Roosters coach Trent Robinson was thrilled with how his side bounced back to beat the Rabbitohs, even if they had to do it without centre Billy Smith who he says is feeling “embarrassed” after he missed the game due to a head knock following an e-bike accident.
Smith was ruled out of Friday night’s blockbuster at Allianz Stadium due to an e-bike accident near the club’s headquarters in Moore Park, with the strike centre dealing with a number of serious injuries throughout his career.
It’s led to calls for Roosters players to walk to training or to be given permission to park closer to their centre of excellence which is on the Moore Park Rd side of the precinct and a lengthy walk from the parking lot at Entertainment Quarter.
“He fell off a bike and he’s feeling embarrassed and he’s feeling OK today, I guess,” Robinson said after the match.
“There’ll be discussions around that, but you don’t want to control all parts of life either. The footy team and people can be individuals, but a little bit better care might help get him on the field.”
It’s unclear at this stage exactly what happened to Smith, with the second level of Allianz Stadium near their centre of excellence full of e-bikes and scooters belonging to players and members of the coaching staff.
Long-term parking is hard to find near their home base which is why they all park down the road and then ride to the centre of excellence.
“Ever since we’ve been there, we’ve been sort of scootering and biking to and from training with parking and stuff, so it was just an accident,” skipper James Tedesco said.
“No one else really saw it or can sort of speak on it, but he’s fine. It wasn’t right to go for tonight.”
The pre-game injury didn’t overshadow their performance as they rebounded from a disappointing loss in New Zealand to spoil the party on a night Alex Johnston became the game’s leading try-scorer.
Veteran playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans stood tall in his second game for the club after copping plenty of flak for his defensive efforts last week, with the former Sea Eagle scoring the opening try and setting up the sealer for Tedesco.
“I thought he was really busy, but without overpowering,” Robinson said.
“He allowed a lot of the other guys to play. He really changed angles well, he distributed well.
“They’re still trying to find that combo, but I thought he pulled the strings a lot more tonight. And so I thought that was a really good step forward for him.”
Originally published as ‘Feeling embarrassed’: Trent Robinson gives update on Billy Smith after mystery e-bike crash