"I'd just passed by Level II (sports trainer's course) and I thought I knew everything,'' Rob recalls with a smile.

"So I strapped Harve's ankles and told him he wouldn't have any problems with them again.''

Midway through to game Hinton hit the deck and Rob raced out to assist him.

"He went down that quickly I thought he's been shot by a sniper,'' Rob added.

"Harve told me the strapping was that tight he couldn't feel his toes.''

Hinton put a black ban on Rob as a strapper for months after that.

"He wouldn't let me anywhere near him... he'd strap his own ankles,'' Rob laughs.

Rob's an institution at Old Bar Pirates, where he's been since the day the club was formed. However, he's happy to help out any club short of a qualified sports trainer on game days.

Along with Macleay Valley's Reuben Jones, Rob was named the co-winner of the group's volunteer of the year award at the group's presentation night last Friday.

"I probably help 90 per cent of the clubs during the year,'' he said.

"I love rugby league and this is my way of giving something back. And I've made so many great mates out of the game, not just at the Pirates but at all the clubs in the group. You meet the best people in rugby league''

Rob had been involved in club administration with the Pirates when he first started helping out around the dressing sheds before the game. And gradually rugby league started to insist that strappers be qualified to deal with sports injuries, a far cry from the days of the 'magic sponge' when some water would be splashed on a stricken player, who'd generally get up and stagger back into the fray.

So Rob took an interest in player welfare and that led to him increasing his awareness of injuries and how to properly treat them.

"I did my level II 30 years ago,'' Rob said.

"That's as high as you can go. But since then we've done upgrades, like concussion modules.''

In the years since he's treated all manner of injuries - and not only footballers.

"I've even helped deliver a baby on the side of the road,'' he said.

"I don't drink, I don't gamble, I don't really do social media. Rugby league is my passion. My wife knows that on weekends during the football season, I'll be at a ground somewhere in the group, whether it be with the Pirates or helping out another club.''

Rob now lives in Port Macquarie but still works with the Pirates, where he's a life member.

He also understands how hard it is to get volunteers these days.

"If we don't have referees we don't have a game. And if we don't have qualified sports trainers, we don't have a game,'' he pointed out.

The greater focus on injuries these days is to the betterment of the game, Rob insists. And the message is getting through that there's more to life than a game of footy.

He recalls a grand final a few years back involving the two Port Macquarie clubs, the Sharks and Breakers.

"Kurt Lewis was knocked senseless. I went out him, brought him off and told his coach, Ben Sprague that he wasn't to go back on,'' Rob said.

"There was no arguing or complaints. No-one got the shits.

"Kurt stayed off and he phoned me a couple of days later to thank me for looking after him. He said the headaches he'd had since were dreadful. Image what might have happened if he'd gone back out there.''

Rob's 64 next birthday and said his journey in rugby league is far from over. He wants to be on the sideline when Old Bar wins a premiership again.

"My wife Vicky and I have 11 grandchildren between us, spread from Queensland to Sydney, so I want to be there for my grandkids as well,'' he said.

"But I've been around rugby league for a long time. I hope to be for a lot longer yet.''