Taylor keeps the door open for Farah
November 2, 2015 11:44am
By Mark Ashton
Besieged Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor has kept the door open for Robbie Farah to leave the NRL club after refusing to guarantee the hooker a position in the team.
Farah continues to dig his heals in at the Tigers despite being told earlier this year he is free to explore his options with rival clubs beyond 2015 and Taylor hinted it would be in his best interests.
“If Robbie decides he wants to stay for the season, absolutely he’ll be here,” Taylor said. “The decisions around the team will be based on how individuals train and how we train as a team.” “There’ll be competition for that spot. I think that’s pretty clear.”
To make Farah’s position at the club even less likely in 2016 is the expected announcement that two-time premiership winning hooker Matt Ballin will confirm his move to the Tigers this week. “It’s right that the club is in talks with Matt Ballin, nothing’s been finalised there, but it’s getting fairly close.” “That just means that there’s really good competition for that position.”
Placing more uncertainty over Farah’s future is his decision to quit as Tigers captain but the general consensus among the playing group is that Aaron Woods would be an obvious choice. “I definitely think Woodsy’s a stand-out,” Dene Halatau admitted.
And the 24 year old Blues Origin prop would be more than pleased to accept the added responsibility. “To be captain of the club that you love would be awesome,” Woods said. “If it comes I’ll take it. If not, I’ll keep playing.”
The Tigers have come under heavy fire since it was made public that Farah was welcome to leave the club and the decision to release explosive forward Martin Taupau to Manly has also angered fans. “We made a good offer to Marty and in the end Marty knocked that offer back,” Taylor revealed. “That (Taupau leaving) was always going to happen in 2017, then it became a decision as far as letting Marty go early which could really help us in regards to securing some of our best young players.” “To have kept Marty for another year and risk losing some of those guys would’ve been a really silly decision for the club to have made so it became quite s simple decision that one.”
Taylor slammed a recent article questioning the state of player welfare at the club and insisted he’s under no more pressure at the Tigers than any other coach in the NRL.
“I refute that absolutely and it is so far from the mark it’s not funny,” he stated.
“Every coach in the NRL is under pressure to perform, every single coach.”
http://www.sportal.com.au/league/nrl-premiership/taylor-keeps-the-door-open-for-farah-at-the-wests-tigers-in-the-national-rugby-league-competition/8kqbvny0vyib15uy4yh0pyup6
