I agree that Farmer is a very effective player. My only criticism of him is that he tried to get into fights too often when he is such a poor fighter.
Before people start saying though they'd like us to sign one or both of them, the new U23 rule means that we couldn't sign a Farmer or a Perlini without either playing an import short of without Bowns, Murdy, Richardson, Myers or Batch.
Of course, if one of those players doesn't return then either would be a great signing.
This is more about timing for me than anything else, Farmer is more of an agitator than a fighter, and in my opinion is brilliant at the game he plays.
This season he's had 3 EIHL fights, last season 1 fight.
The outcome of these fights is irrelevant, it's the willingness to fight for the team that is significant. Neither player was injured physically in the fight so it's about the "emotional gain" (whatever that is)
In these fights he's gone up against nothing but top level imports -
Matt Marquardt
Ryan Martinelli
Kyle Essery* (Not necessarily top level)
Darian Dziurzynski
And the season before (15/16) Levi Nelson, Mattieu Roy
These are all big impact players for their clubs, winning Nottingham the trade off every time.
It's all well and good having an out and out tough guy, but if he can't play other teams will simply laugh at him.
I compare this slightly to Batch; i mean no disrespect to Batch but this is merely a comparison...
Batch's last 10 fights have gone as follows:
15-16
Boris Valabik
Boris Valabik
Rob Sarich
Robert Farmer
Zack Fitzgerald
Adam Keefe
16-17
Guilliaume Desbiens
17-18
Emerson Hrynyk
John Kurtz
Joonas Ronnberg
Fight results aside, as they are irrelevant; Devils have won every one of these trade offs, as Batch has not been used as much as any of these guys, and they have all played much more vital roles for their clubs than Batch has for us.
However, none of these players are such big "impact" players as the guys Farmer has taken off.
This to me is a big part of what Farmer brings to a team. picking and choosing his fights wisely for his teams benefit (I'm not saying that Batch/Devils do not do this...)
Again, i mean this in no way to Disrespect Batch, merely to show how good Farmer is at agitating.