7th Tackle: Floods a pain in the back for Farah
South Sydney’s decision to hold last week’s captains run at Redfern – rather than Townsville – triggered an unfortunate series of events for hooker Robbie Farah.
The veteran rake was informed earlier in the week that he’d be dropped back to the bench in favour of Damien Cook, and we’ve been told he accepted the news positively.
However, things unraveled for Farah when the team left Sydney around lunch last Thursday.
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Because of their later departure, the Rabbitohs were unable to book a direct flight to Townsville and had to stop-over in Brisbane.
That detour extended into a three hour delay thanks to their second flight being postponed due to last week’s awful weather conditions in south-east Queensland.
Farah has suffered perennial issues with his back during the later half of his career – and sitting prone at Brisbane airport, plus two separate flights, is believed to have re-aggravated those problems.
His back duly stiffened and seized-up during the team warm-up at 1300 Smiles Stadium the following night. Farah nonetheless took the field late in the first half, but only last a few minutes before the discomfort got the better of him.
He’s again been named on the bench for tomorrow night’s clash against Penrith, but skipped yesterday’s field session. The setback will be an interesting test of Farah’s attitude, which has reportedly been fantastic since he left the Wests Tigers.
No-nonsense Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire doesn’t cop players who don’t abide by his orders – as ex-Manly recruit Glenn Stewart quickly discovered in 2015.