‘Means everything to me’: Beloved coach’s legacy runs deeper than premierships
Trent Robinson comes across as a measured, articulate and at times stern NRL coach, who has found plenty of success with the Sydney Roosters.
Behind closed doors, the three-time premiership winner has become a friend, mentor and confidante to Roosters players for the past 13 years.
Trent Robinson and Nat Butcher. Getty Images
Robinson stepped into the hot-seat for one of rugby league’s biggest clubs in 2013 as a little-known young coach, who had joined from Catalans.
By the end of that year, he had taken the Chooks to their first title in more than a decade and quickly emerged as one of the NRL’s most astute minds.
Two more premierships followed in 2018 and 2019 and there was a sense that Robinson was on his way to a Wayne Bennett or Jack Gibson-level career, given the success he’d achieved at such a young age.
Since then, Robinson has been forced to adapt through rule changes, the loss of key stars, off-field scandals, injury tolls and multiple concussion-forced retirements.
One player who has stood side-by-side with Robinson for those past seven years since the Roosters’ last grand final appearance is Nat Butcher.
The tough forward has become a favourite of Robinson’s and someone that the coach can rely on week-in and week-out to perform at a consistent level.
The relationship goes both ways, with Butcher crediting Robinson as not only a teacher and mentor, but also a “close mate” despite their age difference.
“Robbo’s been amazing for me,” he said.
“He’s such a great teacher of the game, I don’t think anyone knows the game quite like he does – at least nobody that I’ve ever met – and he’s taught me so much.
“I’ve loved having him as a coach and would consider him a close mate.”
Butcher is one of the Roosters’ most tenured current stars and one of the few with grand final experience, having come off the bench in 2019.
At the opposite end of his career is young gun Robert Toia, who only debuted at the start of 2025 but has rapidly become a rising NRL superstar.
Toia worked his way back from ACL injuries before even making first grade and is now regarded as one of the game’s elite centres, both in attack and defence.
The 22-year-old said it was Robinson who has had “the biggest impact” on his rise from boy wonder to State of Origin and international player.
But the young Queenslander also appreciates the lighter side Robinson has started to find – even if it can be “intimidating” at times.
Robert Toia has become an NRL superstar. NRL Images
“Robbo’s actually a great man – he’s very smart, very intelligent and there’s things you wouldn’t expect him to know or think of, that he does,” Toia said
“Off the field, he loves to have a little laugh, he’s really opened a lot this year and tends to throw a lot of jokes around at training. That can be a bit intimidating at the same time, because you don’t know whether he’s joking or not.
“In terms of my development, he’s had the biggest impact. A lot of people talk about my defence and it’s actually Robbo who made me love defence.
“I feel like all my success and being given the opportunity to play Origin so early was all because of the values he instilled in me.”
There would be countless other stories throughout the Roosters’ top 30 roster about the influence Robinson has managed to have on them.
In the case of injury-plagued centre Billy Smith, who has taken seven years to rack up 62 first grade games, his gratitude to Robinson runs deep.
It’s been a tough journey for Billy Smith. Getty Images
“Robbo means everything to me,” Smith said.
“He’s stuck by me when 99 per cent of coaches and people wouldn’t have. Even in times where I doubted myself, he was always the one that would tell me it was gonna be all right and that he had faith in me and the club had my back.
“For a young kid coming through, that meant everything and he’s such a big reason as to why I’ve pushed through all of that.”
Robinson echoed those sentiments at Thursday’s press conference when it came to Smith, who he never gave up on even in the darkest times.
“The sacrifice that Billy has had to make to get here, the way that he has to train every single session, is an inspiration to us,” he said.
“There were many times when Billy thought it was the end. There were many injuries where it was just easier to finish and not keep playing ... but each time, there was a fire inside him that said ‘no, no, I’m gonna keep going’.
“As a club, we asked is it the end? He kept saying no. He’s an inspiration to us, he’s the reason that our club is the way that it is. He keeps turning up. What he had to go through last week, the week before, this week, just to train, is exceptional.
“Billy is a local, he’s one of the crew and he will give it everything on the weekend.”
Whichever way the result goes on Sunday night, nothing can take away from the bond Robinson shares with not only Butcher, Toia and Smith, but the whole squad.
For as long as Robinson is at the helm, the Roosters are in a healthier spot than the majority of their rivals – not only for his football intellect, but because of the care he shows for his players, whether it be No.1 or No.30 on his squad.
