We understand the brilliance of James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks, but Woods is the player Taylor needs to build a club around.

This column hinted at tension between the skipper and coach recently – more specifically the way it was communicated to Woods that he would be making his comeback from the bench. Taylor has confirmed publicly that Woods wasn't happy at being benched. We were set to bring you the news that Woods and Taylor don't get along – something we have heard several times now – but that has been played down.

Woods is as affable and easygoing a character as you could meet, and he has told this column there are no problems between him and the coach. Woods has always been honest with this column, so we will take him on his word.

Taylor needs Woods on his side.

Taylor would think he is on track to succeed in pushing Farah out. But take it as fact Farah is not flustered. He is not biting back. He will play reserve grade if it comes to that. Farah has kept his views to himself on Taylor's latest attempt to pressure and embarrass him.

As for 2017, Farah has no plans to leave. And would only do so if he has a viable option, as he had with the Roosters last year. He will go if he can be coached by someone who appreciates him. He wants to play in a team that has the potential to win a title. He does not want to go to England, even though there is already strong interest.

Farah has had to sit back and watch his name be dragged through the mud again. It comes back to the media conference Taylor conducted after the loss to the Roosters last Sunday.

Keeping his head down: Robbie Farah (centre) was back to some of his best form during the win over the Rabbitohs on Friday night.

Taylor made the "war" public between the pair when he wouldn't confirm Farah was in the side. All week leading into the game with Souths on Friday there was one focus from the media: Farah. Not on any of the players who lost to the Roosters. That's the Roosters minus Mitchell Pearce. And Boyd Cordner.

We should have been asking questions about Taylor's tactics, recruitment and relationship with his assistants and other leading players. Instead it was Farah who had to sneak out of training on Tuesday because there were three camera crews waiting for him. The last thing Farah wanted to do was explain why Taylor didn't assure him of his spot for the game against Souths. How would he know?

And then Taylor held another media conference on Thursday. There were a dozen questions from TV reporters. They all focused in Taylor v Farah and there was barely a positive word from Taylor.

Farah has just kept his head down. He has done what he has been asked.

His agent, Sam Ayoub, is frustrated by the speculation and says he is sick of the agendas.

"This isn't a Robbie Farah issue," Ayoub said. "He has a binding contract. That is acknowledged by all and sundry at the Tigers. He can't be forced out, irrespective of the agendas, let alone be forced out of the country to play anywhere else, be it in Australia or overseas. That is a choice for Robbie, not anyone else.

"My interest is in Robbie. Robbie hasn't driven this, nor has he asked for any of this to be played out the way it has. He has said nothing, he has copped it, maintained his silence, but mostly he has maintained his dignity, something others should adopt.

"He has been focused and committed to the Wests Tigers and he showed again on Friday night what a class person and player he is."

'He fought Foreman. He fought injustice. But he couldn't fight time'

When Muhammad Ali died last week, it struck a chord with a lot of men who were boys at the time of his rise. One of those who lost a hero is Cameron Williams, the former  Channel Nine presenter. He penned the following, a standout piece among the many words I've read about the great man.

"I love Muhummad Ali like you love anyone – with all their flaws," Williams wrote.

"He has always been on the periphery of my life. Always moving forward to some new challenge, always tested and almost always overcoming.  When he lost the "fight of the century" to Joe Frazier I was eight; old enough to be embarrassed by my tears. When he rumbled in the jungle in 1974, I was 11 and still puzzled by his name change a full decade earlier. I mean, Cassius Clay. It's a name meant for greatness.

"But he didn't care. He shed that slave name like a snakeskin. His new persona broke taboos. It dragged America – the world – into a new era and many adults were as reluctant as this 11-year-old boy to embrace the change. So I didn't understand the religious/political purpose of Ali, but when he stood over George Foreman in Kinshasa, I felt a personal triumph in his victory, a more true and passionate sense of accomplishment than my future heroes – Ian Chappell, Thommo, Wally Lewis, Kingston Town, Steve Holland, Shane Gould, Jeff Fenech, Dermott Brereton, Steph Gilmore, Buddy Franklin, Johnathan Thurston – would ever inspire.

