Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson handed his premiership ring to Connor Watson after he was ruled out of the NRL Grand Final because of concussion.
Just as he handed his title ring to prop Lindsay Collins after he missed out on playing in the 2018 premiership, and again the following year for Zane Tetevano, Robinson made a point of honouring Watson with the same selfless act on the field following the 19-18 win over Newcastle.
Back-up hooker Benaiah Ioelu, who played five NRL games all season – and did not get on the field against the Knights – also offered Watson his ring, only for the St George Illawarra-bound representative utility to quickly urge him to keep it.
“‘Robbo’ gave me his ring after the game, which was very nice of him – I told him he didn’t have to do it, but he wanted me to take it, and said I’d earned it,” Watson said.
“I’m very grateful. I did a good job with dealing with how I was feeling. After the captain’s run on Saturday, I took a good 20 minutes, sat out on the field and thought about everything: the reality of the situation, how you work for this your whole life, and unfortunately you’ll miss out on it because of a concussion.
“Once I did that, it was weight off the shoulders. By doing that, it also allowed me to enjoy today.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was still disappointed, and when the boys were running out, and I was behind them, I was like, ‘I’d love nothing more than to sprint out there’. Even the back end of the game, I was like, ‘surely I’ll be sweet for a 15-minute stint’.”
Watson was on the field for one minute against the Dolphins last Friday week in the preliminary final when he was knocked out. A category-two concussion was later upgraded to category-one, which meant he would have to stand down for 11 days, and miss the grand final.
The 30-year-old said he met with respected neurologist Chris Levi on Thursday, who was unable to clear him because of the NRL’s concussion policy that was in place.
“Two of the five exemption protocols, the boxes you need to tick, I wasn’t able to do because of the category one and having slight symptoms the next day,” Watson said.
“We met with the NRL on Friday to see if there was anything else we could do, but unfortunately there wasn’t.
“This club means a lot to me, it was my second stint here, I love the people here; I was putting all my energy into playing, so when Friday happened, the reality of the situation hit me, and the fact my last game for the Roosters was only for a minute … as disappointing as it is, there was so much positive stuff to take out of it.
“It [playing in a grand final] is everything I’ve dreamed of, but people are going through way worse.”
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