Trent Robinson is adamant Brandon Smith has a future at the Roosters and applauded his senior players for fronting the New Zealand international over his failure to turn up to a mid-season review, claiming other clubs would instead “say it behind your back”.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the Roosters stood Smith down for a week and fined him, Robinson shied away from any suggestion Smith’s immediate place at the club is under threat.
Smith, 28, is at a crossroads in his career after not appearing at a scheduled session after the Roosters’ last-start defeat to the Cowboys. He has apologised and said he misread the schedule and left his phone at home while out for breakfast with his partner.
It has led to question marks about whether the Roosters will be happy to cut loose Smith, who has taken up an option on his rich Roosters deal for 2025.
But Robinson publicly backed his star hooker to bounce back, starting with his return match against the Bulldogs at Gosford next week.
“It’s pretty simple: he fell out of favour for this week because it was really important for us,” Robinson said on the eve of the Roosters’ clash with Parramatta on Saturday night.
Brandon Smith has been hit with a breach notice by the Roosters.Credit: Getty
“Everyone was there [at the review] that was needed to be, and people care about how we perform each week. On that occasion, he said, ‘look, that’s not important to me’. So, myself and the club wanted to say, ‘no, this is what we do here. Every day is really important. We value you, but we want you to value us as much’. We took those measures.
“The worst part of it is when it opens up all the conversations, which start happening around it. All you want to do is hold your club to a high standard and get performance out of your players. That’s simply what it is. We didn’t feel like we got it that week. We’ve got back to work this week and done it really well.”
Smith has yet to flourish on the field since his high-profile move from the Storm for the 2023 season.
And with Connor Watson in fine form since returning from a long-term knee injury, Robinson has another No.9 option for the second half of the season, with both players poised to work in tandem.
Asked whether Smith retained the support of his senior Roosters teammates, Robinson said: “This is the interesting thing about support: what does it look like? These are the standards.
“We support you by telling you the truth. Lots of teams and a lot of clubs won’t tell you the truth. They won’t sit you down face to face and tell you what they think. They will say it behind your back, whereas the senior players told him what they wanted from him. They tell you the truth.
“It’s a hard conversation, but it’s honest and that’s where trust gets built. They handled it in the right way as well.
“[Smith’s] handled this week really well, he’s trained really well, his positivity has been there, and he’s shown that from Monday when we walked back in.”
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