AJ ‘Tood’ Buswell Sports Star of the Year Award winner Jack Robinson living up to lofty early expectations

To say big things have been expected from the 2024 South Western Times AJ “Tood” Buswell Sports Star of the Year Award winner Jack Robinson from an early age would be a colossal understatement. Aged just 12 years old, the Margaret River surfer was on the cover of The Weekend Australian Magazine, with a photo of him on the beach sporting his trademark cheeky smile accompanied by a blurb saying he was being tipped to be a future world champion. The article christened him as the next Kelly Slater — an 11-time world champion — and drew on an analogy from his father Trevor that he was “hand-rearing a racehorse” to say his achievements in his own sport could match those of legendary thoroughbred Phar Lap. Against those standards, anything other than becoming one of the world’s very best would have been seen as a disappointment — but that is a class Robinson has earned his place in. Robinson’s rise from a prodigiously-talented “grom” to the World Surf League Championship Tour was not without its bumps along the way, including a brief break from competitive surfing in 2018 after he missed out on qualifying for the sport’s top tier of competition. But since winning the final event of the testing Qualifier Series to punch a full-time ticket to the Championship Tour in 2019, he has not looked back. Robinson has won eight events across his five seasons on the tour — including his hometown Margaret River Pro in both 2022 and 2024, the two years where he was crowned the winner of the “Tood”. He has spent time ranked as the No.1 surfer in the world and has thrice finished the season inside the top five in the rankings to qualify for the one-day, winner-takes-all finals, where the winner is crowned world champion. Though his 2024 also included victory at Hawaii’s Sunset Beach Pro to go with his hometown success, the undoubted highlight was his Olympic Games silver medal. In what was the second time surfing took its place on the world’s brightest sporting stage, Robinson overcame several of the world’s best to book a place in the gold medal match, where unhelpful conditions were not in his favour against local hope Kauli Vaast. Speaking after the Games, Robinson said the Games had only deepened his ambition to become champion of the world. “I want to chase that, even more than before,” he told AAP. “The Olympics was just so exciting, coming down to the final, and it fuels the fire competitively even more so that’s super cool.” Other gongs Robinson claimed through his brilliant 2024 included Surfing Australia’s male surfer of the year award and Surfing WA’s Ian Cairns male surfer of the year and Mike McAuliffe performer of the year awards. A mixed 2025 tour which has seen Robinson win the Bells Beach Pro in Victoria but also make some early exits, including going out in the round-of-32 at his hometown Pro, has him sitting at No.7 in the world rankings. Elimination in the round-of-16 at the ongoing J-Bay Open means he will likely need a strong showing at next month’s Tahiti Pro, the last event of the season, and for other results to fall his way to break into the top five and qualify for the finals. Robinson was not able to receive his award on the night due to being in South Africa, but said he was hugely thankful to be recognised as the winner. “I’m so proud to be from Margaret River and represent (Western Australia),” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting back home when I can soon.” Before announcing the winner of the 65th edition of the long-running award, South Western Times editor Amber Lilley said the organisation’s lengthy association with the local sporting community was a tremendous source of pride. “Our team are out on the sporting field taking photos, writing reports, on all of these awesome athletes,” she said. “To have a night when we can actually come together and share and celebrate them, and share them with the rest of the community beyond just our pages is a really big privilege.” The award is named in honour of the patriarch of the region’s famous Buswell family, who had a long association with the South Bunbury Football Club as well as being a Bunbury Cup-winning thoroughbred horse trainer. Buswell family representative Griffin Mitchell said the award held huge significance for his family. “It is a great privilege to stand up here and carry this award,” he said. “I’d like to thank the City of Bunbury, and the South Western Times for being a sponsor of this award.”