They asked Benny the wrong questions.
Forget about what happens if Taylor drops Farah and Tigers don't win; ask the reverse: what happens if they win without Farah, or lose with him? Then what does JT do.
I guarantee that if we have a losing start with Robbie playing firsts next year, there will be a long line of Farah apologists saying that he is "being hamstrung" or "should be allowed to play his natural game".
I'll tell you who was allowed to play their natural game: Lockyer, Johns, Tallis. Webcke, Ellis. These guys were excellent every week, so over-coaching would be like telling Federer which shots he should select.
Every other player I've seen, needs to be reigned in to some extent; it's a team game. Even Thurston cannot just play however he chooses, because he's always had the issue of not quite having a stable or directing half option alongside him, flicking back and forth between half and 5/8th. First season that he has a halves partner who is consistently dangerous and at his peak, they win the comp.
Did you watch Michael Ennis play last year??
He was tremendous. He said being allowed to play what he saw a lot more made him so much more effective.
Nathan Brown made that point and it was a really solid one. The coach has an asset in Farah, and refused to use him to the best of his abilities and for the teams best interests.
There is no way Ennis was a more skillful or creative player then Robbie, yet last season he had double the assists and numbers? Why, I would argue PARTLY due to good coaching at Sharks. Robbie has been a better player then Ennis nearly his whole career. Yet last season Ennis had nearly double the numbers. You have to give Ennis credit but you alos have to look at our game plans and wonder what we were trying to acheive/
Black, N Whitw made some fair points. Farahs service was dissapointing and really poor at times. He needs to be sharper next season from Round 1\. Like I said originally he also needs to take some responsibility for a quiet year last year.
And yet despite the horrible attack coaching of JT the Tigers still scored more points then the Sharks so seems he was still doing a better job the Flanagan coaching attack