Good point, he’s securely one who never really reached the top grade!Robinson is the guy who was a toiler in reserve grade for a very long time - I think he only played 1 game of firstgrade.
He went to France and was captain/coach of a lower grade side and did very well as a coach - got a chance as an assistant and reserve grade coach at Newcastle under Brian Smith, got a job as head coach of Catalans because he could speak fluent French from his time playing and coaching there, did very well and got a job at the Roosters as head coach.
Basically a reserve grade toiler, but a very smart guy.
I mean, he had like 10+ years as a Storm assistant coach and a year or two at the Roosters. Not outlandish that an assistant gets their first head coach start somewhere.Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding AOB never coached a team at any level in the NRL until we gave him our first grade team. For me that is a major red flag and I would think you would have to have some success coaching in the lower grades before being given a first grade team.