After a massively disappointing 2017 season, Tom Robertson and his NSW Waratahs teammates are champing at the bit to start the new campaign.
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Robertson and some of his Wallabies teammates joined Waratahs pre-season in the New Year and the Dubbo junior is eager for his side to work its way back up the Super Rugby ladder.
The pre-season trials start on February 2 for NSW with a match in New Zealand against the Highlanders before a clash with the Melburne Rebels at Manly’s Brookvale Oval.
“I loved it last year and we had five or 10 thousand there (at Brookvale) and there was a great atmosphere on the hill and hopefully we can get as many people out there as we can,” Robertson said, before adding there was just one negative about the Tahs’ pre-season.
“Next year it would be great to get a game in the country again, like we did in Mudgee.
“One of those in 2019 would be great.”
The Waratahs took one trial match to Glen Willow last year, downing the ACT Brumbies 53-17 in front of more than 6,000 fans.”
While that was a highlight for all involved, the Super Rugby season proper which followed was anything but memorable.
The Waratahs won just four matches last season, finishing fourth in the Australian conference.
Despite that, Dubbo Kangaroos junior Robertson went on to be part of the Wallabies squad which restored some national pride when winning seven tests, including a morale-boosting 23-18 win over New Zealand.
The 23-year-old prop wants some of the positive attitude built within the Wallabies camp to filter through to his state side in 2018.
“We were really disappointed after 2017 and not much more needs to be said about it,” Robertson said of the Waratahs.
“If you linger on that too long the negatives can weigh you down and when you go on the field you’ll be in your shell and you won’t want to try something because you’re could be scared of what will happen.
“When you go on the field you don’t want to be scared of failure. That’s something we can learn from the Wallabies.”
The Waratahs possess a “star-studded” backline with former Western Force flyer and Wallabies winger Curtis Rona joining the likes of Israel Folau, Kurtley Beale, Barnard Foley, Andrew Kellaway and Taqele Naiyaravoro.
According to Robertson, it’s up to the forwards to lift.
“There’s some new faces. There’s a lot of younger guys and some old Wallabies coming back too so it’s a good mix and (forwards coach) ‘Cronny’ (Simon Cronn) has been doing a lot on timing and cohesiveness as a group and that’s part of a game we needed to work on from 2017.”