What are we expecting outta Robson?

[ism22]

Cheese is long gone and we've known Robson's coming for some time now. IDK if his form was amazing in 2025 (didn't really monitor him) but he's probably gonna remain in the mix for NSW.

Are we expecting him to deliver us a premiership or what? Gonna be honest... I don't know a lot about the guy or how he made it into the NSW team. DCE has been all the talk when Robson's arguably the big news.

What are people's expectations?

[Roosterfarian]

Solid no-frills workhorse that will shore up our middle defence.

Not expecting a Cam Smith. Robbo going back to the old-school Roosters hooker in the mould of Bonetti and Friend.

[dice]

Astute signing. Robson may not have the flair of Grant or Korisau, but he is a solid defender with a crisp pass.

Doubters should be watching the second half of SOO 2 when idiot Daley snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by replacing Robson with Watson. There were a few times when Cleary had to stop on his run to catch a misdirected pass from Watson, and it gave Qld enough time to scramble and prevent tries out wide.

[Bates]

Robson is like a Toyota Landcruiser compared to the Cheese who's more akin to a Holden Camera.

It's a nice upgrade!

[Schooner]

Robson is a great defender like Jake Friend. His attacking seems to have gone off a bit in 2025 but that might because of how the Cowboys were going. He is better than Connor and frees him up to play as a running forward. Ioelu seems to be playing much better with Samoa than when he started with us earlier in the year but doesn't look like he can go 80 minutes yet. I feel he will be a good NRL hooker with more experience next year. Its going to be interesting to see what our bench will be. I cant see Watson Ioelu and Savala all being on the bench at the same time

[Vasco]

Good service from dummy half and good defence.

[Chook2]

Astute signing. Robson may not have the flair of Grant or Korisau, but he is a solid defender with a crisp pass.

Doubters should be watching the second half of SOO 2 when idiot Daley snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by replacing Robson with Watson. There were a few times when Cleary had to stop on his run to catch a misdirected pass from Watson, and it gave Qld enough time to scramble and prevent tries out wide.

Mmm from what I saw and many mentioned Daley left Robson on to long and Watson off
Robson let 2 easy tries in after being gassed and provided little spark out of dummy half
Watson could have provided this earlier especially against the 2 x 9 punch qld have had

[Chook2]

A very solid 9 where you know what you get
solid service and good D
hope he uses his running game as well
might play 60 min with Watson giving Robson, rads and maybe Wong a short spell which will help

[Thirteen]

It’s a real bonus to finally have a genuine 9 and this frees up Watson to be a running forward.

[dice]

Mmm from what I saw and many mentioned Daley left Robson on to long and Watson off
Robson let 2 easy tries in after being gassed and provided little spark out of dummy half
Watson could have provided this earlier especially against the 2 x 9 punch qld have had

Robson didn't let in any tries in game 2. You are perhaps confusing with game 3 or something else.

In game 2, NSW dominated possession in the second half and they were all fresh. Robson being replaced at exactly the 60th minute was a premeditated move by an idiot coach.

[Chook2]

Robson didn't let in any tries in game 2. You are perhaps confusing with game 3 or something else.

In game 2, NSW dominated possession in the second half and they were all fresh. Robson being replaced at exactly the 60th minute was a premeditated move by an idiot coach.

Might have been game 3 then
I do remember commentators and supporters saying in every game they need some more spark and creativity out of dummy half and where was Watson - coming on with 10 to go they were chasing quick points and lacked dummy half runs
Robson did let a couple of tries in late in one of the games
but I agree not his fault - was around Daleys gameplan

I think Brailey will be blues 9 next year and potentially api korisau back in the mix so Robson may be fresh for us

[dice]

I think Brailey will be blues 9 next year and potentially api korisau back in the mix so Robson may be fresh for us

IMO Brailey too small for SOO, Korisau too old. I am expecting Cameron Murray to replace Watson.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

What am I expecting from Robson? I don't know. Not that much really. I hope he's a superstar.

He was signed a year ago. To start playing for us 16 months after he was signed. And we signed him for 4 years. He's 27 now, kind of burst upon the scene a couple of years ago, as much as a grinding hooker can. He'd have been over priced when we signed him because he was the nsw origin hooker at the time. And he's gone backwards since we signed him He's since lost his ranking spot to Blake Brailey. Do you want to sign Blake Brailey at 27yo on big $$ for 4 seasons?

Benaiha is the man. He's a different level than either of those 2. Yeah, might not play big minutes yet, but so what. He's sharper and will be so much a better player than those 2 ever could be. Like Michael Ennis said, Benaiha is way too good to ever be in reserve grade.

Buying players so far out is such a risk. Cherry Evans Exhibit A. This guy is Exhibit B. Our pathways system is working. Stop buying high priced players a year out.

Unless they're very young, and not a hooker.

[Paddo Colt 61]

Was he signed pre- Benny? Benny went well in the recent Championship and he would have been inexpensive coming from the park in Auckland. Anyway, who new at the time that Benny was a goer?

In the old days mature hookers were a feature, most as wide as they were tall. They certainly weren't extra Half Backs and their main job was to win contested scrums and they knew evert trick in the book in that regard, sneaky head butts and all. Their role and the body shape are now consigned either to RL history, the Koori Knockout or RU where the scrummage is still everything.

I don't know, hate to see Benny go.

[dice]

Teams have to spend 97.5% (?) of the salary cap and still abide by the concept of a top 30. If we don't buy proven talent we end up with a team of highly paid and inexperienced players. May as well have a couple targeted experienced signings.

Benny is signed until end of 2028. We have two years before other teams can poach him. We'll know by then whether he is worth a highly paid long-term contract and possibly letting Robson go a year earlier.