Robbie Farah says he was told he will play reserve grade if he stays at Wests Tigers
Tom Decent
Published: August 26, 2015 - 12:24PM
Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah has been told he will play reserve grade if he stays at the club.
Farah, a life member of the Tigers who was part of their 2005 premiership win expressed his disappointment at a media call on Wednesday morning after being told by the club he can leave at the end of this season.
"I've been told if I stay I will be playing reserve grade," Farah said. "Yeah it's hard to hear, it's not nice. Whether they mean it or not, I'm not too sure.
"Whether it's to just to get me to go [I'm not sure] but if I stay I guess we'll find out. I've been here for the biggest part of my life it's tough to deal with. I have to move forward. I kind of had an inkling for a few weeks.
"I love this club. I've given blood, sweat and tears for this club."
South Sydney have emerged as the frontrunners for Farah's signature although he said it was too early to speculate where he'd end up.
Farah said the club's decision to show him to door will give them an opportunity to free up their salary cap.
The 31-year-old still has two years on remaining on his contract remaining and was adamant he would be fulfilling that despite being told he would not be playing first grade if he stayed.
"I'm not willing to walk away without a fight either," Farah said. "I'm not going to walk away from a two year contract. It's got to be on my terms as well. I'll continue to love this club, it's a massive part of my life. I'm a Wests Tigers player for the next two years and all I've been given is permission to negotiate elsewhere. Whatever comes of that I'm not sure. At the end of the day I have to deal with it and move forward."
The Tigers released a statement on Tuesday evening saying Farah has been given permission to leave, a decision they said was "not made lightly but ultimately allows the Club a chance to restructure the football team to allow for future success".
Farah was upset he would not get a chance to say goodbye to fans properly and also voiced his concerns at not being able to find a club for next season. "The fact I probably won't get a proper farewell to the fans and the club and my teammates ... is disappointing," Farah said. "It would have been nice to go out in a better fashion. I think more the fact how late it is in the season - it's going to be tough to find somewhere so late in the piece.
"The situation the club's in with the salary cap and the pressure there, the way my contract is I guess that put together [makes sense]. It was pretty clear it was going to be pretty hard for them to keep me there."
Farah has not been happy with his form this season and said finishing his time at the Tigers with the wooden spoon would be worst case scenario.
"​I don't want to have the spoon," Farah said. "It'd be nice to finish off with a couple of wins regardless of what's happening in six months time.
"My form's been down, I'm the first to put my hand up. It's been difficult. I've tried to take a back seat and help the young boys [Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks] take a bit of control in the halves. There's no doubt that's probably affected my ability to play."
Former teammate Bryce Gibbs, who was forced out of the club at the end of 2011 before finishing his career at Cronulla, tweeted a message for Farah.
@robbiefarah welcome to the wests tigers shafted squad mate, looks like your the captain of the squad.
bryce gibbs (@bryceegibbs) August 25, 2015
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...he-stays-at-wests-tigers-20150826-gj7v85.html
