RUGBY LEAGUE Secret talk opened door

rugby league bad boy Matt Lodge has revealed how secret talks with Roosters coach Trent Robinson were the catalyst for the NRL lifeline that delivered him to the Brisbane Broncos.

News Corp can reveal the contract machinations that saw the Roosters go within a whisker of trumping the Broncos for Lodge’s signature as the 117kg enforcer fought to reignite his career following his infamous New York rampage in 2015.

Lodge returns from a twomatch suspension tonight at the SCG and it is fitting he should confront the Roosters, for it was the Bondi glamour club that initially offered the NSW Origin hopeful a shot at NRL redemption.

Lodge yesterday revealed for the first time that he met with Roosters coach Robinson.

The year was 2016, a time when Lodge was on the scrapheap playing park football in Sydney’s west, 12 months after he was arrested at gunpoint by American police following his infamous alcohol-fuelled night out in New York.

Lodge lauded the support of Robinson, but his move to the Roosters collapsed when the club considered the lengthy battle ahead to have the then troubled teen registered by the NRL integrity unit. Adding to the complexity, the Roosters were determined to avoid further damaging headlines after the off-field scandal earlier that season involving star halfback

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Mitchell Pearce, who checked into a Thai rehab clinic.

That opened the door for former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett to pounce, but Lodge hasn’t forgotten Robinson’s role in bringing him back to the NRL – culminating in their SCG showdown tonight.

“I had a meeting with Trent Robinson,” Lodge said.

“He was really good to me … at that point it was pretty flattering because not too many people were interested in me. I didn’t know why the Roosters pulled out in the end. Maybe I was too much for them to take on with everything that happened.

“I had a good chat with Trent … I guess he opened up a little pathway for me.”

Enter Bennett. Just weeks later, the super coach met with Lodge. After a candid chat with Bennett, Lodge had to accept there would be no simple route back to the NRL.

He accepted the 12-month contractual lifeline with Brisbane’s affiliate club Redcliffe which ultimately paved the way for Lodge to seal his future at the Broncos.

“I’m glad I decided to follow a path to the Broncos,” Lodge said.

Now Lodge is primed to topple Robinson’s Roosters, and Broncos coach Anthony Seibold backed him to stand up to the premiers.

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