Wests Tigers are set to announce Robbie Farah’s much-speculated homecoming.
South Sydney will reportedly release Farah later on Wednesday, allowing the decorated hooker to sign with his former club for the rest of 2018.
The reunion will allow him to finish his career as a Tiger 18 months after leaving Concord following his ugly fallout with then-coach Jason Taylor.
It follows a week of conjecture surrounding the future of the former NSW State of Origin captain, during which the Tigers board was believed to have approved coach Ivan Cleary’s proposal to bring back the club’s favourite son.
Farah has made only two NRL appearances under coach Anthony Seibold this season after falling behind Origin revelation Damien Cook for the hooker position.
But that was all it took for the 34-year-old to prove he can still cut it in first-grade footy, making a whopping 62 tackles against Cronulla three weeks ago and backing it up with a similarly eye-catching display against Gold Coast.
From the Rabbitohs’ point of view it robs the current premiership favourites of a handy back-up.
Rabbitohs teammate Angus Crichton acknowledged that would be difficult but argued Farah should not spend the remainder of his career languishing in the reserves.
“I spoke to him yesterday and what he’s going through, and it’s tough for him and the club … he’s a quality 80-minute hooker who should be playing NRL every week,” Crichton said.
“That’s the kind of consideration the club has to go through.
“Obviously the best thing for him is to let him go back to his former club and do what he does so well there.
“He wants to go and play NRL every week. He wants to play 80 minutes and he showed that over the last two weeks, over that Origin period, that he’s still capable of it.”