Titans turn focus on Farah
Posted
Robbie Farah is being courted by the Gold Coast Titans (file photo). (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Frustration at missing out on Cameron Smith was quickly forgotten by the Gold Coast Titans when Robbie Farah flew into the tourist strip yesterday.
Titans boss Michael Searle made it clear the NRL club was hardly impressed with their dealings with Smith's manager Isaac Moses, prompting them to withdraw a reported $3 million, five-year offer to the future Australian skipper.
But the smile returned when NRL premiership-winning rake Farah showed he was very serious about talking business by touching down with manager Sam Ayoub.
"We start talks with Robbie [on Wednesday]. Negotiations have only just started so there is a long road ahead - we are not expecting anything to come out of the next few days," Mr Searle said.
"But he's a very exciting hooker. And if he is genuine in his desire to move to Queensland, well it's a big move and we will sit down with him and see how it goes."
Mr Searle knows the club faces a challenge luring Farah from Wests Tigers and getting the classy hooker to link with the Titans in 2010.
But the initial feedback was positive from Farah's camp.
"They are a competitive club and there are players there that he has played with before, so there is certainly a lot of attractions," Ayoub said, referring to Farah's former Wests Tigers team-mate and current Titans half-back Scott Prince.
While it may be only early days in their talks with Farah, they already seem to have progressed further than they ever did with Smith's management.
Mr Searle said Moses only wanted to hold talks on the phone and "didn't get back to us" when a request for face to face negotiations was made.
"There did not seem to be a lot of enthusiasm there when we spoke about it yesterday and on that basis we felt that it was going to be a process we did not want to participate in," he said.
Mr Searle hinted that his club may have been used to increase Smith's deal to stay with Melbourne.
-AAP
Search for news
ABC News Online takes a look at the big stories from 2008.
