Well, if you heard that one of your players had a fractured eye socket, what would be [iyour[/i immediate reaction?

The fracture is a small one, the doctor has said he can play on it and that it would take the same degree of impact to break his eye socket as fractured it in the first place. But he has facial swelling, impaired vision and numbness at present and that all has to clear before he is fit to play. If that doesn't clear by Sunday then he doesn't play.

Incidentally, it was the England coach who dropped him from the England team as soon as the injury was confirmed.

Worst facial injury ever..most convenient facial injury ever. I think some of our saints friends just got the injury and him being a hatchet faced bugger mixed up. Like I said previously, we dicked them with him. It's getting some of the others back that is worrying. Eastmond has been the one that has killed us the previous two years. I'm glad his a'rse has gone and he doesn't want to play.

I bet Joseph Merrick wished the miracle workers who have treated Roby were about in his day.

My reaction would have been 'he played almost the whole match without any Obvious discomfort and it only looked like a black eye.... I will be surprised if he misses more than 1 or 2 games'.

And I was right.

We've got a game against big club to worry about before we play your lot anyway.
Once that's out of the way we can concentrate on retaining our unbeaten record (Cup semi excepted) at the Halliwell Jones, Roby or no Roby.
Who knows who will or will not be available for the Wolfs by then.
See youse!

You're right, we didn't have many out for that game. We were only missing Wheeler, Perry and Pryce IIRC.

But it will be a very different team this time around, as that day we had Lomax at centre, Meli on the wing and a disinterested Kyle at 7 in the midst of a fans revolt against him.

Hopefully this time round we'll have Meli in the centres, Lomax at 7 and Perry/Wheeler back in the side. Plus Gaskell has a fair few games under his belt now.

If Saints can avoid any more injuries (and Roby is fit) I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us beat Wigan and Wire in the next few weeks.

One thing is for sure, they should be TREMENDOUS games, can't wait!

I hope you beat Wigan, but I can't see you beating the mighty wire!

When I saw you had posted on this thread I thought you may have got some new banter. Turns out your still the tiresome jellyfish you always were. Boooo!

Not really out for that long,neither god news for other SL teams such as bradford,The Wire will manage though im sure.

St Helens hooker James Roby is remarkably in contention to face Bradford on Sunday despite fracturing an eye socket last week.

The 25-year-old suffered the injury in the first half of last Friday's Engage Super League victory over Leeds, although he played on until the 74th minute.

He was promptly ruled out by England for Friday's International Origin match against the Exiles but Saints hope he can still travel to the Grattan Stadium two days later.

Coach Royce Simmons said: "He has got a fracture, but it is a very small fracture.

If he can play on Sunday he shouldn't have pulled out of the England squad. Mind you there is plenty of history for Saints hookers pulling out of international fixtures, he has clearly learned from the master.

Boom boom. He was released from the England squad by the England doctor and passed unfit for Friday. He was assessed by the Saints doc for Sunday and it was decided that as it would take the same force to break the bone further it was not an issue him playing, providing the swelling and bruising had subsided.

Saints aren't the villains here, nor is Roby. It's those pesky RFL employed physicians again.

The RFL should have ruled him out completely for this week.

That's a very good point. I can see there being a problem re this.

Im not bothered Saints will win and England will lose regardless and he doesn't get a rest.
Let him be

Not possible. This would cause a huge restriction of trade law case.

The RFL (England team) can rule him in or out of their own match, but they can't rule him out for any period after that. Or why not rule him out for the following week or the next or the next.

Maybe the RFL should assess all clubs injuries and rule players fit to play for their own clubs or not.

I'm sure Tony Smith would love the RFL to decide who can or cannot play for Warrington because of an injury.

Personally I'd give Roby a rest against Bradford as Moore is more than adequate to fill in at hooker, and roby has had no rest so far this season.

Huddersfield have spelled players so there is no harm in doing the same.

But in the end a club should be able to pick who they like to play for them, whether that be Roby or Bob the builder. THe RFL just need to take care of managing the overall game not micro managing every issue.

Royce Simmons and the Saints doctor said Roby was available for both England and club selection this week

McNamara and the England doctor decided not to select Roby, they could of if they wanted too.

England decided not to play Roby, not the other way round.

No suprise that Roby will play on Sunday after he pulled out of the England team injured.

Saints have been doing this for years on end together with playing players not named in the official 19 man squad.

No suprise though, always have been cheats always will be.

Read the post above yours. Roby DID NOT pull out. He was released by England, Saints had given conformation that he could play in the Exiles game.

Don't let a fact get in the way of your inane ramblings though.

Saints must be taking a huge gamble. If Roby takes a bang to the same area this weekend surely it could mean making it worse and losing him for longer. I cant believe 48 hours additional healing time would make too much difference and if he wasn't fit for friday then he couldn't be fit for sunday.

Saints fans don't want James Roby to play on Sunday whether the bruising and numbness has gone or not (the doc said that he shouldn't play if the bruising and numbness are still present). I think it's too big a risk to play him. However, Simmons has said he will give him until Sunday morning and make a decision based on medical advice at that time.

Really? How?

Do. Not. Feed. The. Troll.

Paul Youane is well known for it, he even does it in the Stadium pics thread on our board remarkably.

But I enjoy feeding them.