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NRL finals miss would be a failure: Farah

3 minute read

Robbie Farah will celebrate his 300-game NRL milestone when the Wests Tigers visit Newcastle on Friday.

ROBBIE FARAH of the Blues looks on during the State Of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia.
ROBBIE FARAH of the Blues looks on during the State Of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Robbie Farah believes his return to Wests Tigers would be a failure if he can't help lead the NRL club back to the finals.

Farah will join the exclusive 300-game club when the Tigers attempt to breathe life into their finals hopes with Friday's road trip to Newcastle.

The Tigers are precariously placed two points behind the eighth-placed Knights in 12th spot with seven games remaining in the regular season.

However, the joint venture is currently on a three-game slide and were given a public pasting by coach Michael Maguire after last week's loss to Canberra.

Farah, 35, said his personal milestone would be a proud moment for his family and friends, but remains firmly focused on turning their fortunes around.

"We're in a situation where I'm not too concerned about individual milestones. It's all about getting the win this week," Farah said on Tuesday.

"For family and friends, they'll be there this week and I think it's a pretty proud moment for them as well. But for me, it's just about getting the win."

Farah reaches the triple-century mark two years after almost calling time on his career following his controversial push out of Concord to South Sydney.

"I was running around at the (North Sydney) Bears in NSW Cup and I was ready to walk away from the game, to be honest," Farah said.

"It was pretty hard to find the motivation to go out and play. I thought I was done."

But the former Tigers captain was lured back by then-coach Ivan Cleary on a nine-week contract that he thought would see him out of the NRL.

"That's all they could guarantee me and there was no promises about this year. Ivan was good enough to give me a contract before he left," Farah said.

"So I've tried to soak it in and enjoy every moment because I thought it was all over. Once you lose something, you're grateful when you get it back.

"I'm just grateful I'm back here in these colours and playing footy.

"But it'd be even better if we can play finals. That's why I'm still playing, to play finals. If we can't do that, then it's been a bit of a failure to be honest."

The Tigers haven't advanced to the post-season since 2011 in what is easily the longest finals drought of any club in the NRL.

Asked whether steering the club back to September would be a factor in his retirement decision, Farah said: "It might, yeah it might."

The Tigers are likely to be boosted by the return of fullback Corey Thompson to take on the Knights after missing last week with an ankle injury.

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