WALKING into a sold out Leichhardt Oval for the biggest game at the grand old ground in years, the trickle of gold tops ground to a halt.
Why?
The queue was five deep, the traffic wasn’t moving, and the group of supporters, young and old, were adoring.
It was Robbie Farah, signing autographs, taking selfies and pausing with kids for the final time as a Wests Tigers player.
“Thank you Robbie, you’re a good man,” said a father as his son slipped away beaming.
Meanwhile, playing for a top eight berth on a sun drenched afternoon at Leichhardt Oval should have been the field of dreams for these Tigers players.
Instead, Jason Taylor would have given his half-time talk, with his side 30-4 down, interrupted constantly inside the bowels of the Latchem Robinson Grandstand, shaking with chants of “Robbie, Robbie, Robbie”.
The irony could not be lost.
No matter which way you try and sugar coat it, digest or understand it, the biggest cheer — on the day the club copped 50 points playing for a top eight spot — came for the bloke the club finally got rid of in its masterplan.
As the dethroned captain held back tears, 18,000 fans thanked a club icon, who never got to his 250 games, but would play another 250 games for the club if he was allowed.
Whether you’re a Tigers supporter or not, or whether you like Farah or not, it seemed galling that the game was played with a giant #ThanksDene on the Leichhardt turf for fellow club legend Dene Halatau, while Farah was awkwardly paraded out at the break.
We know the definitive news on Farah only came on Saturday night after much wrangling but given the build-up in speculation, this was only ever going to be his farewell as well.
We’re not going to go over the Taylor-Farah saga again; it feels like the club has lost two years being overshadowed by it. In the end, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco have become such stars in their own right that time could well prove Taylor to have made the gutsiest call in the club’s history.
Even if it is, it’s a sorry part of the Tigers history that was finally, emotionally and awkwardly put to bed today.
As a Tigers supporter I never took sides or knew who was right or wrong. I just wanted my team to win and the club to treat its players properly.
But you just needed to listen to the faithful today. Fifty-point hidings in a do-or-die finals type clash, which saw supporters start streaming out with 15-20 minutes to go, leaves an incredible pre-season of work to convince the adoring faithful it really is the right call.
