Farah Can ignore Origin Talk: Sheens

[madunit]

Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens is confident the man at the centre of a NSW Origin selection battle - hooker Robbie Farah - can ignore the talk to continue the Tigers' NRL recovery.
The Tigers have bounced back from a horrendous start to the NRL season to record back-to-back wins, but their momentum is being threatened by off-field dramas.
Having survived claims of a falling out between star pairing Farah and Benji Marshall, the Tigers have now had to deal with criticisms from former Tigers and Blues legend Steve Roach that Farah was not an Origin-type player.
It followed tit-for-tat barbs from Sheens and NSW coach Ricky Stuart over player loyalty - with Farah the focal-point - but Sheens didn't expect the Origin talk to affect his skipper's form.
"His job is to play well for Wests Tigers - that's it," Sheens told reporters as his team prepared to fly north for Saturday's game against Gold Coast at Skilled Park.
"Robbie's a professional, he'll go out every week as he does to win the game.
"In a long season, lots of things are said and done in respect to the team and different individuals.
"I think they've learnt to ignore that and just concentrate on their preparation for their football game.
"They can handle it whether it's good or bad publicity, they know they have to switch on when it comes to game time."
Despite Roach's comments, Farah has been left at the head of the queue for the NSW No.9 jumper following the achilles injury to first-choice hooker Danny Buderus, with incumbent Michael Ennis and Melbourne's Ryan Hinchcliffe also in contention.
Sheens shied away from talking up his skipper's chances again, other than to add:
"I put my two cents worth ... I've carried Robbie as the second Test hooker now for three Four Nations tours, so that's what I think of him."
Meanwhile, speculation the Australian Rugby League Commission was looking at taking an Origin clash to Melbourne every year received some support on Friday.
The Victorian government has made a five-year, $12.5 million bid to stage one of the three matches in the series on a regular basis.
While there has been a backlash at political level in NSW, there was endorsement in rugby league circles.
"I see some real positives in it," said South Sydney coach Michael Maguire, who spent six seasons in the Victorian capital as an assistant to Craig Bellamy at the Storm.
"The game's moving forward down there and obviously we're trying to get a bigger proportion of supporters watching the game."
Sheens, who coached NSW to a series loss in 1991, said moving Origin - rugby league's showpiece event - was vital to the growth of the sport.
"I think the game's grown to a point where we have to do something like that," he said.
"The old two and one system is keeping the game in Queensland and NSW.
"As long as it goes for everybody - both NSW and Queensland - I see it being a evry positive thing."
A report in The Australian on Friday also suggested a US consortium had made a bid to stage an Origin game in Los Angeles in 2014.

http://www.nrl.com/farah-can-ignore-origin-talk-sheens/tabid/10874/newsid/67245/default.aspx

He'd be able to ignore it even more if his dickhead coach didn't have a public f**king spat the Origin coach over Farah.

 

[Tiger05]

The thing about Sheens is that although at times I think he is mad I also think he is basically likeable and a positive influence at the club.

His comments the whole time regarding Farah have been nothing but supportive. If Stuart & Roach weren't such f**ken dickheads the whole thing would have been fine.

 

[The Charlatan]

Who really wants Farah associated with the abomination that is currently the NSW Blues? I mean really, they're talking Mason could be a bolter. Mason, after 18 months away from the game and little to no match fitness?

If I were Farah I'd be telling Stuart, Blocker and Bozo to kindly go f**k themselves and wait until a coach and selectors panel with half a clue builds a half decent squad that has at least some slim chance to take the silverware.

 

[benched tiger]

I can recall that Benny Elias was treated similar to how Farah is being treated now concerning SOO, in the end he proved the doubters wrong,i don't she any reason why Farah could not do the same.Ennis is a competitive player but i don't think he is creative enough to win you a SOO game.

 

[DanOz]

Farah was great in his first game, and in hindsight should never have played injured in that second game. He is more creative than Ennis, makes more tackles, misses less tackles, combines well with Pearce and is not afraid to defend himself unlike Ennis. Stuart is a moron, and Sheens has dones Farah no favours by making this public when it is well known how much of an ego Stuart has.

 

[Tiger05]

Sheens has dones Farah no favours by making this public when it is well known how much of an ego Stuart has.

I disagree with this statement completely. All Sheens did was state the truth and stuck up for one of his start players. It isn't Sheens fault that Stuart is one of the biggest knobs in history.

 

[T.T]

stuart is f**ken brain dead and has lost the plot. it drives me so mad some of the rubbish he talks.

if sheens had said woods should be chosen, stuart wouldn't have wrote that article. stuart just felt compelled to write it in order to defend his decision of picking buderus or ennis.