Mundine v Green fight is a goer
It's not me, it's you. That was the strange sentiment Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor delivered to the media regarding his very public break-up with Robbie Farah, arguably the greatest hooker to have played for the club. This has been a split in the making for some time now, ever since we were told the best part of a year ago that it would be Robbie the reserve-grader.
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Robbie Farah: Coach defends controversial drop
Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor's stand could impact Farah's future as a one-club man. (Vision courtesy ABC News 24)
Taylor has been praised for being up front and backing himself. But from what we have been told, he wasn't that keen to break the news to Farah and was going to tell him around the time of the captain's run on Saturday. He was advised by his assistants to tell him earlier and made it public on Wednesday. Board members knew of the decision on Tuesday night and were talking about it.
So Taylor dropped the axe. It was a civil conversation from what we can gather. Taylor picked apart Farah's game against the Panthers and found fault. Farah was positive, according to those who know him well, and said he would work on the areas of his game that Taylor wasn't happy with.
Taylor said he could do that in second grade. That's despite the Tigers winning three of their past four games that Farah has played in. And in one of the games they lost, Farah copped a significant head knock.
Farah knew this day was coming, but he has done his best to turn up to training with a smile on his face and without kicking stones.
Taylor sees himself as a smart media player and is certainly cluey when it comes to the politics of football. Taylor and his wife, Lana, have strong relationships with Tigers chair Marina Go and chief executive Justin Pascoe and his wife. It might explain why, in the hours immediately after Farah was informed he had been dropped, that the CEO didn't call. You'd expect a phone call if you were nudging game 250.
"I was in communication with Robbie that night offering up any support within the club or external, or simply the chance to speak with me if he needed that," Pascoe said. "Our head of football was also in contact and has been regularly since."
![Mobbed: Tigers hooker Robbie Farah is cheered as he walks off Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.](/web/20161028192234im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/c/f/o/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqcfnp.png/1469363602799.jpg)
Farah spoke to Tigers head of football Mark O'Neill, an old teammate and a man he thought was an ally. It's this column's understanding that O'Neill didn't agree with the Taylor decision, but he knows the coach lives and dies by his calls. Asked whether he told Taylor he wasn't in favour of the decision, O'Neill said: "The team selected was one for JT and his staff."
It is understood O'Neill didn't get much love from his former 2005 teammates, which includes Farah. They have a WhatsApp group where they message each other. O'Neill is aware of the dismay at the decision.
![Plenty on his mind: Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor.](/web/20161028192234im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/4/o/n/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqcfnp.png/1469318751405.jpg)
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