Tigers’ Farah set to make NRL season debut

Wests Tigers star Robbie Farah is set to play his first NRL game since sensationally stepping down from the captaincy late last year.

The NSW State of Origin vice-captain has yet to don the Tigers colours this season after injuring his knee in a trial game in February, but is expected to be named by coach Jason Taylor on Tuesday.

“I’m pretty confident I’ll be there. I’ve been running now for over a week and there hasn’t been any dramas with the increase in workload,” Farah said on Monday.

“I’ve been picking it up day by day with the training and it’s been fine. I’ll be out there training with the boys tomorrow and so long as there’s no setbacks, I’ll be there.”

Farah, 32, could’ve played in last week’s defeat to Gold Coast but opted not to risk further injury, saying the target all along was to come back for the annual Easter Monday fixture against Parramatta.

“The target all along was round four,” he said.

“It’s such a long year as well and so early on that if I did come back too early, it’d be one of those things where I’d be trying to manage my training loads right throughout the year.”

“So we did have to be smart about it and just be a bit patient.”

The Tigers have shocked many by starting the season with two emphatic victories over the Warriors and Manly, but were brought back to earth by Gold Coast last week.

Young guns Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco in particular have kicked off 2016 in imposing fashion.

“We’ve got players there that can play footy. Guys like Mitch, he’s just a natural footballer. He’s a very instinctive player, and he’s playing with a lot of confidence,” Farah said.

“Last week, that first try we scored against Manly where he kicked on zero tackle, I don’t think he would’ve done that last year. I don’t think he had the confidence to do that last year.

“But they’re the sorts of things he can do.

“It’s definitely going to be a strength of our game this year. With the reduction in interchange as well, I think that can definitely play in our hands.”

Farah said he has yet to speak to Taylor about how many minutes he’ll play at hooker, but conceded he’ll likely be spotted by a supersub during the match.

“He likes to carry a utility or a hooker on the bench so I’m not too sure how many minutes I’ll play or what the rotation will be but we’ll deal with that on the weekend,” he said.

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