Geelong Advertiser | SANDY Robinson carved a reputation as a premier ruckman.
Plying his trade for Port Melbourne and Geelong in the VFL, and at grassroots at Port Fairy and Newtown & Chilwell, Robinson quickly established himself as a force on the ball.
But a career-threatening injury, coupled with the Cats’ bolstered ruck stocks, paved the way for the Eagles big man to revolutionise his game.
“It’s worked out well,” Robinson said of his new-found role in defence.
“At Geelong, I told the boys I’d like to play back and they were happy with that,” he said.
“I haven’t really done it before, I rucked most of my career here at Newtown and at Port Melbourne last year.
“It was just the way it panned out at the VFL. They had so many forwards and the rucks as well, so there was a spot down back and I was able to fit in there, which was good.”
It has been an up and down year for Robinson in many ways.
Firstly, he was struck down with stress fractures in his lower back and didn’t line up with the Eagles until Round 2.
He would miss six weeks before making a comeback for Newtown against South Barwon in Round 8 and forced his way back in Geelong’s VFL side for the Round 10 clash against Coburg the following week.
Robinson would hold down a key defensive post alongside the likes of emerging Cats defender Jake Kolodjashnij and veteran Jared Rivers before slotting next to Paul Hinkley for the Eagles first final on Sunday.
Like Geelong, Robinson believes he is suited to a role in defence at Newtown.
“We’ve got (David Fanning) Fanno who’s doing plenty of the ruck work and Jai Sheahan, Tim House and Braden Hocking (Hock) forward, so we’ve got flexibility down back,” he said.
“Working with Hinks has been good. I thought the six of us have worked really well together but the pressure of the midfield has made it a lot easier.”
As the Eagles prepare for another cutthroat final on Sunday, Robinson revealed his side was relieved to be part of September.
“It was a burden off the shoulders when they got through last week (Round 18) and training has been really good. Everyone’s in the right frame of mind and we want to give it a real crack this year,” he said.
“And we’ve gone out in straight sets a couple of times, but we’ve ticked this game off and we want to progress week by week.
“We’ve got the team that can do it, but we’ve got to work hard and (the elimination final) was the first step and we’re happy to get through.”
