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From Code Sports today
The Sydney Roosters came home from the World Club Challenge in 2020 with more than just a trophy. They returned with a plan to build their own future.
A visit to Barcelona FC’s incredible youth academy sparked an idea for Nick Politis and Trent Robinson to establish something similar for the Bondi club. A program to produce long-lasting NRL players using a holistic approach – building young people into well-rounded adults through comprehensive training, education and lifestyle support.
Unlike Barcelona FC’s program, there’s no dedicated full-sized stadium or education facility for the academy members as yet. But a year into their realised goal, these gifted teenagers have Jake Friend as head coach, Mitch Aubusson as Academy boss and a harsh but fair glimpse into what it takes to be an NRL player at the Roosters.
“(Barcelona’s set up is) amazing, they have a full-sized stadium just for their junior academy, they live on site full-time, they bring in teachers so they can get their schooling done, they train around all of that,” Aubusson tells CODE Sports.
“They are absolutely gold in Barcelona for sure. We’re trying to do something a little bit different and give these guys a leg up.”
The club purchased a block of eight units in Kingsford, where 14 players currently live under the watch of house parents Jodie Ryan and Dean Feeney. When Aubusson and Friend came through almost 20 years ago, it was just a group of ‘ratbags’ living and fending for themselves in a place in Bondi. Everything has changed now.
These players of the future are given a professional environment away from their homes, with the best possible produce, cooking and nutrition lessons, emphasis on sleep and study as well as full-on training sessions three days a week.
“We demand success, that’s what we do here,” Aubusson says.
“And to do that you have to go above and beyond what everyone else is willing to do. You have push yourself to the absolute limit with food, sleep, recovery, training, and you’ve got to keep going until you earn that Roosters badge on your shirt. Everyone who gets a first grade jersey has earned it and been through the ringer here.”
On Wednesday, during the first of a two-day camp at ES Marks athletics field in Kensington, a group of around 20 players ran through drills in the warm morning sun. No hands on hips and no bending over to spray water on the backs of their knees – a little trick Aubusson used to use for a quick breather too. He spots the stealth move straight away. There’s no walking back into position – it’s jogging only. In fact, if you walk at all during a trial game and a Roosters scout is there, you’re not going to be selected in the first place.
There is no room for easy.
In the huddles, Friend and Aubusson speak about ruthlessness and what it means to have Roosters DNA, which offers these kids an idea of what an NRL pre-season is like. They can either take the opportunity or not, but programs like these are designed to flush out anyone who wasn’t going to make it anyway. At the age of 16, 17 and 18, these kids are currently facing this crossroad.
If it sounds tough, it is. It’s meant to push them to their limits. But there’s also the lure of what their life could be like if they handle the pain. During Wednesday’s session, Cooper Cronk chipped a few kicks to some awe-struck backs. For the whole session they didn’t focus as hard on anything as they did catching those bombs from a four-time NRL champion.
From last season’s academy, four players have now gone up to train with the NRL squad full-time – second-rower Siua Wong, who played for Fiji in the World Cup, prop Xavier Va‘a, hooker Tyler Moriarty, and centre Robert Toia.
“My first pre-season, my god, I was looking for the exit. I was hanging in there. I knew it would be hard but it was tough times,” Aubusson says.
“If I had something like this… these guys are looking for the exit now to be honest, but they’re getting it pretty early while their lives aren’t dependent on it right now. They should be better for when they go up to the NRL squad.
“We have had a couple of (players realise it wasn’t for them) to be honest, we had to let them go.
“Not all of them are going to make it. It’s a bit of a pub test for me.
“When they’re 40 or 50 they can be sitting at the pub saying, ‘I could have made it if I just had this’ but these guys won’t be able to sit there and say that. They’ll know exactly where they stand because they were given every opportunity to succeed.”
Friend and Aubusson are the right men for the job for plenty of reasons. As one-club players and premiership-winners they know the DNA of the Roosters inside out, but they were also two of the last players scouted for the Sydney Roosters by the late, great Arthur Beetson.
As they run a group of teenagers through brutal training sessions, check in with their wellbeing and ensure they have everything they need to succeed, Beetson is in the back of their minds every day.
Friend was a 15-year-old surfer boy from Noosa when Beetson spotted him in an invitational game against Redcliffe all those years ago, and Aubusson was a skinny 16 year-old – also a surfer boy - from Ballina. No one could know the pair would go on to become two of the club’s favourite sons and most dedicated professionals, with 570 NRL games between them.
They were also nothing like the kids they’re training through the Roosters Academy now.
