Daniel Mortimer

[Bruce Pickett]

Just listening to an interview with him on 2CH and he had some interesting things to say about Easts and the 2013 premiership. In no particular order:
- culture of being close knit, with minimal outside interference (or trying to minimise). Players were close and would often have lunch with each other after sessions. Win for each other culture.
- everyone was on the same page - Robbo, Fitzy, other coaching staff. Players.
- under Robbo, you buy in or you move out.
- but those who left, rarely left on bad terms with Robbo. Robbo was very good at communicating and explaining reasons for his decisions to the players.
- he'd planned to leave Easts at the end of 2012 to play for the Titans, but when Robbo came, he told him 'you're not leaving. We wan't you'.
- Easts was a real home, not a transit lounge which was it's reputation before Robbo came. Even players who've left always look at Easts as being their home.
- Mort's wife is now a Roosters supporter because of the way she was treated while Daniel was at Easts. She always supports Easts when we're on TV.
- All the wives, partners and girlfriends were treated very well and made to feel part of the club. It all started with Nick and he knew everyone by name and made them feel welcome.

Some interesting things about his footy.
- Before coming to Easts, he had a great year at Parra in 2009 in their march to the GF. The following years, he got in a bit of a rut, but he tried to get out of it by hard work. So he trained harder and worked harder, trying to beat everyone in sprints at training etc But he felt like he was stuck in a quicksand and couldn't get out.
- He learnt something from Jimmy Maloney, who was not a very good trainer, but he was very good in the video sessions and thought a lot about footy. So as a half, it can be more beneficial to spend more time thinking and analysing instead of just hitting the gym and trying to physically hard work yourself out of a rut.
- But you shouldn't over-think either, which is what he got into while he was in his rut at Parra. He was always more of an instinctive player.

[ism22]

> - He learnt something from Jimmy Maloney, who was not a very good trainer, but he was very good in the video sessions and thought a lot about footy. So as a half, it can be more beneficial to spend more time thinking and analysing instead of just hitting the gym and trying to physically hard work yourself out of a rut.

> - But you shouldn't over-think either, which is what he got into while he was in his rut at Parra. He was always more of an instinctive player.

Ain't it true ay!!! IMO footy's really tough for this reason. You won't get anywhere just by being the fittest/fastest (which for me is my instinct as an athlete, physical fitness is all kinda thing). Also you need to study up while remaining instinctive.

Wouldn't wanna be a half hahaha. IMO when you get it right, it all looks so simple.

[Random Rooster]

Daniel Mortimer was dynamic in 2013....that premiership ring was well deserved

[SamKerrSimp]

I’m a big fan of Morts he played well that season and it was something of a redemption year for him after all the shit he had been through I was happy he got his ring and shut a lot of people up by actually contributing to our success but we hadn’t been “a transit lounge” for 20 years before Robbo turned up:

We had a core group of players in the late 90s which transitioned in the mid to late 2000s, we fell in a rut in the mid to late 2000s and by the time Robbo turned up for his head coach role we’d had a core group that had come in the late 2000s early 2010s. The only “transit lounge” dealings really were the RSPCA era signings of Mason and O’Meley, when we were shit like in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 we weren’t trying to sign big name except for those guys we were signing players returning from the UK or cheap players (in the case of 2012 to save salary cap space)

[ism22]

I’m a big fan of Morts he played well that season and it was something of a redemption year for him after all the shit he had been through I was happy he got his ring and shut a lot of people up by actually contributing to our success but we hadn’t been “a transit lounge” for 20 years before Robbo turned up:

We had a core group of players in the late 90s which transitioned in the mid to late 2000s, we fell in a rut in the mid to late 2000s and by the time Robbo turned up for his head coach role we’d had a core group that had come in the late 2000s early 2010s. The only “transit lounge” dealings really were the RSPCA era signings of Mason and O’Meley, when we were shit like in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 we weren’t trying to sign big name except for those guys we were signing players returning from the UK or cheap players (in the case of 2012 to save salary cap space)

I feel like our team substantially changed in 2013 though? Off head we bought...
- Maloney
- Jennings
- SBW
- LOD
- Moa

