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EXCLUSIVE by Josh Massoud
May 29, 2009 12:00am
CONTRARY to popular opinion, the first man picked for NSW wasn't new skipper Kurt Gidley. Nor was it Jarryd Hayne or Paul Gallen - the two other survivors from 12 months ago.
The first man picked for NSW was hooker Robbie Farah.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Farah learned of his place in the side 24 hours before Monday night's official announcement. Blues coach Craig Bellamy confirmed he rang the Tigers rake on Sunday night to break the news. Assistant coach Andrew Johns then followed with a phone call of his own for a preliminary brainstorming session with the Origin debutant.
Farah was the only NSW player to be given a heads-up, with his 16 teammates left to wait for selection chair Bob McCarthy's announcement at 7:45pm Monday night.
Bellamy was surprised when approached for comment about Farah's early notice.
"How did you find that out?" Bellamy asked. "I rang him early because he's the hooker and a big part of what we are doing. There was nothing more to it than that."
When pressed, Bellamy continued: "We wanted to get our game plans organised and get Robbie's ideas on that as soon as possible. We discussed quite a few things.
"I wanted to know what he thought would be effective. It gave us the ability to come straight (into camp) and start on our game plan."
Bellamy's phone call is a reflection of Farah's significance to his game plan. The hooker won many admirers after he combined superbly with halfback Peter Wallace for City this month.
That performance won Farah the Blues jersey over rival Michael Ennis after the pair had engaged in a fascinating battle to succeed Blues great Danny Buderus.
Farah was also taken aback when asked about Bellamy's phone call. "Craig told me on Sunday night, which was good because my parents were with me and we got to celebrate there and then," he said.
"Joey also called to talk about some tactics."
NSW management is sensitive about the issue of selection leaks after a television station broadcast the team two hours before the scheduled announcement.
But NSWRL chief executive Geoff Carr said he had no problems with Farah being tipped off early.
"The fact Robbie was the only player called shows that this was not the source of the television leak," Carr said.
"It's something coaches will do - although seldomly.
"There's a desire to get some intuition on a player's response to selection and I've got no doubt Robbie ticked all the boxes during their conversation."
May 29, 2009 12:00am
CONTRARY to popular opinion, the first man picked for NSW wasn't new skipper Kurt Gidley. Nor was it Jarryd Hayne or Paul Gallen - the two other survivors from 12 months ago.
The first man picked for NSW was hooker Robbie Farah.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Farah learned of his place in the side 24 hours before Monday night's official announcement. Blues coach Craig Bellamy confirmed he rang the Tigers rake on Sunday night to break the news. Assistant coach Andrew Johns then followed with a phone call of his own for a preliminary brainstorming session with the Origin debutant.
Farah was the only NSW player to be given a heads-up, with his 16 teammates left to wait for selection chair Bob McCarthy's announcement at 7:45pm Monday night.
Bellamy was surprised when approached for comment about Farah's early notice.
"How did you find that out?" Bellamy asked. "I rang him early because he's the hooker and a big part of what we are doing. There was nothing more to it than that."
When pressed, Bellamy continued: "We wanted to get our game plans organised and get Robbie's ideas on that as soon as possible. We discussed quite a few things.
"I wanted to know what he thought would be effective. It gave us the ability to come straight (into camp) and start on our game plan."
Bellamy's phone call is a reflection of Farah's significance to his game plan. The hooker won many admirers after he combined superbly with halfback Peter Wallace for City this month.
That performance won Farah the Blues jersey over rival Michael Ennis after the pair had engaged in a fascinating battle to succeed Blues great Danny Buderus.
Farah was also taken aback when asked about Bellamy's phone call. "Craig told me on Sunday night, which was good because my parents were with me and we got to celebrate there and then," he said.
"Joey also called to talk about some tactics."
NSW management is sensitive about the issue of selection leaks after a television station broadcast the team two hours before the scheduled announcement.
But NSWRL chief executive Geoff Carr said he had no problems with Farah being tipped off early.
"The fact Robbie was the only player called shows that this was not the source of the television leak," Carr said.
"It's something coaches will do - although seldomly.
"There's a desire to get some intuition on a player's response to selection and I've got no doubt Robbie ticked all the boxes during their conversation."
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