12 months ago, the Sydney Roosters’ season was ended in heartbreaking fashion at AAMI Park.
The Tricolours held a 13-12 lead with just two minutes remaining in their semi-final against the Storm and looked like they were about to pull off a finals upset for the second week in a row.
Robinson calls on ‘improved’ Roosters side to be confident
Despite a poor recent record over the Storm, the Roosters head into their preliminary final in fairly confident mood after a big 40-16 win over Manly last weekend.
The game marked the return of important forwards Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Victor Radley to the side after suspension and injury respectively, and was a complete turnaround from their week one defeat to the Panthers.
Robinson reflected on his sides progress in the last year, and says his team should take confidence in how they have improved and performed in tough circumstances.
“We’re a much better team this year,” he said, “I think we’ve proven that with [the] belief in our game stile, we’re really settled in that.
“That’s why it’s really key for us to be really confident in what we’re going to do, but then also execute that.
“It’s pretty key that we’re in a frame of mind where we really want to play our style and honour that, and there’s a calmness that goes with that, because we’re really clear about our style.”
He believes he has seen a good intensity from the team in training this week despite having to take into account a shorter turnaround than their opponents.
“There has to be an intensity, and there has to be time to recover from that, and we’ve done both this week,” Robinson said.
“It’s different turnarounds, but [the] intensity still has to be high, and then volume reduces a bit.
“That’s how we run it there, to make sure there’s still the sharpness there and the intensity that we want.
“And then there’s also the energy to go and do it [in the game].”