A hero to millions: Ali connects with a right against challenger Joe Frazier during their title fight in Manila. Photo: Supplied

"I met him once, in Las Vegas, on the eve of Mike Tyson's fight with [James] Bonecrusher Smith. I was there for The Australian newspaper. It was March, 1987. I know it because Muhammad Ali wrote the date on the back of a business card he autographed for me. I was standing in the foyer of the Hilton. A lift opened and there he was. He was going to walk past me, but stopped as though he had something to say. When I burbled something like, "My family loves you", Ali smiled like he'd heard it before. And for a few glorious minutes it was just him and me talking about the desert in Australia.

"Then the spell was broken, others realised he was in a playful mood and they swept him away. But not before he signed the card. It's the only autograph I've ever requested for myself and it hurt. I reckon it took him about 45 seconds to write, 'Muhammad Ali. Las Vegas. March '87'. You can see the tremor in the ink.

"Of course his trembling hand would deteriorate much further over later years. He died yesterday [last Saturday, June 4], aged 74.

"Ali lived one half of his life as the most virile, gifted, deified and reviled athlete the world has known. Then he fell victim to the frailty of his once-indomitable body and there was nothing left for the haters to hate.

"He fought Liston, Frazier, Foreman. He fought injustice, bigotry and oppression. He fought silence with some of the most quoted lines in history. But he couldn't fight time. None of us can. It's his greatest lesson: be who you want to be now, because you will run out of tomorrows. I said at the top I love Ali. Present tense. He'll always be present with me."

Lay down the law

The NRL sent a clear message to clubs not to take them on with frivolous legal action when it won its court case and costs against Parramatta's so-called "gang of five" this week. The Eels officials had earlier offered to call off the Supreme Court case if each side paid their own costs. But the NRL wouldn't have a bar of it.

Instead, they insisted on having the whole case heard, confident they would win and force the officials to pay a decent share of the game's legal costs. Their rationale was that the NRL's funds are there to be spent on grassroots, country and elite rugby league, not club legal bills.

It worked and the Eels officials were left with a total legal bill of more than $400,000. It should be a cautionary warning to other clubs that there will be a hefty cost attached to any grandstanding in the courts.

Urban Cowboy

With the Cowboys in town for their clash with the Sharks, it would be the ideal time for Panthers general manager Phil Gould to discuss the structure of James Tamou's deal with him face-to-face. Tamou agonised over the decision for months and made his mind up to leave on Wednesday night.

"I don't think I've seen a player agonise over a decision like this before," his agent, Sam Ayoub, said.

"He has a genuine love of the Cowboys club and its players, but in the end having a third child meant they needed family support."

Injury blues

Boyd Cordner and Wade Graham caught up for dinner last Friday night, and you can be sure Graham picked the brain of the player he is touted to replace in Origin. They have known each other for a long time.

"I really feel for Boyd, he is such a tough player and he has had the most random kinds of injuries and they've all been long-term ones," Graham said. 

Beset by injuries: Boyd Cordner scores a try for NSW during game one of the State Of Origin series. Cordner is out for the rest of the NRL season.

"He will come back from it. He is that kind of player."

And Graham is right. Cordner will be back. He is hopeful of avoiding surgery, which would mean six to 12 months on the sidelines. But the constant injuries have left him scarred. "It gets harder and harder ... more emotionally than physically, it leaves you emotionally empty," Cordner said.

Give him a hand

Brett Finch says he has the hands of a 120-year-old man.

"They are wrinkly and disgusting," he said. "And my missus has been into me about that and also doing something about my head – to use moisturiser to make it better.

"So the other night I was going to bed and she said to put some of the stuff on so I went to the bathroom and put what I thought was moisturiser on ... It wasn't, it was fake tan. I woke up with very brown hands. I tried to get the stuff off but it was impossible."

Finch turned up at Sunday's game and asked his colleagues to go easy on him and not to mention his hands.

They agreed – and then brought it up straight away. Host Yvonne Sampson started a Twitter campaign, #Finchyshowusyourhands. It even reached the point where Finch was doing a post-game interview with Jake Friend and he started on Finch's hands.

"I don't think being a new age type is for me," he said.

Pitch for Mitch

The Roosters offer for Mitch Moses was about the $400,000-a-season mark, with more to come in 2018 and 2019.

His decision to sign a one-season deal with the Tigers is a better one financially for next year. It's significant that he was offered a long-term deal with the Tigers, but knocked it back.

Losing leverage

Corey Norman's recent dramas have hurt his standing when negotiating his next deal.

There is a school of thought his best option is to look for a one-season deal and put his issues in the background before chasing a long-term, big-dollar deal.