Like everyone, I’ve had several stabs this week about trying to figure out what is going on in Tiger Town.
First thing that is clear is that if a player is not happy about being moved on, you are very likely to hear about it in the media. Obviously the bigger the profile, the bigger the noise. We have already learned from the 2011-2012 clear-out that, depending on the player, you might get all kinds of public feedback. Beau Ryan gave a TV interview and continues to have a public platform in excess of his playing ability. Fifita gave a number of inflammatory paper interviews. Gibbs has taken to twitter on many occasions.
We are not the only club that this happens to – the ongoing dismantling of the core group at Manly is arguably uglier than any of our own player movements.
History also tells us that Robbie Farah stories explode in the media. His issues often play out as real soap operas, based on fairly unremarkable kindling, but burning brightly and attracting much attention. Part of this is his profile in the game, but I suspect much also has to do with Robbie himself and his minders.
Even if you think back to the Tallis issue last year, it was based on a fairly ordinary story of a player not rating his coach, but outstripped all other league stories at that time. The reported Potter and Benji fallouts, his mother’s death, Origin selection and non-selection, shoulder and hand injuries – all reasonably inoffensive stories, but they gain terrific traction and it appears that Robbie Farah sells a lot of papers.
So the media attention does not surprise me, even though it has totally overshadowed the second last week of the finals race.
Even the timing of Farahgate doesn’t really concern me. We are hearing about this now because the media caught wind of the story and were going to break it, not because Tigers made a snap decision on this last week. It is entirely possible that the club has been turning the wheels on Farah for months, even before approaching his manager or other clubs.
As other people have noted, the ideal time for a player transfer is mid-season, when clubs are still working on their rosters for next year: you maximise the potential interest from other clubs and ensure there is enough time for a proper send-off for the player, for the fan vote.
But sometimes player movements are triggered by unplanned events, rather than long-term strategy – e.g. NRL rule changes, injuries, personal issues, movements at other clubs etc. So whilst you prefer to offer up an unwanted commodity at an ideal time, sometimes the market forces your hand.
It would make sense that something like the unforeseen movement of Isaac Luke could have triggered the Tigers to move on Farah. The speed with which Souths denied interest in Farah says that even if Souths were keen, they have not reached an agreement or simply wish to avoid a media storm during their finals campaign.
I am also not entirely surprised that Farah has been given a tap on the shoulder. He is near to last in a fairly long line of players who have been moved on, happily or not, since the bridge started to give way under Sheens.
Even if it was a form-based decision, you can drop Farah to reserves and weather the short imbroglio that would follow. Cherrington starts, he is likely to play well enough, and you tell the media that it is about form and a new style of play we are adopting.
Really the only thing that surprises me about Farahgate is how bullish the Tigers have been in the media. Normally when you try to offload a player, you run the line “we have given him permission to consider his options in 2016”, so that all parties save face whilst an arrangement is worked out. We did this with Blair, we are currently doing it with Lawrence. Galloway and Richards have both been moved on reasonably smoothly. If an agreement doesn’t work out, you haven’t totally hung the player out to dry, and you haven’t placed all your eggs in one basket.
But this is different. Tigers are being so rigid in the media: it’s not about allowing Farah to consider other offers, it’s about ensuring he gets left behind when we take a new direction. We’ve even said so, like a break-up: “it’s not you, it’s us”.
And if some reports are to be believed, Tigers are less concerned about the payout / salary cap space and more concerned about ensuring Farah is gone. What has happened to cause this?
I can only surmise that Farah is a major destabilising influence in the club when he’s not happy. Management must believe that if we move Robbie on it cannot be done gently, it has to be more like tearing off a band-aid. Or perhaps we did try to move him on quietly already, but the options have dried up, so we’ve decided to just go full tilt and publicly announce the separation. I suppose if your feet are already wet, might as well jump in?
Laurie Daley asked the best question of this week though – suppose nobody takes Farah, you drop him for 2016, and Cherrington gets injured Round 1 2016\. What do you do then, not even call Farah up as your second-best option? Is his ongoing participation in first grade that bad?
