The Sydney Roosters' NRL and NRLW teams carry a sense of destiny into their grand finals, and that is down to the ethos of two coaches. Trent Robinson, now the longest-serving Sydney Roosters coach, was a surprise hire when the NRL club appointed him in late 2012. Jason Taylor was heavily favoured even after his tumultuous departure from South Sydney. The league's coaching ranks were filled with old-school disciplinarians and those of the ranting and raving bent. Another new hire at the time, Michael Maguire at the Rabbitohs, had enjoyed a successful debut season but was very much a football obsessive who viewed players as his pawns.
Robinson's new way
Robinson was and is the antithesis of Maguire and has operated very differently to the traditional macho dictatorship often seen in top-tier rugby league coaching. As he prepares for his fourth grand final in his 14th season at the helm of the tricolours, Robinson stands tall as the leader of a new way that prizes personal connection, treats players as people, and understands that stability and happiness hold tremendous value.
Measured and methodical, few who have played under him have anything bad to say about the 49-year-old as a coach or a human – and the results have spoken for themselves. Across his tenure, the Roosters have made the finals on 13 occasions, winning three titles. He has managed big-name, big-ego recruits like Cooper Cronk and Daly Cherry-Evans, handled the development of talents like Latrell Mitchell and Sam Walker, championed hard-workers like Mitchell Aubusson and Victor Radley, and got the very best out of the mercurial Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou.
The Roosters Way
He did so, first and foremost, through authenticity. Robinson is a rugby league intellectual. He is measured in his temperament. He is clear in his communication. He is compassionate in his treatment of others. His desire to win is as great as any coach in the NRL – you don't last 14 years if it's not – but he truly understands that footballers are more than their football. They are family men, social creatures, community leaders, standard-bearers, ratbags who worry about finances, babies, partners, mortgages and all the other stresses that come with life.
No club in the NRL involves partners more. The club has had a creche for a long time. Family milestones matter. To this day Robinson attends birthdays, funerals or major events of current and former players. When the Roosters recruit, they look for those that will buy into the culture.
Strange's success with NRLW
In hiring John Strange to coach the NRLW team in 2021, the club looked to extend that culture to their women. Strange is an intelligent, deliberate, considerate, worldly coach who could build success through hard work and mutual respect. In six seasons under Strange, the women have achieved three minor premierships, two titles, three undefeated seasons and made four grand finals. The club has lost just four regular season games across the last five seasons.
Five-eighth Jocelyn Kelleher is effusive in her praise for the 51-year-old coach: “He's literally one of the big reasons I play footy … I can't say enough nice things about him.”
It is that kind of approach that has won Strange and Robinson respect around the league, adoration among players – at the Roosters and from those elsewhere hoping to play for them – and a loyal following who believe their way represents what the present and future of coaching should look like.
The “Roosters Way” has clearly delivered success on the field while ensuring the roster always ranks among the most elite in both competitions. It is not just money that attracts players to a club – see the men's Broncos on that front – but how players are treated. The likes of James Maloney, Cronk, James Tedesco, Angus Crichton and Cherry-Evans all moved to the Roosters as established superstars, while the likes of Jessica Sergis, Tarryn Aiken, Millie Elliott, Amber Hall and Keeley Nizza all left other clubs to play for Strange.
Destiny awaits
For the men and women there is a sense of destiny as much as redemption this Sunday. Robinson's Roosters have never lost a grand final and he has missed September football just once in his storied career. Yet the drums have been beating for the club to make a coaching change. Strange's team are unbeaten across the last two regular seasons, and losing last year's decider to rivals Brisbane hurt. Throwing two unbeaten seasons away seems unimaginable.
The Roosters have long been positioned as a soulless, transactional club. The reality in 2026 though is that they have built success on culture, on the ethos of two men with the simple view that truly respects the talented men and women they coach. Destiny awaits on Sunday. Both teams will enter ready – because both teams know that win, lose or draw there will be a tomorrow where the club and their coach has their back.
