It's been reported in the Aussie press that Farah is on his way to Leeds? The majority (including The Mole) are saying it's from 2017. Wonder if The Sleeve can use all his powers to get him in for the Middle 8's?

Cant see it myself. He earns a fortune in NRL and is captain of NSW. Is he really gonna give that up for a move to Leeds???

Different day different rumour. Hope so tho.

Leeds thought this deal was all done at the back end of last year - they'd agreed a deal with the Tigers and Farahs agent for him to come to Leeds for 2016, unfortunately nobody told Robbie, it was all agreed without his knowledge, and he wanted to stay in the NRL - he didn't want to give up Origin. This led to the big fall out between Farah and Jason Taylor and the whole 'if you stay, you'll be in reserve grade' situation. The Tigers wanted to move him on to free up some salary - he's on over $900k this and next season in a back ended deal, they were going to still pay a chunk of that, and had already signed Matt Ballin as Farahs replacement - they were that confident it would happen, but they didn't envisage Farah digging in his heels.
I posted something last year about a 'world class signing' being on his way, and that it would take marquee money, but Leeds still didn't need to use the marquee allowance to make it happen. It turns out that signing was supposed to be Robbie Farah, Leeds were also sure it was a done deal and didn't know Farah hadn't actually given the green light himself. The whole situation was handled terribly by Wests in the main, but also Farahs agent. Leeds started the chain of events by making an offer to Wests, Wests told his agent about the offer and said they wanted rid, his agent worked out the money side of things before speaking to Farah and then tried to sell him the deal.... Leeds weren't aware Farah hadn't been consulted.
Leeds are definitely still keen on the deal, though I've not heard anything as to whether it's now agreed for next year.

Fingers crossed but now would be better!

I wonder if its subject to us remaining in SL?

This would be a 'massive announcement' in my book



lets hope it happens, just the player we need to set us on the road to recovery.

We need an hooker. If we can get him in, asap please. Becasue Falloon is awful to watch.

I wouldn't play Hardaker again either, if he doesn't want to dig in to get us out of the hole leave him to one side until we get the right price.

So Leeds thought it was a done deal that they'd signed Farah?

Yet they never at any stage deemed it necessary to actually speak to Farah themselves (in person, over the phone or via Skype), if only to determine his attitude to the deal and whether he felt motivated enough to come and play for Leeds and make a positive contribution? Or more to the point, just to confirm that he'd signed a contract and would be heading over to Leeds?

Is that how signings work these days? Clubs only interact and do deals via agents and other middle men without conversing with the player in question? This is the equivalent of a cattle market. Cows don't get any say in which farmers purchase them either but at least the farmers turn up to market and give the cows a prod or two to ascertain whether they are fit for the purpose.

F****** barmy.

I don't think it's the usual way of doing things - but Farahs agent knew the Tigers were trying to push him out, so tried to sort the best deal before presenting it to Farah (don't forget, the agent would get a nice commission if he moved clubs, and nothing extra if he just sits it out at his current club).

Agreed.

Hardaker should never play for Leeds again.

They won't be needing him for the Middle 8's anyhow.

I understand all that.

It's Leeds role in it which I find ******* barmy, if true.

Best run club in SL? My @rse.

He is knocking on a bit but if true it's a good thing.

Hopefully he'll leave his handling errors behind him.

Absolutely ridiculous if true. Leeds are effectively trying to "sell" a 3 year deal to the player, no way in any sales process that you don't talk to the person buying at any point during negotiations. Whoever was responsible for managing that piece of business (if that's what happened) is totally unfit and needs replacing before they f*** something else up.

I'd say nearly all deals are agreed with player managers long before a discussion happens between prospective club and player - that's the way it works nowadays.

The managers negotiate with various clubs, get a list of options for the player, the player then decides which clubs he wants to meet with to discuss further - a discussion between prospective club and player is usually one of the latter during player moves, particularly when signing from NRL.

What's the problem it's not as if he'd have to up sticks and move his whole life to the other side of the world or anything - why shouldn't the player (the one who will need to put everything in for it to work) be the 2nd last to know. Leeds coach being the last obviously.

Said it just recently on here Farah must be a good hooker with him being current NSW SOO (although I'd have gone with Michael Ennis on what I've seen this year) but he doesn't stand out for me in a fairly average Tigers team - didn't back up Wednesday to Sunday either despite Ballin being out with a knee (confirmed reconstruction) and went with utility Elijah Taylor instead.

Perhaps it's Tigers record when Farah plays this year that's the concern. One from seven when he does, four from six when he's missing.

I'm not 100% sure how it works between SL and the NRL but if Leeds went straight to Farah to discuss terms then they would probably be guilty of tapping him up. Enquiring with the club and the agent first would make sense when trying to sign a player under a long term contract.

[urlhttp://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/wests-tigers-star-robbie-farah-victim-of-unwarranted-public-perception/news-story/bcd8f197bae3a2515107d56336da7af9[/url

The problem with Farah at Wests is that he tries to do everything himself and this can leave his talented teammates twiddling their thumbs. This would be less of a problem at Leeds at the moment.

Matt Ballin, the guy Wests signed to replace Farah, has done his ACL for the third time in three years and it looks like his career's over.

Not sure about the hair/beard combo. I'm reminded of Derek Smalls being pulled over by airport security in Spinal Tap.

Lets not forget, Farah will be very good mates with Galloway

Errrrrrr.

Some things on these boards are odd but plausible. The idea that GH or anyone else would think they had a deal with a player without having spoken to them personally is about as nonsensical as it gets.

The issue with Farah at Leeds is whether you are going to build a team around him. That's the way he plays and seemingly what he wants at the Tigers (and has done for years). Short-term that may work very well, but longer term we'd just be back where we are now.

Also Farah plays for a poor team, that last played well a decade ago when Marshall and Scott Prince were in form together. Since then the Tigers have been involved in ongoing sagas, and if even half the rumours are true Farah has been front and centre in the player-power issues that have caused the club to stagnate. At Leeds he wouldn't have that baggage, but TBH just like Galloway the majority of his career has been all about losing rather than winning even if the player-power issues are exaggerrated.

All good points which i agree with but we are crying out for a proper solid all round hooker who can lead a team and he fits the bill despite his age. I would take him for the 3 years, that would give us time to try and nurture an understudy, which i know hasn't materialised in recent years but really has to be a focus moving forward. It's poor that we haven't been able to produce a top level SL hooker since Diskin or over a decade whichever way you look at it.