Michael Robertson (born 14 April 1983) is a former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer. His usual position was on the but he could also play as a with equal ability. He played for the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

, and the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

and

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. He was considered a player with natural pace and try scoring ability.

Background

Robertson was born in

Wellington, New South Wales Wellington is a city in the Central Western Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, located at the junction of the Wambuul Macquarie and Bell Rivers. It is within the local government area of Dubbo Regional Council. The city is northwest o ...

, Australia.

Playing career

Robertson played junior football with Valley Dragons in the ACT, and was graded to the

, making his first-grade début in 2001 against the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

After signing to play for the

from the start of the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, Robertson cemented his spot on the left win for Manly and played in the 2007 NRL grand final defeat by the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

. He scored three tries in the Manly club's record breaking 40-0 2008 NRL Grand Final victory over Melbourne, becoming the first player to score three tries in an Australian Grand Final since

Steve Renouf Steven "Pearl" Renouf (born 8 June 1970) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He was known as one of the sport's greatest s. Renouf set numerous records for the Brisbane Broncos ...

did so for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in the 1997 Super League Grand Final. He would then go on to play in Manly's 28–20 win over English

champions the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

in the

2009 World Club Challenge The 2009 World Club Challenge was contested by Super League XIII champions, Leeds Rhinos, competing in their second consecutive World Club Challenge, and 2008 NRL Premiers, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. For the first time since 2003, the Austra ...

played at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. Normally a left side winger, suspension and injuries to Brett Stewart saw Robertson play most of the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership ...

at fullback for the Sea Eagles. When Stewart suffered a season ending knee injury in Round 1 of the 2010 season against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

, it was expected that coach

Des Hasler Desmond John Hasler (born 16 February 1961) is an Australian professional rugby league coach, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as and . He initially played for the Penrith Panthers, and then spent most of his playi ...

would move Robertson to fullback for the season. However, the pre-season signing of former

utility back

Ben Farrar Ben Farrar (born 2 December 1986) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He is the player/head coach of New York Rugby League. He previously played for the North Queensland Cowboys and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the N ...

allowed Hasler to keep Robbo in his referred wing position and play Farrar at fullback. After débuting for the Manly club in round 2,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Robertson played in 139 consecutive club games until suffering a knee injury in a two try performance against the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

in round 10 of the 2011 season. The injury was expected to keep Robertson out only for a single game, but he ended up missing three games. He returned to the club in Manly's 22–18 win over

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

at Brookvale Oval Towards the end of the 2011 NRL home and away season, Robertson announced that he would be leaving Manly after six years with the club. Robertson would fulfill a long-held ambition to play in England when he would join the

club the

in 2012. Until then Robertson had vowed he would take his place on the wing with Manly in a bid to win his second NRL premiership with Manly-Warringah, which they achieved by taking out the 2011 NRL Grand Final over the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

24–10. Robertson's last play for Manly-Warringah was a goal kick after the final siren of the 2011 Grand Final converting captain

Jamie Lyon Jamie Lyon (born 24 January 1982), also known by the nickname of "Killer", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin represen ...

's try giving the departing winger a perfect 2/2 goal kicking record in the NRL (having also kicked a goal in Manly's 42–8 win over North Queensland 3 weeks earlier in the Qualifying Final) to go along with his 83 tries from 209 first grade appearances for Canberra and Manly.

Super League

Robertson made his first appearance on the wing for the London Broncos on 14 February 2012. He scored a try on début in a 24–34 loss to St. Helens at the Stoop Stadium in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Robertson signed a 2-year deal midway through the 2012 season. In total, Robertson made 41 appearances for London scoring 18 tries.

Representative career

Due to his Scottish heritage, Robertson made himself available for

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

campaign. Robertson was named in the Scotland squad for the World Cup and played all three of their games at , scoring a try in the team's 18–16 win over

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Bluetongue Stadium Central Coast Stadium (known originally as Grahame Park), known commercially as Industree Group Stadium is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners asso ...

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

. Robertson's good form to start the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

scoring 7 tries in 8 games in his preferred position of wing was rewarded with selection for

Country Origin The Country New South Wales rugby league team is a representative rugby league football team. Between 1987 and 2017 there were two tiers: the Origin team that consisted of professional players who originated from clubs of the Country Rugby Leagu ...

in the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydne ...

match in

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

. Robertson, who is normally a left winger for the Sea Eagles, played on the right wing and scored a try in Country's 36–18 win over

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Manly Sea Eagles profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Michael 1983 births Australian rugby league players Australian people of Scottish descent Scotland national rugby league team players London Broncos players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Canberra Raiders players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league wingers Living people