Confrontation with owner behind Warriors prop’s departure

A heated argument in a Brisbane pub with Warriors owner Mark Robinson appears the real reason behind the suden departure of prop Matt Lodge.

Lodge was released from the final year of his contract last week with the club saying he didn’t want to be based in Auckland next season.

The Daily Telegraph has reported Robinson and Lodge had an argument in a Brisbane pub late last year and problems continued to simmer with Lodge reportedly paid out the remainder of his contract worth $760,000.

According to Robinson, the pair clashed at the Belvedere Hotel near Redcliffe late 2021.

Warriors owner Mark Robinson
Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport

“We had an argument in a hotel, two alpha males in a pub last December,” Robinson told the Daily Telegraph.

“Two days later we shook hands and moved on but it never came right.

“He was unhappy so I bought him out of his option for next year and we parted ways.”

Robinson wouldn’t say what the argument was about.

“Just two men and attitude and whatever. It’s seven months ago.

“There’s no bad blood with Matt Lodge at all.” he said.

“It was a simple business transaction. He had an option for next season so he was entitled to a severance package, as would any employee out there who has a contract with their employer.”

Former Warriors prop Matt Lodge.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Lodge was expected to sign with another NRL club but earlier this week social media reports had him playing rugby union for North’s Brisbane second grade team.

Warriors chief executive Cameron George would not disclose what the argument between Robinson and Lodge was about, but he said it was not dissimilar to any other workplace disagreement.

“Those things happen in environments such as this where it is high performance and expectations are high but that’s life. It happens in a lot of workplaces Mark acknowledges that, Matt acknowledges that.

“I don’t know whether we ever really moved on from it, you want to be happy and you want to be achieving what you set out to achieve, there were a number of moving parts to it I have no doubt [the argument] played a big part in it as well.”

George did not expect more players to leave the club under the same circumstances.

“I believe our culture is quite strong. What I’ve seen through this is our players all working together, our staff working together and we’ve just got to move on and we’ve got a game on Saturday that we’re trying to win.”