Just over 12 months ago Robbie Farah was labelled as being too soft to play State of Origin by Blues great Steve Roach.
Next Wednesday, the 29-year-old will get the chance to write his name in the record books by captaining NSW to a first series victory since 2005.
It caps off a remarkable turnaround for the Wests Tigers skipper, whose Blues career began in inauspicious fashion in 2009 with two underwhelming performances before being dropped for Canterbury’s Michael Ennis.
His return last year only came about after Ricky Stuart’s first-choice for the No.9 jersey, Danny Buderus, injured his Achilles before game one.
Farah took full advantage with three outstanding displays – albeit in a 2-1 defeat – and went on to win the Brad Fittler Medal for the Blues’ player of the series.
The Wests Tigers star replaces Paul Gallen as skipper after the 31-year-old admitted defeat on Friday morning in his battle to recover from a foot injury sustained in game two in Brisbane.
Blues coach Laurie Daley announced Farah as captain after a two-hour meeting with the NSWRL board where it was decided that Josh Reynolds would drop off the interchange bench and be replaced by young Sydney Roosters back-rower Boyd Cordner.
Reynolds will now return to Canterbury and play against Melbourne on Sunday with Cordner adding extra forward power to compensate for the loss of Gallen.
Daley said Farah was more disappointed by news of Gallen’s absence than joyful at his own promotion when he informed him of the news at the team hotel at Friday lunchtime.
“It was funny with Robbie, he’s good mates with Gal and he felt for him straight away,” Daley said.
“I congratulated him and you expect a massive smile, but it’s pretty tough when your mate is doing it tough and you don’t want to be jumping up and down on his grave so to speak.”
The loss of Gallen is a huge blow to the Blues, who he has skippered since 2011, but Daley said his side had no choice but to focus of winning without the Cronulla star.
“On one hand you have to be disappointed for Gal, but on the other hand you have to be positive and move on,” he said.
“Gal is quite distressed. It’s a big game for him. It’s a big game for our state. He is our leader. We wanted him there but the decision has been made in the best interests of the team. Unfortunately it is a loss.”
After a whole week of speculation about his fitness, Gallen ruled himself out after spending almost 30 minutes jogging behind the goalposts at Coogee Oval while the rest of the team went through a full session.
Although he appeared to run freely, he informed team doctor Nathan Gibbs he was experiencing pain around the affected area and made the decision to withdraw from the game.
The 32-year-old cut a disconsolate figure as he walked from a team huddle where the players were told of the news with Woods being discreetly congratulated by the rest of the team.
But it wasn’t all bad news for NSW with Greg Bird coming through his first session of the week after reporting to camp in a protective boot and carrying an ankle ligament injury.
“It will probably be a bit swollen and the calf will be a little bit sore, but I’ll be alright, I still have five days to go,” Bird said.