At the same time we let a lot of players go and flushed out the shyte from 2009-2012, where (2010 aside - which came at a price) we'd had a few frigging ordinary seasons. Again off head but we'd just punted...
- Carney
- Myles
- Anasta
- Conn (maybe unfair as he was a gun who got injuried but he had bikie links and stuff)
- Perrett and Anthony Mitchell (massively farked us over and caused chaos as they were leaving)
- BJ Leilua (was having domestics with his ex and getting into trouble... also he'd lived off KFC all off-season)
- Cherro (injuries and wasn't there some DV too?)
- Watts never played but he's an example of a d!ckhead we never shoulda signed during the said period
- Kennedy (plus Keegan Smith... there were a few 'paleo diet' [aka steroids] dudes floating around... Kennedy also had the snake smuggling and shyte]
- A few guys who did nothing wrong but were just ordinary (Justin Carney, Bosden, Arona...etc)

I know that's not all Robbo but I think he woulda been talking to SOS/Nick. He knew more about our recruitment plans than Smith/Anasta IMO (they didn't seem to know we were signing SBW, for example).

I dunno! IMO a lot of those players are the very definition of 'transit lounge' clowns who we didn't want. It's taken time but during his latest Roosters Radio appearance, Politis said we don't have any dodgy farks these days. I think it's fair to say there's been a massive cultural shift away from the transit lounge of the mid/late 2000's.

[The Marshall]

I’m a big fan of Morts he played well that season and it was something of a redemption year for him after all the shit he had been through I was happy he got his ring and shut a lot of people up by actually contributing to our success but we hadn’t been “a transit lounge” for 20 years before Robbo turned up:

We had a core group of players in the late 90s which transitioned in the mid to late 2000s, we fell in a rut in the mid to late 2000s and by the time Robbo turned up for his head coach role we’d had a core group that had come in the late 2000s early 2010s. The only “transit lounge” dealings really were the RSPCA era signings of Mason and O’Meley, when we were shit like in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 we weren’t trying to sign big name except for those guys we were signing players returning from the UK or cheap players (in the case of 2012 to save salary cap space)

Add Anastia to the RSPCA list. Complete moron who seems to have it in for us despite paying him very well.

[zac]

Just listening to an interview with him on 2CH and he had some interesting things to say about Easts and the 2013 premiership. In no particular order:
- culture of being close knit, with minimal outside interference (or trying to minimise). Players were close and would often have lunch with each other after sessions. Win for each other culture.
- everyone was on the same page - Robbo, Fitzy, other coaching staff. Players.
- under Robbo, you buy in or you move out.
- but those who left, rarely left on bad terms with Robbo. Robbo was very good at communicating and explaining reasons for his decisions to the players.
- he'd planned to leave Easts at the end of 2012 to play for the Titans, but when Robbo came, he told him 'you're not leaving. We wan't you'.
- Easts was a real home, not a transit lounge which was it's reputation before Robbo came. Even players who've left always look at Easts as being their home.
- Mort's wife is now a Roosters supporter because of the way she was treated while Daniel was at Easts. She always supports Easts when we're on TV.
- All the wives, partners and girlfriends were treated very well and made to feel part of the club. It all started with Nick and he knew everyone by name and made them feel welcome.

Some interesting things about his footy.
- Before coming to Easts, he had a great year at Parra in 2009 in their march to the GF. The following years, he got in a bit of a rut, but he tried to get out of it by hard work. So he trained harder and worked harder, trying to beat everyone in sprints at training etc But he felt like he was stuck in a quicksand and couldn't get out.
- He learnt something from Jimmy Maloney, who was not a very good trainer, but he was very good in the video sessions and thought a lot about footy. So as a half, it can be more beneficial to spend more time thinking and analysing instead of just hitting the gym and trying to physically hard work yourself out of a rut.
- But you shouldn't over-think either, which is what he got into while he was in his rut at Parra. He was always more of an instinctive player.

great stuff. it's what you'd expect to hear but good to hear it from a player years down the track when he's no longer with the club and doesn't need to pump the club's tires

[Spirit of 66]

I feel like our team substantially changed in 2013 though? Off head we bought...
- Maloney
- Jennings
- SBW
- LOD
- Moa

At the same time we let a lot of players go and flushed out the shyte from 2009-2012, where (2010 aside - which came at a price) we'd had a few frigging ordinary seasons. Again off head but we'd just punted...
- Carney
- Myles
- Anasta
- Conn (maybe unfair as he was a gun who got injuried but he had bikie links and stuff)
- Perrett and Anthony Mitchell (massively farked us over and caused chaos as they were leaving)
- BJ Leilua (was having domestics with his ex and getting into trouble... also he'd lived off KFC all off-season)
- Cherro (injuries and wasn't there some DV too?)
- Watts never played but he's an example of a d!ckhead we never shoulda signed during the said period
- Kennedy (plus Keegan Smith... there were a few 'paleo diet' [aka steroids] dudes floating around... Kennedy also had the snake smuggling and shyte]
- A few guys who did nothing wrong but were just ordinary (Justin Carney, Bosden, Arona...etc)

I know that's not all Robbo but I think he woulda been talking to SOS/Nick. He knew more about our recruitment plans than Smith/Anasta IMO (they didn't seem to know we were signing SBW, for example).

