Relieved Blues hooker Robbie Farah concedes he harboured doubts about how his busted shoulder would get through a gruelling 80 minutes of Origin, having not played since being dumped on the shoulder by Justin Hodges in Origin I and suffering a grade three AC joint injury.
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Farah completed all the training throughout the build-up and even some contact sessions despite the wishes of the NSW coaching staff and says even if he doesn't get another game between now and the decider, another week of training will be all he needs.
"[At the] back end of the match I started to feel it but I just had to get through it. I didn't want to let the boys down," Farah said.
"I put my hand up to play this game, in my head going out there before the game was not to let anyone down. There was nothing going to stop me finishing out the game."
Farah hasn't been named to play for the Wests Tigers against Manly at Brookvale on Friday night but is still hoping to be a late inclusion. He is on an early flight home on Thursday with clubmate Aaron Woods to prepare for the game and push for a start.
"I'll see how it pulls up tomorrow (Thursday)," he said in the sheds with a giant ice-pack strapped to his left shoulder.
"Obviously still a bit numb from the needle so I'll see how I am in the morning. We've got a game on Friday night if I can back up for but I'll just enjoy the win tonight and see how I feel in the morning.
"I hope in the next couple of weeks it'll get better and better. The medical staff were really impressed with how well I'd come on considering what I'd done to it. I didn't miss a session all week.
"It's something that I really wanted to do, I didn't want to go into camp and not be able to train, for me that was crucial. I got through contact on Saturday and Sunday even though 'Loz' [coach Laurie Daley] and the medical staff told me they didn't want me doing contact but I felt it was important.
"Not only for myself but to show the boys I was ready. I got through that."
Despite getting through all the build-up unscathed Farah admitted there was "doubt in my head" right up until kick-off.
"You know, you come out here saying you're going to be OK but at the end of the day you don't know. There was doubt in my head but the thing that kept me sane before the game was just telling myself I'd done the work and because I'd done the work I'd be OK."
He said once the painkillers started to ease late in the game he started experiencing some sharp pain when passing and tackling, and knew he'd be targeted in defence on his way to a team-high 42 tackles.
"I just knew I had to keep getting my body in front. They kept running at me obviously because they knew I was carrying the shoulder and we had no hooker on the bench. You know they're coming so it's all right," he said.
"That's to be expected when you go out there in an Origin game, there's no hiding out there. That's the position I put myself in and I'm just glad I got through the game."
