{"id":729017,"date":"2026-06-11T05:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/729017\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T05:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:50:15","slug":"nrl-news-2026-kane-evans-comes-out-trent-robinson-reaction-we-have-to-do-better-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/729017\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026 | Kane Evans comes out, Trent Robinson reaction; \u2018we have to do better\u2019 comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roosters<\/a> coach Trent Robinson<\/a> believes Kane Evans\u2019 decision to come out<\/a> is both a sign of how far the game has come and an indication of how far is still has to go.<\/p>\n

In an interview with 100% Footy<\/a> presenter James Bracey that aired on the program on Monday night, Evans\u2019 specifically thanked Robinson for his role in helping him out of the hole he had dug himself as he wrestled with his sexuality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kane Evans played 74 matches for the Roosters under Trent Robinson.\u00a0Matt Roberts<\/p>\n

Evans battled through alcohol abuse, substance addiction, suicidal thoughts and homelessness<\/a> as he wrestled with his sexuality.<\/p>\n

Evans, who played 74 games for the tricolours between 2014-2017, revealed Robinson reached out while he was in rehab, and then hosted him and some friends at Roosters HQ the week after he left. <\/p>\n

He got a full tour of the club, and then once in Robinson\u2019s office, was told the club would pay for his mental health programs.<\/p>\n

In an extraordinary show of generosity, Robinson also dipped into his own pocket to personally pay four weeks of Evans\u2019 rent.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media on Thursday morning, Robinson said Evans\u2019 interview was both a source of pride personally and for the club, but deflected any further praise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the club, but we still had a guy here for six years that didn\u2019t feel open enough to say that he was gay while he was here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of positivity coming towards Kane, and then even towards us, but we\u2019re still not at a place where somebody can come out while they\u2019re playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so the reflection for me has been that we do things to support our players and former players, and we try and do our best, but have we got the complete right environment? I think we can be better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there has been positivity this week, and there should be towards Kane because he\u2019s the brave one. Towards us, I think it should be a reflection on how do we do better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more gay players in the game \u2013 there has to be \u2013 and we\u2019re still not at a point where they will come out in the male game. They will in the women\u2019s game but not in the male game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans is just the second player in professional Australian rugby league history to come out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Roosters coach Trent Robinson speaking to media on Thursday.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

The NRL<\/a> previously explored the idea of a stand-alone pride round in the men\u2019s game in 2022, right in the middle of the Manly Sea Eagles<\/a> pride jersey saga, in which seven players boycotted the club\u2019s round 20 match, coincidentally against the Roosters.<\/p>\n

Outgoing chief executive Andrew Abdo<\/a> on Tuesday said there were currently no plans to revive the idea.<\/p>\n

When asked what could be done that would make gay players comfortable coming out, a candid Robinson said the fact Evans didn\u2019t feel comfortable coming out while playing had been a source of significant personal reflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of that is personal with Kane, some of that is the environment we create,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to create an environment where somebody can be themselves, where they know they\u2019re going to be accepted. (That) the language we use in clubs is right, the way we interact and the way we casually reference each other is right.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully then whoever is out there (will be) comfortable in their environment, and can do what Kane did at a younger age and not feel the pain that Kane and others felt for a period of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we should take this as a pat on the back. We should take this as we saw a really strong man do something others haven\u2019t felt comfortable to do, and hopefully that leads to others feeling comfortable, but we have to do better, we can do better than what we\u2019re doing, and we\u2019ll strive to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au<\/a>. In an emergency, call 000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roosters coach Trent Robinson believes Kane Evans\u2019 decision to come out is both a sign of how far…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-729017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}