I dunno! IMO a lot of those players are the very definition of 'transit lounge' clowns who we didn't want. It's taken time but during his latest Roosters Radio appearance, Politis said we don't have any dodgy farks these days. I think it's fair to say there's been a massive cultural shift away from the transit lounge of the mid/late 2000's.

There certainly were some people on that list that wouldn't fit into the Roosters culture now - Myles, Leilua, Cherrington, Watts, Kennedy, even Carney - dopes all and some are doing or have done time in jail.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

Just listening to an interview with him on 2CH and he had some interesting things to say about Easts and the 2013 premiership. In no particular order:
- culture of being close knit, with minimal outside interference (or trying to minimise). Players were close and would often have lunch with each other after sessions. Win for each other culture.
- everyone was on the same page - Robbo, Fitzy, other coaching staff. Players.
- under Robbo, you buy in or you move out.
- but those who left, rarely left on bad terms with Robbo. Robbo was very good at communicating and explaining reasons for his decisions to the players.
- he'd planned to leave Easts at the end of 2012 to play for the Titans, but when Robbo came, he told him 'you're not leaving. We wan't you'.
- Easts was a real home, not a transit lounge which was it's reputation before Robbo came. Even players who've left always look at Easts as being their home.
- Mort's wife is now a Roosters supporter because of the way she was treated while Daniel was at Easts. She always supports Easts when we're on TV.
- All the wives, partners and girlfriends were treated very well and made to feel part of the club. It all started with Nick and he knew everyone by name and made them feel welcome.

Some interesting things about his footy.
- Before coming to Easts, he had a great year at Parra in 2009 in their march to the GF. The following years, he got in a bit of a rut, but he tried to get out of it by hard work. So he trained harder and worked harder, trying to beat everyone in sprints at training etc But he felt like he was stuck in a quicksand and couldn't get out.
- He learnt something from Jimmy Maloney, who was not a very good trainer, but he was very good in the video sessions and thought a lot about footy. So as a half, it can be more beneficial to spend more time thinking and analysing instead of just hitting the gym and trying to physically hard work yourself out of a rut.
- But you shouldn't over-think either, which is what he got into while he was in his rut at Parra. He was always more of an instinctive player.

Great info mate. Thanks for positing this

[ism22]

Add Anastia to the RSPCA list. Complete moron who seems to have it in for us despite paying him very well.

I think his grievance with us is that we signed Todd Carney on top of him, gave Pearce a zillion chances and changed his job to one best described as 'babysitting Todd Carney and Mitchel Pearce'. We then got rid of him when we did our refresh - IMO he'd argue we coulda won in 2013 with him and Maloney rather than Pearce and Maloney, and we sacked the wrong half (possibly a defensible view given he's more mature and can do drop goals).

Anasta made some good money and has been a bit of a such and such as a commentator. However, his job mostly involved childcare, which I reckon woulda s*cked big time. Sensitive childcare too as Pearce's dad meant you couldn't mess around with him without possible consequences.

[SamKerrSimp]

I feel like our team substantially changed in 2013 though? Off head we bought...
- Maloney
- Jennings
- SBW
- LOD
- Moa

At the same time we let a lot of players go and flushed out the shyte from 2009-2012, where (2010 aside - which came at a price) we'd had a few frigging ordinary seasons. Again off head but we'd just punted...
- Carney
- Myles
- Anasta
- Conn (maybe unfair as he was a gun who got injuried but he had bikie links and stuff)
- Perrett and Anthony Mitchell (massively farked us over and caused chaos as they were leaving)
- BJ Leilua (was having domestics with his ex and getting into trouble... also he'd lived off KFC all off-season)
- Cherro (injuries and wasn't there some DV too?)
- Watts never played but he's an example of a d!ckhead we never shoulda signed during the said period
- Kennedy (plus Keegan Smith... there were a few 'paleo diet' [aka steroids] dudes floating around... Kennedy also had the snake smuggling and shyte]
- A few guys who did nothing wrong but were just ordinary (Justin Carney, Bosden, Arona...etc)

I know that's not all Robbo but I think he woulda been talking to SOS/Nick. He knew more about our recruitment plans than Smith/Anasta IMO (they didn't seem to know we were signing SBW, for example).

