In his heart of hearts, Robbie Farah might have been hoping he would gain a whole lot from doing not much at ANZ Stadium.
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Tigers breeze past Dragons
The Wests Tigers have put aside a week of off-field drama to easily beat the Dragons, 25-12.
Not asked to pass, catch, run or kick, but maybe racking up a few more points in the never-ending PR battle with coach Jason Taylor.
But apart from flashing a few smiles in happy snaps and scribbling a few autographs, there wasn't much for the embattled NSW No.9 to toast –even after his side sauntered home 25-12 on Sunday.
For all the barbs in the past week, Taylor moved at the shrewdest of moments.
He made the Dragons, albeit a team above them on the ladder come kick-off at ANZ Stadium but horribly out of sorts, his guinea pigs for an experiment that was more likely to succeed than not at its first test.
Taylor now has the ammunition to push on.
And what about a penny for Farah's thoughts when Jordan Rankin, who has spent the majority of the year on the wing, trotted into dummy half for parts of the second stanza with the State of Origin veteran watching a few metres away?
Bar trailing by eight points early, the Tigers cubs now in control of a team seemingly always stuck in a power battle didn't really have any cause for concern against a struggling St George Illawarra.
Luke Brooks shone, as he always seems to do against the Dragons. Mitchell Moses booted a 40-20 and popped a sublime pass within a minute – later potting a field goal – to put the game beyond doubt.
And with each flash of brilliance from the men given the keys to the purring Tiger machine the road back looks even longer for Farah, whose moral support on Sunday extended to good friend and Dragons halfback Benji Marshall's 250th NRL game.
Farah's PR war ratcheted up a notch on Saturday, where a hooker straight out of the Origin cauldron outclassed part-time park footballers in reserve grade. As he should.
But the Balmain boy who does cry and his deliberate musings afterwards – armed with an arsenal of stats to support his case – didn't gain much traction 24 hours later.
He probably would have been hoping the attack he has so apparently stifled was facing a sterner test than a limp Dragons, who are freefalling out of the finals equation on the back of three straight losses.
On the evidence of the first 15 minutes, Farah would have been forgiven for thinking Taylor would slink into the night with his coaching career at the crossroads. The Tigers looked near rudderless, out-enthused and not in the contest.
Kurt Mann dived over for a fifth straight game, Gareth Widdop booted a couple of penalties and the Tigers' clipboard carrier would have been white as a ghost in the coaching box high above Farah watching from the sidelines.
But as it often does with these teams, a twinkling of an eye was all it took for a huge momentum shift.
David Nofoaluma scored and then set up another 80-metre special for James Tedesco when the winger scorched through feeble efforts to drag him down.
In between, Brooks strolled over, near untouched, evoking memories of his famous SCG debut against the same Red V.
Moses put the icing on the cake with his one-two punch midway through the second half leading to Josh Aloiai's maiden NRL four-pointer, which rendered Adam Quinlan's late try little more than a consolation for the hosts.
So did the Tigers really miss Farah? Ask Taylor. He wouldn't have thought so.Â
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