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RENT Robinson is just three years older than his captain Anthony Minichiello. He is older than his years, but young in ideas.
Through the summer, when the Roosters were doing the hard work that all clubs do and the young coach was only early in the job, his interest drifted towards the conversations his players were having between sessions.
The talk was still football, but it was the wrong kind of football.
"They were talking about attack," Robinson says. "Now, most people do that."
But Robinson also knew the hard work they were doing wouldn't have added up to a packet of peanuts without an attitude towards defence,
so he thought it was time to bring his players on to the same page that he was working from.
It was, he says, just a gut feeling.
"We were working hard, but I didn't think we were living it," he says.
"I saw we had to address it. We had to make some big inroads compared to other teams in defence and we needed to know they were living it when they were away from the training paddock, that they were thinking about their defence. From that point on, they've really bought into it, they're living it and not simply doing it."
The pay-off has come with a rousing start to the season, with many experts tipping the Roosters as a top-four team. The rebirth has been spectacular.
And defence has paved the way as they have conceded a tick over 10 points a game and kept Brisbane and Parramatta scoreless in successive weeks.
Everyone can see the attacking firepower, but it's the unseen steel, the scrambling for each other, that wins premierships and builds a tangible culture at a football club.
That's what this rookie coach is trying to preach in his understated way.
Robinson, 36, is no Xs and Os coach. Nor is he the old blood and guts kind.
He is the new breed. A man manager. Strategist. The kind of coach across the operation, from junior recruitment to club ethos, to handling marketing and media and small crises among his players equally
He was the undisputed choice among Roosters players when Brian Smith was shown the door last year. Mostly because he was defensive coach when the Roosters went all the way to the grand final in 2010.
Two seasons at Catalan convinced Robinson that what he knew would work, and he came back to the NRL ready.
True, he has had some happy fortune since landing at Bondi.
By the time he signed on Sonny Bill Williams was already committed. Robinson looked over his roster and liked most of what he saw, but he also noticed a sameness among many of his players. Similar heights and body shapes. Quietly some were released, for various reasons.
At the same time, Michael Jennings was available. Luke O'Donnell was clubless.
"When I got here I just had to have a look around for a couple of weeks and then I had a talk to the other coaches and said, 'This is what I think we need to play like' and got their opinion," he says. "I've been pretty clear about what I wanted."
The problem with similar body shapes, he knew, was that it was easier to defend.
"For us, as a defensive team, when we're looking at the opposition we've got our way we want to tackle and defend, but there's also slight variations that we need to do based on individual traits in the individual we're tackling. And we've got to look at them and practise them. There's 10 or 15 techniques that you have to adapt to for different players; whether they twist or back in or side bump or straight bump ...
"When you have got three or four that are very similar, it does help your preparation."
The philosophy works both sides of the ball.
Jennings, Robinson knows, creates different problems for defenders than, say, Mitch Aubusson inside him, or Roger Tuivasa-Scheck outside.
On the right edge, Williams creates different problems than Shaun Kenny-Dowall outside, who creates different problems than Daniel Tupou on the wing.
Put together, they are the perfect match of mismatches.
The Roosters take on Penrith today. Most of the focus has been on Jennings against his old club, with less said about their overall plight. They are two clubs chasing the same goal, going about it in different ways.
Robinson had a plan and has made it work almost immediately. Partially through luck, totally by design.
Penrith have a plan that their football boss Phil Gould has said will take years to achieve, but, through some of the recruitment choices, offers no clear intent for those not privy to what their grand plan is.
Robinson was clear in his intent the moment he got to the Roosters. Their philosophy of play would dictate the player they recruited.
"If you're really clear about the philosophy you have got in your team then, every time someone comes up, it goes
back to the same question," Robinson says.
"Then it's really easy to say yes or no.
"Everybody is across it.
"All the staff know what the answer will be before they get asked."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226635244511
Through the summer, when the Roosters were doing the hard work that all clubs do and the young coach was only early in the job, his interest drifted towards the conversations his players were having between sessions.
The talk was still football, but it was the wrong kind of football.
"They were talking about attack," Robinson says. "Now, most people do that."
But Robinson also knew the hard work they were doing wouldn't have added up to a packet of peanuts without an attitude towards defence,
so he thought it was time to bring his players on to the same page that he was working from.
It was, he says, just a gut feeling.
"We were working hard, but I didn't think we were living it," he says.
"I saw we had to address it. We had to make some big inroads compared to other teams in defence and we needed to know they were living it when they were away from the training paddock, that they were thinking about their defence. From that point on, they've really bought into it, they're living it and not simply doing it."
The pay-off has come with a rousing start to the season, with many experts tipping the Roosters as a top-four team. The rebirth has been spectacular.
And defence has paved the way as they have conceded a tick over 10 points a game and kept Brisbane and Parramatta scoreless in successive weeks.
Everyone can see the attacking firepower, but it's the unseen steel, the scrambling for each other, that wins premierships and builds a tangible culture at a football club.
That's what this rookie coach is trying to preach in his understated way.
Robinson, 36, is no Xs and Os coach. Nor is he the old blood and guts kind.
He is the new breed. A man manager. Strategist. The kind of coach across the operation, from junior recruitment to club ethos, to handling marketing and media and small crises among his players equally
He was the undisputed choice among Roosters players when Brian Smith was shown the door last year. Mostly because he was defensive coach when the Roosters went all the way to the grand final in 2010.
Two seasons at Catalan convinced Robinson that what he knew would work, and he came back to the NRL ready.
True, he has had some happy fortune since landing at Bondi.
By the time he signed on Sonny Bill Williams was already committed. Robinson looked over his roster and liked most of what he saw, but he also noticed a sameness among many of his players. Similar heights and body shapes. Quietly some were released, for various reasons.
At the same time, Michael Jennings was available. Luke O'Donnell was clubless.
"When I got here I just had to have a look around for a couple of weeks and then I had a talk to the other coaches and said, 'This is what I think we need to play like' and got their opinion," he says. "I've been pretty clear about what I wanted."
The problem with similar body shapes, he knew, was that it was easier to defend.
"For us, as a defensive team, when we're looking at the opposition we've got our way we want to tackle and defend, but there's also slight variations that we need to do based on individual traits in the individual we're tackling. And we've got to look at them and practise them. There's 10 or 15 techniques that you have to adapt to for different players; whether they twist or back in or side bump or straight bump ...
"When you have got three or four that are very similar, it does help your preparation."
The philosophy works both sides of the ball.
Jennings, Robinson knows, creates different problems for defenders than, say, Mitch Aubusson inside him, or Roger Tuivasa-Scheck outside.
On the right edge, Williams creates different problems than Shaun Kenny-Dowall outside, who creates different problems than Daniel Tupou on the wing.
Put together, they are the perfect match of mismatches.
The Roosters take on Penrith today. Most of the focus has been on Jennings against his old club, with less said about their overall plight. They are two clubs chasing the same goal, going about it in different ways.
Robinson had a plan and has made it work almost immediately. Partially through luck, totally by design.
Penrith have a plan that their football boss Phil Gould has said will take years to achieve, but, through some of the recruitment choices, offers no clear intent for those not privy to what their grand plan is.
Robinson was clear in his intent the moment he got to the Roosters. Their philosophy of play would dictate the player they recruited.
"If you're really clear about the philosophy you have got in your team then, every time someone comes up, it goes
back to the same question," Robinson says.
"Then it's really easy to say yes or no.
"Everybody is across it.
"All the staff know what the answer will be before they get asked."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226635244511
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