I dunno! IMO a lot of those players are the very definition of 'transit lounge' clowns who we didn't want. It's taken time but during his latest Roosters Radio appearance, Politis said we don't have any dodgy farks these days. I think it's fair to say there's been a massive cultural shift away from the transit lounge of the mid/late 2000's.

None of those players were what you'd consider "transit lounge signings" you're confusing culture, personality, professionalism etc with transit lounge aka throwing big money at "named" players who were only here for the money and didn't give a shit about the club or putting in performances once they secured the bag, which aside from Mason and O'Meley hadn't been done in 20 years

Anasta, Myles, Carney - all signed with legitimate reason to make the team better and in the case of Myles and Carney they did and I don't think anyone could ever say Myles didn't care about the club. Carney was an idiot but he was stitched up in 2011 too. You can argue Anasta as a traditional transit lounge signing but as much as I hate him I wouldn't go that far

Daniel Conn - Retired early in 2011 due to a neck injury, not sure why he's mentioned considering he was so good in 2010 and came cheap.

Perrett, Cherrington, Kennedy - These three came up through the junior ranks so they're not a transit lounge signing for a start, how the hell did Sam Perrett fark us over, because his younger brother wanted to play with him? Where is he now? Sam's one of the nicest guys ever that was nothing but a model professional. Martin Kennedy played in the 2013 grand final Robbo had huge wraps on him despite all the "handbrake sheila" taunts from the expert fans and even brought MK back to the club

Anthony Watts - massive farkwit but again signed and sacked before Robinson was back at the club, there is no way Robinson was still in dialogue with the club over who to sign and who to sack in early 2011 when it was the players who had to convince Politis in 2012 to sign him.

J Carney, T Arona, J Bosden - er, what? Guys on cheap deals signed when we were shit that were nothing more than stop gap solutions or depth, not a transit lounge at all

[RoosterFanNZ]

great post!

brings me a bit of joy knowing how well our club is and how well they treat everyone involved. thank god we dont have a version of cameron smiths wife ringing up the club and other players starting beef.

couldnt be more prouder

[Rooster36]

[QUOTE=SamKerrSimp;n904579]

None of those players were what you'd consider "transit lounge signings" you're confusing culture, personality, professionalism etc with transit lounge aka throwing big money at "named" players who were only here for the money and didn't give a shit about the club or putting in performances once they secured the bag, which aside from Mason and O'Meley hadn't been done in 20 years

Anasta, Myles, Carney - all signed with legitimate reason to make the team better and in the case of Myles and Carney they did and I don't think anyone could ever say Myles didn't care about the club. Carney was an idiot but he was stitched up in 2011 too. You can argue Anasta as a traditional transit lounge signing but as much as I hate him I wouldn't go that far

Daniel Conn - Retired early in 2011 due to a neck injury, not sure why he's mentioned considering he was so good in 2010 and came cheap.

Perrett, Cherrington, Kennedy - These three came up through the junior ranks so they're not a transit lounge signing for a start, how the hell did Sam Perrett fark us over, because his younger brother wanted to play with him? Where is he now? Sam's one of the nicest guys ever that was nothing but a model professional. Martin Kennedy played in the 2013 grand final Robbo had huge wraps on him despite all the "handbrake sheila" taunts from the expert fans and even brought MK back to the club

Anthony Watts - massive farkwit but again signed and sacked before Robinson was back at the club, there is no way Robinson was still in dialogue with the club over who to sign and who to sack in early 2011 when it was the players who had to convince Politis in 2012 to sign him.

J Carney, T Arona, J Bosden - er, what? Guys on cheap deals signed when we were shit that were nothing more than stop gap solutions or depth, not a transit lounge at all[/


He has dramatically changed our culture but. I notice no one shat in any stairwells this year

[HDTONE]

Daniel Mortimer was dynamic in 2013....that premiership ring was well deserved

Agree and I think the other real important bit is like the club and tghat whole culture which we have a heap of. Just that comment that Nick welcomed all and got to know names.
Starts at the front office as the great Jack said.

[John Corey]

Tough kid. Didn't care how big they were. He had a red hot crack in defence.