Between the ages of 16 and 18, these academy players have come from all over the country and parts of New Zealand to be put through the mega-successful Roosters junior rep system. Some are huge – they wouldn’t look out of place in an NRL line-up.
“I was nowhere compared to these boys. The game wasn’t as developed as well though, the sports science and everything wasn’t where it was now, I wish I had that,” Friend says.
“I was a chubby little blonde surfer from Noosa when I came through, these boys all look like seasoned athletes. It’s been good to watch their bodies evolve, their footy evolve and some of their personalities come out of their shell.”
As head of the Roosters academy, Aubusson is the logistics man while Friend organises the program as head coach. They work as a team, using their experience of moving to Sydney as teenagers, their knowledge of what it takes to be successful in the NRL and their passion for the Roosters to help mould a new generation.
“I said I’d never be a coach just seeing how hard they work, but I’m an Academy coach, it’s different I reckon,” Friend says. After 264 NRL games for the Roosters, the 32-year-old retired in 2021 due to ongoing head knocks. But he still looks as fit as the day he retired.
“I’ve been lucky to be able to do this role and it’s not in the NRL high-pressure environment.
“You’re coaching individuals rather than a team and it’s been really good for the development of my coaching because there is no pressure, so you’re worrying about what you are teaching them and how you’re delivering it more than the pressure of winning and losing.”
Friend was the last player recruited by Beetson and he rapidly rose through the grades from SG Ball into the NRL when he was just 18.
In the almost 17 years since Beetson spotted him in Redcliffe that day, the theory behind picking Roosters players has not changed. They need to be tough, have good footwork and be willing to do more than anyone else to succeed. They’re looking for longevity.
“It’s hard to tell you what it is, I guess because I’ve lived it I can’t put it into words, but I know what it looks like and feels like,” he says.
“There’s a way we do things that are non-negotiables footy wise and the details around training, diet and sleep, all of that stuff.
“If we can give that to them now and they start doing that earlier… our idea for the Academy is not only to create NRL players but to create longstanding NRL players.
“We want these guys to be able to play 200 or 250 games because they’ve learnt all this stuff and they look after their bodies from a young age and then they go on to have long careers.
“For me and Mitch, we’ve got so much out of this club and football, so many of our life experiences have been in and around this club so we want to try and give a few of these boys the same sort of life.”
The Sydney Roosters came home from the World Club Challenge in 2020 with more than just a trophy. They returned with a plan to build their own future.
A visit to Barcelona FC’s incredible youth academy sparked an idea for Nick Politis and Trent Robinson to establish something similar for the Bondi club. A program to produce long-lasting NRL players using a holistic approach – building young people into well-rounded adults through comprehensive training, education and lifestyle support.
Unlike Barcelona FC’s program, there’s no dedicated full-sized stadium or education facility for the academy members as yet. But a year into their realised goal, these gifted teenagers have Jake Friend as head coach, Mitch Aubusson as Academy boss and a harsh but fair glimpse into what it takes to be an NRL player at the Roosters.
“(Barcelona’s set up is) amazing, they have a full-sized stadium just for their junior academy, they live on site full-time, they bring in teachers so they can get their schooling done, they train around all of that,” Aubusson tells CODE Sports.
“They are absolutely gold in Barcelona for sure. We’re trying to do something a little bit different and give these guys a leg up.”
The club purchased a block of eight units in Kingsford, where 14 players currently live under the watch of house parents Jodie Ryan and Dean Feeney. When Aubusson and Friend came through almost 20 years ago, it was just a group of ‘ratbags’ living and fending for themselves in a place in Bondi. Everything has changed now.
These players of the future are given a professional environment away from their homes, with the best possible produce, cooking and nutrition lessons, emphasis on sleep and study as well as full-on training sessions three days a week.
“We demand success, that’s what we do here,” Aubusson says.
“And to do that you have to go above and beyond what everyone else is willing to do. You have push yourself to the absolute limit with food, sleep, recovery, training, and you’ve got to keep going until you earn that Roosters badge on your shirt. Everyone who gets a first grade jersey has earned it and been through the ringer here.”
On Wednesday, during the first of a two-day camp at ES Marks athletics field in Kensington, a group of around 20 players ran through drills in the warm morning sun. No hands on hips and no bending over to spray water on the backs of their knees – a little trick Aubusson used to use for a quick breather too. He spots the stealth move straight away. There’s no walking back into position – it’s jogging only. In fact, if you walk at all during a trial game and a Roosters scout is there, you’re not going to be selected in the first place.
There is no room for easy.
