt, Farah’s return feels less like a return, and more like a continuation of where he last left off.
But the team has changed as much in those eighteen months as it did during Benji’s entire absence, and the best thing Farah can do now is to recognise that and start from scratch.
If he does, the Tigers might just have a chance at salvaging their waning season.
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