South Sydney are set to unshackle star recruit Robbie Farah and hand him back his creative licence.
The incumbent NSW Origin hooker will make his first NRL appearance in the cardinal and myrtle in what promises to be a highly charged clash against his former club Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.
After having his creativity neutered in his unhappy final 12 months at Concord, Souths coach Michael Maguire wants to see Farah return to his scheming, playmaking best.
Tigers coach Jason Taylor was last year criticised for his use of Farah and decision to put the side's playmaking solely in the hands of Mitchell Moses, Luke Brooks and James Tedesco.
Despite Farah being well regarded as one of the most creative dummy halves in the business, he was essentially used as a ball distributor whose only job was to shovel it onto the side's young stars.
It was one in a long line of schisms which led to Farah's highly publicised exit to Redfern and Maguire said he wanted to see his star recruit back running with the ball in his hands.
"I'll definitely use his skill set," Maguire said.
"He's very good around the markers and can tie in a lot of defenders and run. And he's a good defender too.
"There's a lot of quality around what he does."
According to Fox Sports Stats, Farah was a shell of his former self last year.
In his nine matches in 2016, he managed just two tries, two try assists, one linebreak, 12 tackle busts and two linebreak assists
Compare this to his previous four years when he came up with, per season, between eight and 14 try assists, up to 12 linebreak assists and between 19 and 31 tackle busts.
With representative halfback Adam Reynolds set to miss the first month with appendicitis, Farah's creativity will be key for Maguire's side's chances.
Maguire is set to use Farah and Damien Cook in a two-pronged No.9 attack.
The Rabbitohs have flagged their intentions to regularly use both on the field at the same time with Cook to take on a roving utility role.
"I thought it worked really well," Maguire said of the Farah-Cook combination which he rolled out during the Charity Shield.
"We've been having a bit of fun at training working out how we can utilise that.
"Having them both on the field is very effective and if one needs a spell they can jump in there."
REIGNITING ROBBIE
A look at Robbie Farah's attacking stats over the last five years
* 2016 - 9 games, 2 tries, 60m per game, 12 tackle busts, 1 linebreak, 2 linebreak assists, 2 try assists
* 2015 - 17 games, 2 tries, 49m per game, 19 tackle busts, 2 linebreaks, 5 linebreak assists, 8 try assists
* 2014 - 18 games, five tries, 73m per game, 34 tackle busts, 6 linebreaks, 9 linebreak assists, nine try assists
* 2013 - 18 games, 1 try, 64m per game, 29 tackle busts, 6 linebreaks, 11 linebreak assists, 14 try assists
2012 - 16 games, 4 tries, 54m per game, 31 tackle busts, 6 linebreaks, 12 linebreak assists, 10 try assists
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