James Roby was a talented young player, who came into the saints team when the King was on top of his game, we had a dominent pack and the play the ball area was heavily policed......what happens next? - Robes comes on, saints can play the ball quickly and Robes looks like a world beater........
The game has now changed for saints - our pack is less dominent and the play the ball has been slowed down....the King is still the King btw!!
If you look at it objectively, what do saints now get from Roby?
In my opinion, we get a good solid defence (not as effective as the King, but that's a big ask for anyone)............
It's with the ball in hand that he falls short - His runs from dummy half are not as effective as before, when he does make a break he often loses the ball in his haste to play the ball quickly - his passing in general play is average at best and the abilty to put players through a gap, like the King can do, is non existent........
The measure of his input is best taken when he starts - Apart from the name on his shirt, which tells us he is on the pitch, what do we get from him - not a lot unfortunately.......no big hits, no line breaks, no defence splitting passes - in a nutshell, he tackles and passes (often poorly).....
I'm not suggesting it is an attitude issue either, I just don't think he has developed his game sufficiently since coming into the team - I do think, however, that he won the MOS on the back of coming on after the King had done the hard work - it is also difficult to understand how the King has never won the MOS, when he has been the best forward (not just hooker/number 9) in the comp since 1996.........thats another debate tho
With Moore coming back an established SL player, with natural abiity as a ball player/out of hand kicker and possesing more bulk/power than Robes, this makes him the natural and correct choice to start when the King retires.
To cope with the slower play the balls and the lack of a dominent pack, we need an interchange hooker with the ability to do more than make the odd dart from dummy half.
As Robes is a current international, on a big contract and still hyped by the likes of stevo, should saints consider cashing in thus freeing up some salary cap and bringing through a more natural ball player to exploit defences (don't forget the play the ball is to slow for Robes to be effective)..........
If you don't agree with me, it's only a matter of opinion after all, just look at his overall game over the next few weeks. You will probably need to take the rose tinted glasses of first mind
Enjoy your rugby league