In the huddles, Friend and Aubusson speak about ruthlessness and what it means to have Roosters DNA, which offers these kids an idea of what an NRL pre-season is like. They can either take the opportunity or not, but programs like these are designed to flush out anyone who wasn’t going to make it anyway. At the age of 16, 17 and 18, these kids are currently facing this crossroad.
If it sounds tough, it is. It’s meant to push them to their limits. But there’s also the lure of what their life could be like if they handle the pain. During Wednesday’s session, Cooper Cronk chipped a few kicks to some awe-struck backs. For the whole session they didn’t focus as hard on anything as they did catching those bombs from a four-time NRL champion.
From last season’s academy, four players have now gone up to train with the NRL squad full-time – second-rower Siua Wong, who played for Fiji in the World Cup, prop Xavier Va‘a, hooker Tyler Moriarty, and centre Robert Toia.
“My first pre-season, my god, I was looking for the exit. I was hanging in there. I knew it would be hard but it was tough times,” Aubusson says.
“If I had something like this… these guys are looking for the exit now to be honest, but they’re getting it pretty early while their lives aren’t dependent on it right now. They should be better for when they go up to the NRL squad.
“We have had a couple of (players realise it wasn’t for them) to be honest, we had to let them go.
“Not all of them are going to make it. It’s a bit of a pub test for me.
“When they’re 40 or 50 they can be sitting at the pub saying, ‘I could have made it if I just had this’ but these guys won’t be able to sit there and say that. They’ll know exactly where they stand because they were given every opportunity to succeed.”
Friend and Aubusson are the right men for the job for plenty of reasons. As one-club players and premiership-winners they know the DNA of the Roosters inside out, but they were also two of the last players scouted for the Sydney Roosters by the late, great Arthur Beetson.
As they run a group of teenagers through brutal training sessions, check in with their wellbeing and ensure they have everything they need to succeed, Beetson is in the back of their minds every day.
Friend was a 15-year-old surfer boy from Noosa when Beetson spotted him in an invitational game against Redcliffe all those years ago, and Aubusson was a skinny 16 year-old – also a surfer boy - from Ballina. No one could know the pair would go on to become two of the club’s favourite sons and most dedicated professionals, with 570 NRL games between them.
They were also nothing like the kids they’re training through the Roosters Academy now.
Between the ages of 16 and 18, these academy players have come from all over the country and parts of New Zealand to be put through the mega-successful Roosters junior rep system. Some are huge – they wouldn’t look out of place in an NRL line-up.
“I was nowhere compared to these boys. The game wasn’t as developed as well though, the sports science and everything wasn’t where it was now, I wish I had that,” Friend says.
“I was a chubby little blonde surfer from Noosa when I came through, these boys all look like seasoned athletes. It’s been good to watch their bodies evolve, their footy evolve and some of their personalities come out of their shell.”
As head of the Roosters academy, Aubusson is the logistics man while Friend organises the program as head coach. They work as a team, using their experience of moving to Sydney as teenagers, their knowledge of what it takes to be successful in the NRL and their passion for the Roosters to help mould a new generation.
“I said I’d never be a coach just seeing how hard they work, but I’m an Academy coach, it’s different I reckon,” Friend says. After 264 NRL games for the Roosters, the 32-year-old retired in 2021 due to ongoing head knocks. But he still looks as fit as the day he retired.
“I’ve been lucky to be able to do this role and it’s not in the NRL high-pressure environment.
“You’re coaching individuals rather than a team and it’s been really good for the development of my coaching because there is no pressure, so you’re worrying about what you are teaching them and how you’re delivering it more than the pressure of winning and losing.”
Friend was the last player recruited by Beetson and he rapidly rose through the grades from SG Ball into the NRL when he was just 18.
In the almost 17 years since Beetson spotted him in Redcliffe that day, the theory behind picking Roosters players has not changed. They need to be tough, have good footwork and be willing to do more than anyone else to succeed. They’re looking for longevity.
“It’s hard to tell you what it is, I guess because I’ve lived it I can’t put it into words, but I know what it looks like and feels like,” he says.
“There’s a way we do things that are non-negotiables footy wise and the details around training, diet and sleep, all of that stuff.
“If we can give that to them now and they start doing that earlier… our idea for the Academy is not only to create NRL players but to create longstanding NRL players.
“We want these guys to be able to play 200 or 250 games because they’ve learnt all this stuff and they look after their bodies from a young age and then they go on to have long careers.
“For me and Mitch, we’ve got so much out of this club and football, so many of our life experiences have been in and around this club so we want to try and give a few of these boys the same sort of life.”
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