How tenacious Toia defied three years of pain to achieve Maroons dream

This is a tale of perseverance and defiance, when the world seemed to scream at Robert Toia to cast aside his NRL dreams.

Few would have begrudged the talented centre from pursuing other avenues, amid an injury carnage that threatened to end his career before it began.

But that was never an option for Toia, who thwarted two ruptured ACLs and suffered a serious back injury and a broken jaw before making his Sydney Roosters debut.

As he stands on Suncorp Stadium’s hallowed turf, soaking in his ascension to the State of Origin arena, the 20-year-old reflects on those who got him here.

“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any doubt, but just the support from my family and the club – their support was through the roof every time, and just the assurance they gave,” Toia says.

“I can’t thank them enough for their loyalty. Despite what other people have said about the club, the club have had my back since day one.

“It just doesn’t feel real [that I’m playing State of Origin]. I was in disbelief, and even now, I still don’t think it’s real.”

After just 10 games, Toia’s answering of Queensland coach Billy Slater’s SOS puts him alongside Payne Haas as the least-experienced Origin player in the NRL era.

The call was far from expected, one he thought was a prank but that eventually left him “speechless” and in “total disbelief”.

It has been a remarkable rise from his past agony, having stuck with the Roosters despite advances from Wayne Bennett and the Dolphins to keep his hopes of emulating Greg Inglis’ Origin feats alive.

Rugby union could have even been on the cards, having gone through Nudgee College’s First XV program as one of their most prolific centres.

“Rugby league was always what I was going to do. Ever since I was young, I always wanted to be an NRL player,” Toia says.

“[But] I feel like they [Nudgee] moulded me as a person in a way, and taught me core beliefs and values, and I definitely am the man I am today because of them.”

Signs that Toia – described as “world-class” by Slater – was more than just a supremely gifted player were on show throughout his three years recovering from a gamut of challenges.

His Roosters, and now Maroons, teammate Lindsay Collins watched as the then-teenager spent day after day away from the main group trying to one day rejoin them.

Collins, a veteran of 12 Origin caps who tore his ACL in 2021, says the challenges of the rehabilitation phase are difficult to explain.

“I don’t think many people would understand that time in your life; it’s pretty hard to make a scenario similar to that sort of thing,” Collins tells this masthead.

“To leave school, move down to Sydney away from your family, and then have back-to-back ACLs … a lot of players at that age would have questioned a lot of things.

“Bobby is pretty quiet, he sort of keeps to himself, but he’s always working – especially his arms, he loves doing biceps.

“The boys inside the four walls of the Roosters knew what he was capable of, it was just whether he was going to get back or not. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, the perseverance he’s had just to stick it out.”

It is that strength of character that has caught Slater’s eye.

And Toia will need to dig into every bit of mental fortitude he developed while away from the game, as he plots a boilover of New South Wales superstar Latrell Mitchell.

“Character is really important – that’s what you’re going to lean on when you get tired. You can’t go to Coles and buy that, you’ve got to go through it.”

Billy Slater on Robert Toia

He admits to being starstruck at the prospect of facing Mitchell, having “looked up to him for a while”.

But Collins recalls the Roosters’ match against the Rabbitohs this year as an indicator that for all his flashy brilliance, he has the defensive capacity to contain him.

“A lot of people see centres as flashy players who can score tries. Bob can do that, but you’ve got to look at his defensive movements and reads,” Collins says.

“He had Trell earlier in the year against Souths when he was in the centres and did a great job. He’s come up against some quality international centres this year and hasn’t given them time to think.

“I know he’s pumped: he said his missus dropped him off at the airport and he can’t remember a word she said.”

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