Former Rabbitohs sensation Troy Robinson still carries regrets about his short NRL career

Troy Robinson was once counted as one of the top halfback prospects in rugby league. Sixteen years after it all ended, he’s still haunted by the reckless decisions that finished his career.

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• Part 1: Kyle Stanley carving out a new life

• Part 2: The injury that ended Tony Caine

• Part 3: Yow Yeh still dreams of coaching

They were the lucky ones — blessed with talent, passionate and on a path that led to riches and fame.

Then it all came crashing down and they had to rebuild lives that would never be the same.

Michael Carayannis continues our series profiling NRL players whose careers ended all too soon

Barely a day goes by when Troy Robinson isn’t haunted by the reckless decision that ended his NRL career.

The prodigious talent from the coastal village of Sawtell walked away from rugby league at the age of 21 after a dressing down from then South Sydney coach Paul Langmack.

Having played two matches for South Sydney in 2003, the halfback began the pre-season unfit.

Already struggling with life in Sydney, Robinson’s breaking point came on a November day at Erskineville Oval that left him with a lifetime of shame.

Robinson played just two top grade games. Picture by Jenny Duggan.

“I had let myself get out of a little bit of shape when we returned for pre-season,” Robinson, 36, says.

“Langmack was abusing me and giving it to me. We were training and doing a few laps of the oval, he was making a show of me telling everyone, ‘look at this guy, and he played first grade last year’.”

“He was doing it in front of the Harold Matthews and SG Ball players. I walked up to him during the session, tapped him on the shoulder and said ‘sorry I disappointed you mate. I’ll see you later’.

“I walked out and that was it. It was one of the biggest regrets of my life. There is a lot of shame that still lingers over my head.

“He was just ragging on me continuously and I just had enough. I made the silly decision to walk out, which I did on instinct. It’s been 16 years and I’ve been kicking myself for that decision.’’

Robinson was a footballing prodigy from Sawtell.

It took him eight years to return to Sawtell, a sleepy village 8km south of Coffs Harbour, because of the humiliation he felt at failing to cut it in the big smoke.

“I was too embarrassed to go back home. There was a major shame factor. I just wanted a rest. I’d tried too hard to please everybody. I was a ‘yes sir how high sir’ type of person. I tried to do everything.

“You work your whole life to do something and I just walked out. I don’t blame anyone. I did it.”

So scarred was Robinson from his time in Sydney he knocked back an opportunity from former Queensland hooker Jamie Goddard at Manly.

Robinson also said South Sydney owner Russell Crowe had asked him back to the Rabbitohs.

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In a Daily Telegraph feature in 2002, Robinson was promoted alongside the likes of future 300-gamers Johnathan Thurston, Brent Kite and Luke Lewis as part of the young guns to watch.

Jason King, Wade McKinnon, Joe Williams, Phil Graham and Brent Tate were some of the other players featured.

At the time he was a Wests Tigers player who landed a contract after chipping and chasing twice in one play during an open trial.

Robinson had long been earmarked as a first grade player.

He landed $1000 as a teenager in an Ansett Airlines rising sport star award.

Then he joined the North Sydney Bears development squad which travelled to the UK, and represented Australia in a touch tournament.

Robinson was mentioned alongside Johnathan Thurston in a 2002 Daily Telegraph feature.

In his first two seasons at the Tigers he picked up the respective Jersey Flegg and Premier League players’ player of the year awards.

But the adjustment to city life did not come easy.

“I used to cry when I missed the bus,’’ Robinson said. “I was scared and didn’t know where I was.

“I was fresh out of school. I got rolled coming home late on Oxford St in Darlinghurst... it was always amazing coming home. I remember catching the bus from Sydney one day, stopping at a petrol station and my photo was in The Daily Telegraph. The shop attendant rushed onto the bus to get me to sign a few copies.

“I finished 2002 in reserve grade and trained with the full-time squad during the pre-season. The following year Tim Sheens came through and there was a different environment there, he was a really structured coach.

“I did my ankle in one of the trials… I was broken when I was told I wasn’t going to go on with Wests Tigers, that my position was going to be in Premier League. A staff member told me, not Tim.”

Robinson went to play with Erina in the Ron Massey Cup. Picture by Mark Scott.

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A phone call to Langmack – who had been an assistant coach at the Tigers when Robinson first arrived – prompted Robinson to leave the Tigers.

His opportunity came in round 18 against Penrith when he started from the bench.

The following week he played at halfback alongside Owen Craigie, who despite playing 153 NRL games also never fulfilled his incredible talent.

“I remember running onto the field and looking around going ‘wow I’m out here playing first grade. This is what I dreamt of all my life’,” Robinson said.

“My initiation was Joe Galuvao running over the top of me for one of his three tries. I’ve never watched my game again. I don’t want to watch myself. I’ll probably cry if I did.”

Robinson still wonders what might have been. Photo by Brett Vallance .

Robinson continued to dominate in bush football, making a host of representative sides under the Goddard-led Erina team.

“There is always regrets but I worked really hard to get into first grade. Not everybody can say they played first grade.”

He is now a cultural officer for Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation in the Coffs Harbour region.

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