There are men and women who earn a living or have a vast knowledge in sporting history, despite my love for sport I am not one of those folk. History plays a massive role in where we are now, especially in a sporting context so it's not as though I disregard it, I just can't rattle off examples or stats from 10 years ago. I say that because when I scratch the surface of my rugby league brain, I can't thing of a situation that resembles what we are currently witnessing between Robbie Farah and Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor.

A State Of Origin stalwart and club legend being treated with a complete lack of respect by a coach who initially wanted him out of the joint. 

That's what we are dealing with here and I'm as confused as you about the whole situation. Farah will play this weekend in reserve grade, just over a week after running out to represent his State and winning game three of Origin. As I sat there and watched Taylor roll through prodding questions from curious media, my mind started to turn into scrambled egg as I wondered if he's just got a vendetta against Farah? Or is it actually a tactical move to bring out the best of an extremely talented spine? 

We'll start with the fact that Taylor didn't want Farah here, there, anywhere near the Tigers before the season began and here we are; Farah's still at the club. Farah was being pushed out of the club as he's understandably on a nice salary which is probably back-ended, meaning that he took a pay-cut earlier in his contract and these are the years in which he's rewarded for that loyalty to the Tigers. 

Taylor basically threatened Farah with a year in reserve grade if he stayed and Farah didn't budge. There's a few angles to Farah standing his ground as I don't think too many NRL clubs could offer Farah want he wanted, nor do I think too many clubs really needed a hooker like Farah which left the Super League as his only legit option. Obviously that's beneath an Origin hooker. 

Farah was also wise to take the high ground, not kick up a fuss and simply let Taylor look like the prick. Sound PR from Farah.

This is kinda why it's strange that we are here, kicking up a fuss that Farah has been dropped. Taylor may have back-tracked a bit on his strong stance over the off-season, however that Farah has played in the NRL this season despite staying with the Tigers is a pretty damn good result. Farah would have known for sure that if he stood his ground and took the moral high ground, he could very well end up playing the whole season in reserve grade. He's played a few NRL games, played all three State Of Origin games and earned $90,000 in the process so that's not too shabby, right?

Taylor's stance now isn't all that different to when he threatened Farah with a year in reserve grade, it's just it's now disguised as a tactical move. Such is this disguise that it doesn't look like a disguise, it kinda makes sense, ya know?

Farah is a fine dummy half because when he sees an opportunity to scoot, he scoots. He'll spot a lazy marker, or that this guy is at marker and this marker always over-commits to his right so that gives Farah a chance to run.

Farah will pounce on an opportunity to slide to his left and kick long, early in the set simply because he felt his team needed it or because the fullback was slightly out of position. 

Farah has a similar ability to Cameron Smith or Issac Luke, where he'll run sideways for 5-10m and test those defenders before flicking a pass out to whoever is there. These are probing runs, maybe there's an opportunity, maybe not, they have a probe and see what happens.

Taylor doesn't want that. Taylor wants Farah to simply pass the footy to Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses or Elijah Taylor - who is often at first-receiver. The noise around the development of Brooks and Moses is that it took them a while to adjust to Taylor's desire for a structured attack. While we see them play what they see in front of them sometimes, they are a fairly dangerous attacking unit when executing a set-move which usually results in Tedesco getting the footy out on the edge where his speed and passing ability almost guarantees a try. It starts with Brooks and Moses starting the movement with a dummy here, dummy there, long pass from Brooks to Moses then hitting Tedesco out the back ... for example.

This doesn't really lend itself to a hooker who wants to fidget around the ruck; just get the footy to Brooks and let him get the play started. 

One would assume that Farah is good enough as a footy player to adapt to a new style and that his loyalty to the Tigers would result in him doing anything to help the team. This is where I see Taylor's disguise coming un-stuck as I believe Farah can do a fine job of tackling his heart out, flicking swift passes out to Brooks, Moses or Elijah Taylor and supporting his young play-makers who are the future of his beloved club.

I mean, we all know that Farah is a better passer than Dene Halatau or Elijah Taylor (when Taylor plays hooker). So if it's about getting the halves quick footy, Farah's the perfect man for the job.

It's not that simple though and I see this going all the way back to when Taylor first planted the seed of his campaign to push Farah out of the club. It might not just be Taylor's campaign, it could also be the office folk of the Tigers who want more salary cap space to upgrade the deals of Brooks, Moses, Tedesco and all their other talented youngsters. Farah takes up a large chunk of that cap and it could be that the Tigers believe Farah is standing in the way of easing some financial strain.

Taylor said that Farah may be forced to play reserve grade if he sticks around and well, Farah's playing reserve grade this weekend ain't he?