NRL 2022: How Trent Robinson’s ‘raw’ honesty session lured Matt Lodge to Roosters
In his first interview since signing with the Roosters, Matt Lodge reveals how he plans to convince apprehensive fans he belongs at the club.
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Matt Lodge has revealed he was determined to join the Sydney Roosters from the moment he sat down with coach Trent Robinson and has vowed to win over the club’s supporters as he prepares to relaunch his career with the NRL powerhouse.
Having signed a cut-price deal with the Roosters for the remainder of the season, Lodge trained at club headquarters for the first time on Saturday morning and confirmed he would make his return for their feeder side North Sydney this weekend.
It’s the latest sojourn in Lodge’s colourful and at times controversial career but he is determined to vindicate the Roosters’ faith and convince them he should be part of their future.
“I want to work hard to become a Roosters player,” Lodge said. “I would love to focus on that and do all the things they value in this team. If I buy into what they do here and what Trent wants me to do, [the future] will resolve itself.
“My only concern now is earning the respect of the Roosters and rewarding them for giving me a chance.”
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THE MEETING
Lodge sat down with Robinson for about 90 minutes a week ago. The pair had spoken before – the Roosters chased Lodge before he moved to Melbourne as a teenager and then Robinson met Lodge five years ago when the front rower was attempting to revive his career.
At the time, it ended up being a shoot-out between Robinson and then-Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett.
“We had a meeting when I was first trying to come back to the game,” Lodge said.
“I ended up going up to Brisbane. At that time, that was the best thing for me to get out of Sydney and get away – the Broncos were great at that point in time.
“I always regretted not taking up this option. To finally get an opportunity here, I am really happy.”
Lodge insists he was won over by Robinson’s raw honesty and the sense that the Roosters coach genuinely cared for his players.
“We talked about a whole range of things,” Lodge said.
“It was an easy conversation to have. That was one of the reasons I was happy to get it done and go there. Sometimes some incidents have reflected badly on me but we spoke about everything and he was comfortable with where I am at.
“Trent was pretty honest with some things where there is room for improvement in my game and where he can help me.
“I am looking forward to working on that. He is very thorough and a deep thinker. He didn’t shy away from asking me any questions about what bothered him about me.
“I am happy to answer all that. I am pretty up front. I just like how he runs things, how he operates things. I could tell by the way he was talking that he cares about every one of his players.
“I feel like that is the kind of person who can get the best out of me. I am keen to listen to everything he has to say.”
THE PLAYERS
Lodge joins the Roosters at a critical juncture in their season. Their loss to Penrith on Friday night leaves the powerhouse club locked in a dogfight for the top eight and their cause hasn’t been helped by the ongoing absence of some of their most influential players, chief among them Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
The front row enforcer has been sidelined for several weeks with a hamstring problem and Lodge is among those who can’t wait for his return.
“I get the chance to come into a dressing room with Hargreaves, who for me is probably one of the best big game front rowers going around,” Lodge said.
“I am excited to listen and watch how guys like him do things. For the last 10 years I have really appreciated what he does and how he plays the game, especially when there is a big game he stands up.
“When he is on, the team is on. He is a similar kind of front rower to me, so there will be a lot to learn from him for me.
“Guys like Teddy (James Tedesco) and (Luke) Keary are there as well – people who have been there and done it at the highest level.
“I am excited to come into a team like that and play whatever role they want me to play, and work on things in my game.
“I am not going there as a perfect person but hopefully if I put my head down and work hard, and learn off people like Trent and the rest of the staff there, things will work out.”
THE DOUBTERS
Lodge knows he is not everyone’s cup of tea. There will be Roosters fans who will be upset with the club’s decision to sign him.
His career has been pock-marked by controversy, starting with the ill-fated night in New York seven years ago and culminating in his sudden and shock departure from the Warriors at the end of May.
Lodge hears the talk that he can be a disruptive influence on a club but there were words of support from his former Warriors coach Nathan Brown at the weekend, when he told Triple M NRL that he had no issues with Lodge off the field.
He acknowledged that Lodge would occasionally speak his mind, but backed the Roosters’ powerful dressing room to keep the 27-year-old in check.
Lodge says he is determined to earn the respect of his teammates and the club’s fan base.
“I have been through this a few times,” Lodge said.
“At the start, some people are against it but I have learnt that if I put my head down, behave well and play good footy – put my body on the line – in a few months time that will win people over.
