Robbie Farah refuses to give up on a fairytale finals finish with the Wests Tigers but warns his teammates can’t afford to keep throwing points away in their run to September.
Despite the injection of mid-season signings Moses Mbye and Farah, the Tigers blew a major chance to close the gap on the NRL top eight with an 18-point loss to Gold Coast on Sunday.
The defeat leaves them equal on 14 points with Canberra and the Titans, six points adrift of eighth-placed Brisbane with just eight games remaining in their season.
Farah admits his sole motivation for the rest of what could be his final campaign in the NRL is to help push the Tigers into their first finals appearance since 2011.
“It’s the reason I came back. We’re on the cusp,” Farah said.
“It doesn’t help that we lost. Brisbane winning (Saturday) night gives them a bit of breathing space. We’re six points behind them, eight games to go, so it’s going to be tough.
“But we can’t worry about results. If we win 6-7 of our last eight – it’s tough – but you never say never.”
A sellout crowd of 16,984 welcomed Farah back to Leichhardt against the Titans and the former captain responded with a vintage performance in his No.9 jumper.
Almost 700 days after farewelling the club, Farah conceded being overwhelmed by the occasion but was equally disappointed in failing to help end their losing streak.
“It was awesome, as you can imagine, getting that sort of reception,” he said.
“I was excited from when I woke up, coming in here and walking in the sheds seeing our dressing room attendants, our gear guys, people that have been here for 20-odd years.
“They had a tear in the eye. I tried to hold back the tears.
“In that sense it was nice but, as I said all week, I was brought back here to do a job and help us win games. And we couldn’t do that today.”