A mid-season swap between Cowboys winger Ben Farrar and Manly's Michael Bani looks close to being finalised, with Toyota Cowboys coach Neil Henry today announcing that Farrar will not play on Saturday night.
Henry has named Ty Williams as winger for the side to play the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Dairy Farmers Stadium at 7.30pm, and is confident that Williams will make an easy fit back into the side.
The coach praised Williams for his form in Queensland Cup, with the Innisfail product pressuring wingers John Williams and Farrar for a start.
Bani, a Saints Cairns and Cairns Brothers junior, is expected in North Queensland next week and his inclusion for upcoming rounds will be assessed once he's on the ground.
With the coach bunkered down in Origin camp as speculation increased on the trade, Henry had his first opportunity this morning to clarify the club's position.
"Michael Bani has had a screening in Sydney and as far as late yesterday afternoon he's got the all clear," Henry said.
"At the moment we're looking at the distinct possibility that he'll come here and Ben Farrar will go down to Manly.
"That came about with an approach from Ben and Ben's manager that there was an offer there from Manly, an opportunity to go and play there, and the Cowboys at this stage, we weren't able to offer Ben a guarantee that he would have two or three years here. He's off contract at the end of the year, it's a bit of a wait and see for us.
"As a club we're not going to deny him the opportunity to secure a contract if we could get a suitable replacement, and Bani's from North Queensland, from up this way, and Ben's from down Newcastle area, so it suits in that regard as well.
"We acknowledge that he (Farrar) has been great for us."
Henry is confident that the players will take the mid-season switch in their stride.
"I think the players adapt pretty quickly, I mean Travis Burns knows him (Bani) from his days at Manly anyway.
"He'll fit in, the same as Ben going down south.
"Other sports they transfer, soccer they'll play for one team one week and then slot in the next week. It does happen, and it has happened in rugby league before.
"It just needed to be a tenable agreement between both clubs to say well there's mutual benefit there I suppose, we're swapping players.
Henry is pragmatic about mid-season trades but made the distinction between a club trade and a situation where a player may be breaking a contract.
"If a player has got an opportunity to play first grade at another club, then I think it's up to the club, if they can arrange a swap with a player I think that's fine, I've got no problems with that.
"It's when players would look to maybe get out of a contract to move to another club and the club says 'no, you're contracted here', then that's a bit different.
"At the moment we have that window of opportunity for clubs to agree to be able to do that, and I don't see it as a problem."
So we lose Farrar, a 22-year-old back who can play 1-5 well and oozes talent, and we sign a 25-year-old specialist winger with poor defence WHO MAY NOT EVEN BE GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY FIRST GRADE.
What is the point of this? If we need to free up some cash, we should be dumping underperforming players (Webb, Manuokafoa, Hegarty) instead. If we need better outside backs, then Bani is hardly the replacement.
The only way I can understand this is if Ben himself doesn't want to play for the Cowboys any longer. From the sounds of it we didn't see him as a priority. What a stupid mistake.
We'll be swapping Watts for Corey Hughes next....