“Obviously not everyone will agree with it but if I let that get in my head too much, I wouldn’t have ever made it back to the NRL.
“You cannot please everyone but I will be working as hard as I can to win everyone over. The most important thing is playing well.
“I will go to North Sydney this week. I have had a few weeks off. I have to earn my place in a good team.
“It has been a bit of a roller coaster the last few years, It is really good to go somewhere where they know who they are and what they are doing.
“If I buy into that and work on that, the rest will take care of itself.”
THE FUTURE
Lodge has only signed with the Roosters for the remainder of this season and there are no guarantees over the future.
The best case scenario would be that he comes out and brains it for the Roosters, helps them to the finals and leaves them with no choice but to offer him a new deal.
He has a young family and a home on Sydney’s northern beaches. The last thing he wants is to pack up and move again.
The ball is in his court. Provided he plays the way he can, he will have no trouble finding a club at the end of the year.
His priority will be to make sure that club is the Roosters as he looks to reward the faith that has been placed in him by Robinson and Roosters boss Nick Politis.
Without their support, the chance to play for the Roosters would never have crystallised.
“I think they are definitely ready to fire for the back end of the season,” Lodge said.
“I watched their game (against Penrith). I think they are getting everyone back on the field and ready to roll for the right time of the year.
“I am happy to play any part, I will do whatever they need from me.”
Lodge’s Roosters debut date revealed
— Fatima Kdouh
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson is preparing to unleash a one-two punch in round 18 with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to return from injury and controversial forward Matt Lodge to be handed a Tricolours debut.
Robinson wants Lodge, who will join the Roosters for the remainder of the season, to have a hitout for the North Sydney Bears during the side’s NRL bye round before lining up against St George Illawarra.
“The timing for us, in terms of the length of contract, the need for us to get a bit bigger coming off the bench, we have a few injuries in that area,” Robinson said on Thursday.
Waerea-Hargreaves’ hamstring injury, suffered in round 12, has left Robinson’s pack lacking mongrel up front.
“He’s getting close … I’d like him to be right for the next round against St George Illawarra,” Robinson said.
“There’s a lot that a player like that brings, There is a lot of physicality, the alpha male there that leads the pack.”
The Roosters, who in the unfamiliar position of ninth on the ladder, will get a dose of that intimation factor on Friday night against Penrith when gritty lock Victor Radley returns from an ankle injury.
“It’s good to get him back out there after six weeks. It’s great to get him back in and playing. He is key to the way we play the game. He is a ball of energy.
“Jared and Victor are those (alpha) guys, we did well without them both, getting one of them back to talk that talk and also walk the walk is important.
“We want a pack mentality tomorrow night not just one or two guys.”
Robinson is hoping Lodge’s addition will add to the ‘pack mentality’.
Lodge played eight games for the Warriors before quitting the club in May, with a $700,000 golden handshake, after a heated altercation with club owner Mark Robinson.
Seven years ago Lodge was arrested in New York after a home invasion and sentenced to community service and treatment for anger and alcohol abuse.
The incident has tainted Lodge’s reputation but Robinson is convinced the Roosters culture can provide the kind of support needed for the 27-year-old to rebuild his NRL career.
“That’s what I was I was satisfied with … you have to work out what is a culture for, is it to build a brick wall around it and protect it at all costs or is it there to develop people, me included and all players and staff,” Robinson said.
“That’s what a culture really does. We believe in our Roosters culture and it is there to support. We have done that in the past and we’ll keep doing it.”
Robinson had a 90-minute meeting with Lodge before agreeing to sign the forward, where he addressed his past, leaving the coach satisfied it was the right recruitment decision.
“Matt is open about the stuff he has done in the past and we have talked about that in our discussions but like I said you make a decision about your culture and what is it for, what are you really there for … to improve the lives of guys and we have the opportunity give him that,” Robinson said.
“I saw a mature guy in the discussions I had. A father to two with another one on the way … a vulnerability there about where he is at with his footy but also a desire to deliver.”
While Robinson was coy about Lodge staying in Bondi beyond 2022, the coach agreed if the short-term agreement delivered the required result the prop could be a Rooster next season.
“We believe in where we are going at the back end of this year so we are going to keep going and put the foot down. That’s why we have looked for a certain style of player,” Robinson said.
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Originally published as NRL 2022: How Trent Robinson’s ‘raw’ honesty session lured Matt Lodge to Roosters
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