Robbie Rochow (born 22 August 1990) is an Australian former professional

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 who played as a forward in the 2010s. He previously played for 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. ...

in two spells, the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

and 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 ...

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 played for New South Wales Country in 2014.

Background

Born in

Maitland, New South Wales Maitland () is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. It is on the New England Hi ...

, Rochow attended

All Saints College, Maitland All Saints College is a dual-campus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. The College is administered by the Catholic Schools Office of the Roman Cathol ...

. He played his junior football for the East Maitland Griffins before graduating to first-grade for the

Kurri Kurri Bulldogs The Kurri Kurri Bulldogs is a semi-professional Australian rugby league football club based in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales formed in 1911. They currently play in the Newcastle Rugby League competition. Home Ground The Bulldogs home ground is K ...

. As a 17-year-old, Rochow played SG Ball with the

before being signed by the

. Rochow played for Melbourne's

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

team in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, Rochow played in the Toyota Cup Grand Final-winning Melbourne team.

Playing career

2010

In Round 14, Rochow made his

debut for the Melbourne club against the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

off the interchange bench in their 38–6 loss at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

. This was Rochow's only NRL match for the season. RobbieRochow

2011

In July, Rochow signed a one-year contract with the

, his junior club, to link up with Wayne Bennett. He only played 1 match in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012

In May, Rochow re-signed with the Newcastle club on a two-year contract after impressive form in the

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

. In Round 19, Rochow made his club debut for the Newcastle side off the interchange bench after

Neville Costigan Neville Costigan (born 16 March 1985) is a Papua New Guinean former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A Papua New Guinea international and Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in the ...

was ruled out with injury. In Round 21 against 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 ...

, Rochow scored his first NRL try in the club's 36–6 win at

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium for commercial reasons) is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports v ...

. Rochow finished his first year with the Newcastle outfit playing in eight matches and scoring one try.

2013

On 22 May, Rochow re-signed with the Newcastle side on a two-year contract. Rochow finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

with him playing in all 27 matches and scoring two tries.

2014

In February, Rochow was selected in Newcastle's 2014 inaugural

Auckland Nines The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus. Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to Perth ...

squad. Rochow was selected for the

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 ...

squad for 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. Rochow played off the interchange bench in the 26-26 all draw in

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

. He finished the

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

with him playing in all of Newcastle's 24 matches and scoring three tries.

2015

On 31 January and 1 February, Rochow played for Newcastle in the

2015 NRL Auckland Nines The 2015 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the second NRL Auckland Nines tournament, contested between all sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The draw was released on 16 September 201 ...

. His 2015 season was interrupted by back and arm injuries, limiting his game time to just five matches and scoring one try as the club finished last.

2016

In February, Rochow co-captained the Newcastle club in the

2016 NRL Auckland Nines The 2016 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the third NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 6–7 February 2016 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. As with previous tournaments, it was ...

On 26 August 2016, Rochow signed a one-year contract with the

starting in 2017. He finished the 2016 season having played in eight matches in his last season for the Newcastle side.

2017

In February 2017, Rochow was named in South Sydney's

2017 NRL Auckland Nines The 2017 NRL Auckland Nines (known as the Downer NRL Auckland Nines due to sponsorship) was the fourth NRL Auckland Nines competition. It was held on 4–5 February 2017 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Just like previous tournaments, it w ...

squad. In round 1 of the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, w ...

, he made his club debut for South Sydney against the

, playing off the interchange bench in their 18–34 loss at

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

. After failing to gain a regular spot in the South Sydney line-up, he played the majority of the first half of the season with North Sydney in the

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

. He made a total of four appearances for North Sydney. In July, Rochow rejoined the

, the club he started his NRL career at, for the remainder of the season, after being released from his South Sydney contract in a player swap with South Sydney for Melbourne forward

Dean Britt Dean Britt (born 17 March 1994) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played as a forward for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL. He previously played for the Melbourne Storm and the South Sydney Rabbitohs ...

. In September, he signed a two-year contract with the

, starting in 2018.

2018

In round 1 of the

2018 NRL season The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 team ...

, he made his debut for the

against the

, playing at second row 10–8 win at

. In round 4 against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

, he scored his first try for the

West Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional 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 joint-venture c ...

30–20 win at

2019 Final season

Rochow played a single game for the

in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

, featuring almost exclusively for their reserve grade feeder club Western Suburbs. At the end of the season Rochow announced his retirement.

References

External links

Wests Tigers profileNRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rochow, Robbie 1990 births Living people Australian people of German descent Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Newcastle Knights players Melbourne Storm players Kurri Kurri Bulldogs players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Maitland, New South Wales South Sydney Rabbitohs players Wests Tigers players Western Suburbs Magpies NSW Cup players