Wests Tigers NRL Coach Jason Taylor says the return of captain Robbie Farah is a huge boost for his side heading into Friday’s clash against the Melbourne Storm.
Farah has played just one game for the Club since Round 10 — suffering a hand injury in his side’s Round 16 defeat to the Penrith Panthers — but will make his return this week at Leichhardt Oval as Wests Tigers look to end a run of five consecutive defeats.
“It’s really great to have Robbie back in the team,” Taylor said on Thursday morning.
“He’s had a really great week of training and been able to do plenty of contact, which we were keen for, and he’s prepared really well which is great for us.”
Wests Tigers will be without key forwards Martin Taupau (suspension) and Chris Lawrence (injury) as they wear their Marvel jerseys on Friday night against the Storm, but Taylor emphasised that his side’s full focus would be on their own preparations and efforts and that they wouldn’t be left wondering about players on the sideline.
“We just have to play our own game,” he said.
“The boys who are in the team need to play their own game; it’s not about trying to replace someone. It’s about everybody playing their role, and we’re looking for a really strong team performance as opposed to one or two players trying to step up.
Be there as we take on the Storm in our Marvel jerseys this Friday at Leichhardt Oval!
“We’ve been pretty good for a lot of the game in our last two weeks against two of the better teams in the competition [but] we just want more of that.
“What we really need is 80 minutes of that.
“We want 80 minutes every week of our best footy. That’s what we’re after, and we’re training well and working hard to get that, and get that again tomorrow night.”
While he won’t be captaining the side with Robbie Farah back on deck, Aaron Woods will play his 100th NRL game this week at the ground he grew up playing on, Leichhardt Oval. Taylor said the milestone was a special moment for the representative forward, and one that the side would no doubt live for when they run out on Friday night.
“It’s great timing that we play [this week] at Leichhardt because Woodsy [Aaron Woods] really does love Leichhardt Oval,” Taylor said. “It’ll be special in that regard for him.
“The biggest thing that we can do is put in a great performance, which the boys have trained well for this week, so I’m really confident we’ll do just that.”
See what Jason Taylor had to say in full about this week’s match in the video above.
