Robbie Farah's Replacement Named Vice Captain Of The Tigers

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The man who replaced Robbie Farah at the Wests Tigers has also been appointed vice-captain for the upcoming NRL season.

The joint-venture on Friday announced Matt Ballin and Chris Lawrence will deputise for skipper Aaron Woods in 2017 as part of a seven-man leadership group.

Ballin is expected to be the club's first choice hooker following the departure of former captain Robbie Farah and the retirement of previous vice-captain Dene Halatau.

Elijah Taylor, Tim Grant, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco form the rest of the group, only two of which - Lawrence and Taylor - have contracts in 2018.

Coach Jason Taylor said the club had made great strides in developing leaders in recent times.

"It's really exciting for me to have a group of strong leaders that are so committed and focused on the improvement of firstly themselves, but also their teammates," he said.

"Since he was appointed with the captaincy, Aaron has been superb to work with and I think he's taken another step again since he's been away with the Kangaroos.

"He's come back with a great attitude in regards to leading the team and the club and he's been really strong with pushing them in the right direction straight away."

AAP