During a busy pre-season schedule, Lindsay Collins stopped by to answer some questions about the pre-season, his debut year, the upcoming season and his infamous mullet.
Enjoy the full chat below.
Lindsay! How was the off-season, what did you get up to?
Yeah it was good! Pretty chilled, stayed in Sydney and did a bit of work for a Carpentry company for a few weeks.
I spent the next few weeks in Brissy, chilled out up there, caught up with mates and family before coming back and getting stuck in (to training).
How have the first few weeks been?
It’s been good! Towards the end of the off-season I was itching to get back into that routine.
I've enjoyed seeing all the old faces and all the new faces as well.
Things are slowly starting to ramp up, today’s session was pretty hard.
With a few of the senior guys back, everyone’s starting to mesh together now.
Let’s reflect a bit on 2017. You found yourself in and out of squads throughout the year, did you struggle to build consistency or did you feel comfortable switching between two systems?
Nah, everyone was sort of in the same boat.
The environment in Wyong made things a lot easier and they looked after us really well.
It made that bond between the Roosters boys that went up to Wyong really strong, cause we were all car-pooling, staying in the same hotel and having all our meals together.
I think that’s why we all went really well last year, because we were all mates and we wanted to work for each other.
What’s the difference between Trent Robinson and Rip Taylor (Wyong Roos Coach)?
Yeah Rip’s pretty old school.
They both say it how it is, Rip know’s how it is but he’s old school, he’s up the guts, hard and fast.
Robbo steps back more, where he still wants hard and fast, he also wants shape and skill.
You’ve turned into a cult hero to the fans, particularly because of your mullet! Is the mullet something you’ve always been known for?
So I started growing it when I was playing my last year in the 20s.
I grew the mullet while I was playing, then I signed with the Roosters.
I was heading down for the first pre-season and thought to myself, I can't just rock up with a mullet and a missing tooth on the first day.
Mum shaved my hair off the day before, and it wasn't until I got comfortable with the boys that it came back.
There was heaps of support around it so I kept it going.
Last year was a big year for you, how important was 2017 in terms of moving forward in your career?
Yeah, last year was massive.
It was huge, I made my debut, but also to win thirteen straight with Wyong, win the Minor Premiership and go on to the Grand Final was pretty good in itself.
We didn't get the win in the end, but you go through that learning curve I guess.
It makes you want it more and realise how hard Premierships are to come by.
I want to get back there, but I also want to make a mark in the NRL.
Do you come into pre-season thinking that there's positions available in the NRL side, and you want to get back there to stay?
Yeah, definitely.
It's up to me, how much I want it and how hard I'm willing to work to get there.
If that spot's there, I'll grab it with both hands and won't let it go.
In the meantime, i'll keep working on my skills and make myself a better football player.
Is there excitement in the squad for next season?
It's all very different at the moment.
We've changed the name of the plays to fit around the Club, we're learning more about the history of the Club and there's a tightnit family feel about the place at the moment.
We haven't talked about big signings or anything, plus they don't get back until after Christmas.
With how we're going at the moment though, it's pretty exciting.
Everyone's catching on pretty quickly, there's some young talent coming through, and I can tell next year is going to be huge.
