Canterbury-Bankstown legend Geoff Robinson performed the sport selflessly, turning into one of the vital cherished gamers to have ever worn the blue and white of the Bulldogs.
After a size battle with most cancers, he handed away on Wednesday on the age of 66 and can have Canterbury supporters above a sure age feeling a tinge of disappointment, that one of many membership’s finest has left the earth after bringing a lot pleasure to it.
Blessed with far much less talent than Steve Mortimer and Terry Lamb, nowhere close to the category of Greg Brentnall and Garry Hughes and little greater than an absolute ardour for denting opposition defensive traces and creating the havoc that Bulldogs groups of the late Seventies and early ’80s thrived on, Robinson stays one of many wildest and most audacious gamers the Australian recreation has ever seen.
Bulldogs legends Terry Lamb and Steve Mortimer. (Picture by Mark Kolbe/Getty Photographs)
To those that by no means had the privilege of watching the wild man in motion, Penrith battering ram of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s Martin Lang is probably the closest I noticed a participant come to Robinson when it comes to operating the ball into the opposition with out concern or favour.
Neglect the momentary battles between Paul Harragon and Mark Carroll, Robinson produced the identical depth in collision every time he took to the sphere for the Canine, in 139 first-grade video games between 1977 and 1986.
Sitting as a younger boy at Belmore Sports activities Floor and watching the bearded and baggy lunatic roar as he charged in the direction of males with merely no different intent than hurting him and blunting his affect consequently, Robinson by no means took a backward step…..by no means.
It is likely to be arduous for some youthful and fashionable followers to grasp precisely the best way Robinson performed the sport and in flip, imagine the load I’m including to his legacy, but just a few on-line searches and the recollections that will likely be shared over the subsequent few days may go some technique to convincing them.
For all those that noticed his brutal artistry at work, Robinson was one of the vital legally violent and aggressive gamers to have ever graced our home fields.
With socks round all the time his ankles and extra influential for the Bulldogs than simply his celebrated and sensible destruction of the Parramatta ‘wall’, one thing ultimately and appropriately outlawed as nothing greater than shepherding the ball or in modern-day parlance obstructing, Robinson performed the sport in warrior spirit.
Off the sphere, he was the antithesis of the character he performed on it. By no means a nicer man have I met in soccer.
After matches and with out showering, he would return to his native water gap to take a seat on the bar and chat with locals. Folklore says his gear was packed up unwashed and pulled out the next week to put on with the anticipated stench accompanying the clothes.
From all those that had the privilege of sitting at that bar, even when just for a second or two, a collective sentiment of ‘relaxation in peace mate’ will little doubt be despatched his method right this moment, after the general public heard of his eventual succumbing to throat and mouth most cancers.
Robinson proved that he was way over only a brave runner of the ball by turning into a superb coach. In 1991, he lead Canterbury’s Below-21 President’s Cup crew to a premiership, from which plenty of gamers went on to play essential roles within the 1995 first-grade crew’s success.
In retirement from the sport, the person affectionately often known as ‘Robbo’, by no means misplaced contact with the folks he cherished and people who had all the time had his again. He additionally remained inextricably linked to the widespread man, one thing he was himself.
On Wednesday, Canterbury-Bankstown misplaced considered one of its best gamers and finest males to have ever worn the colors. It hit me fairly arduous, regardless of most in membership circles figuring out that his time had seemed to be operating out at totally different moments throughout the previous couple of years.
Thanks for the recollections mate. The day you stepped up from the bench at Belmore Sports activities Floor and a fan close by shouted, “Let him out of his cage!”, is one thing buddies and I recall from time to time.
Right this moment it has particular significance.
