Marking Herbie Farnworth is just about the hardest job any centre can have in rugby league, but Roosters flyer Robert Toia will not have to do it alone.
Friday night’s preliminary final will be a family affair for the 22-year-old in more ways than one.
As a Redcliffe junior and one of 10 siblings, Toia cannot even begin to count how many friends and family he will have in the stands at a sold-out Lang Park, but he is sure to have some kin close at hand for his battle with Farnworth.
“Me, Salesi Foketi and Siua Wong, we’re all related,” Toia said.
“We’re cousins through our grandparents. Me and Salesi have always known since we were young, but Siua we only found out last year.
“[Redcliffe] is home. It’s always felt like home, and every time I play at Lang Park, it’s the stadium with the best atmosphere.”
Toia and Wong discovered they were related last year. (Getty Images: Matt King)
Wong will line up at second row alongside Toia on the Tricolours right edge, against Farnworth and Toia’s State of Origin teammate Max Plath, and both know what to expect from the fires of “The Cauldron”.
Toia made his Queensland debut there after just 10 NRL games last year, while Wong is in the midst of his fourth finals campaign in as many years.
Foketi has been a later starter, only securing a place in the run-on side in recent weeks, but the three have been close ever since they lived together in the Roosters academy house as boys.
Around that same time, the trio played in a junior grand final against a Penrith side containing future Dolphins kingpin Isaiya Katoa, who will be a target for Foketi on Friday night.
A bustling run from the 20-year-old knocked Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes out of last week’s semifinal after just 75 seconds and proved why he is a danger man even among a team with as much strike as the Roosters.
“I’m so proud of him. Everything is God’s timing, because he was battling and playing Cup in the beginning of the year, but he got an opportunity and took it with both hands,” Toia said.
“He’s one of the best backrowers in the comp.”
But as big a job as the Dolphins face with containing Foketi, Toia has an even more difficult one on his hands as he tries to put a saddle on Farnworth.
The Englishman has proven he is the best centre in the world several times over, if not one of the best players overall.
Farnworth leads the NRL in tackle breaks with 161, a full 44 ahead of the next best centre, and is first among all players for offloads with 75.
Farnworth is the best centre in the world and enters the prelim in terrific form. (Getty Images: Albert Perez)
He is first among centres for runs, run metres and post-contact metres and is fresh off a magnificent showing in the Dolphins’ 26-16 win over the Warriors that has them one win away from their first-ever grand final.
Toia has the size and athleticism to hold his own in any battle — in that star-making Origin debut last year, he held his own against no less than Latrell Mitchell — but Farnworth still shapes as a challenge that will go a long way towards deciding whether the Roosters can progress to their first grand final since 2019.
“You see the tackle-busting ability he has, but his work rate is underrated. He’s always involved, on the offensive side and the defensive side,” Toia said.
“I think pressuring him, shutting him down, getting my D movements right and hopefully, I can stop him from doing what he does best.”
Toia comes into the match in imperious form of his own. He has scored in both the Roosters’ finals matches and, along with Mark Nawaqanitawase, was the club’s chief destroyer in last week’s win over Cronulla.
The highlight was a massive fend on KL Iro that sent the rugged Sharks centre, who normally defends like someone taught a bicep muscle how to tackle, fully airborne.
It is a measure of how much Toia has continued to improve this season after claiming rookie of the year honours last year and a reminder that the best is yet to come, something the Tongan international believes is just as true for his team.
“I got a bit lucky there,” Toia said.
“The boys just put me in the right spots and I was just moving for them.
“It’s the best feeling [winning]. It’s been frustrating for a lot of the year, we haven’t been able to produce our brand of game, so it was good to show a glimpse of that.
“I feel like we still haven’t played 80 minutes of Roosters footy.”
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