Robinson lost for words but not faith in Roosters
Jasper Bruce |
He can’t quite explain it, but Trent Robinson never lost faith that the Sydney Roosters would play finals in 2025.
Not when they shed more than 1000 games of experience over the off-season, not when they became the first team since 2009 to leak 50 points in round one and not when they sputtered to a 1-4 record.
A scintillating year from Dally M favourite James Tedesco, Sam Walker’s electric comeback from injury, a few exciting rookies and some recent defensive improvements all combined to lift the Rooters into eighth place after the regular season.
The turnaround has booked an elimination final date with Cronulla for Saturday night, defying plenty of pre-season predictions that had the Tricolours missing finals for the first time since 2016.
The usually-expansive Robinson was for once terse when asked whether a part of him had ever believed what the doubters were telling him about his team.
“No,” he said.
But not even one of rugby league’s great orators could find the words to describe what had given him faith that the Roosters’ season would stretch into ninth-straight finals campaign.
“I dunno. It’s just, it wasn’t … I dunno,” he said.
“It was just the belief in the players that we had and what we could get to. It was just an expectation on ourselves, not on results, but on what we could do.
“It was never a thought of not heading towards where we are today.”
A win over the Sharks would bolster the Roosters’ belief as pundits predict either they or seventh-placed Penrith could become the first side outside of the top four to win the premiership in the NRL era.
“(That) is not spoken about because I’ve stood here each week and really just focused on the next game,” Robinson said.
“(But) we’re in a good spot when it comes to that, and it will happen, at some point. Our job is to win Saturday night and to keep that belief alive in what can happen.
A poor round-20 loss to Cronulla put the Roosters’ season at a crossroads, with Robinson calling the side’s physicality and skills into question as the side slipped to 10th on the ladder.
They won five of their seven games after that, but Robinson believed ending the Sharks’ season would be “the ultimate” way to prove the Roosters were as good as form suggests.
“We felt like we were well beaten on that night,” Robinson said of the last game against Cronulla.
“I feel like the last six weeks, since the end of Origin and that game, we’ve nailed some things and it’s set a platform for tomorrow night.
“We’ve improved since then. The ultimate will be going back there tomorrow night and proving that.”
AAP
