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Thread: Roby has been driven into the ground

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    Got A Season Ticket kirk1989's Avatar
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    Default Roby has been driven into the ground

    I know Roby discussions are going on in the Wilkin & Vea thread but i don't wanna get us all mixed up.

    I felt so sorry for Roby last night. he looked like a broken player. Very poor performance from him and usually when he plays poorly then WE as a team do not play well.

    I think its a disgrace the amount of minutes we expect Roby to play and still expect him to have the same influence on the game. I find it even funnier that....In 2006-2010 we had a devasting force playing hooker at all times. We had Cunningham who was slowing down and a vibrant Roby. Cunningham career was prolonged and his impact on games was bottled up into 25 mins at the start of the game and the final 20 which made him able to produce devastating performances for all of his career. Instead of Cunningham limping into retirement or us wishing he retired, He went out on top with a grand final appearance.

    Now I find it silly that the man who received this chance to prolong his career is expecting the man who helped him (Roby) to do 80 minutes a game. Roby has to do more tackling than Cunningham had to do which is probably due to the work rate of the players around him (Hooper, Cayless, Graham)

    I personally think 2018 (Possibly 2017) could be Roby's last. He is 31 in November and I dont think he has 2 years left in him at this rate. I know he is doing a University degree which he is enjoying and setting up a future for himself away from Rugby League. When his next contract ends I fear he would not consider another. BRING IN a hooker worthy of spelling Roby. Tommy Lee may be an option but our play will suffer when Roby leaves and Lee comes on. We need someone who will contintue the work Roby does. Example - Dwyer or Mcshane

    Really hope we dont have to celebrate the career and mourn the early exit of Roby.

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    Learning All The Songs RV12's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kirk1989 View Post
    I know Roby discussions are going on in the Wilkin & Vea thread but i don't wanna get us all mixed up.

    I felt so sorry for Roby last night. he looked like a broken player. Very poor performance from him and usually when he plays poorly then WE as a team do not play well.

    I think its a disgrace the amount of minutes we expect Roby to play and still expect him to have the same influence on the game. I find it even funnier that....In 2006-2010 we had a devasting force playing hooker at all times. We had Cunningham who was slowing down and a vibrant Roby. Cunningham career was prolonged and his impact on games was bottled up into 25 mins at the start of the game and the final 20 which made him able to produce devastating performances for all of his career. Instead of Cunningham limping into retirement or us wishing he retired, He went out on top with a grand final appearance.

    Now I find it silly that the man who received this chance to prolong his career is expecting the man who helped him (Roby) to do 80 minutes a game. Roby has to do more tackling than Cunningham had to do which is probably due to the work rate of the players around him (Hooper, Cayless, Graham)

    I personally think 2018 (Possibly 2017) could be Roby's last. He is 31 in November and I dont think he has 2 years left in him at this rate. I know he is doing a University degree which he is enjoying and setting up a future for himself away from Rugby League. When his next contract ends I fear he would not consider another. BRING IN a hooker worthy of spelling Roby. Tommy Lee may be an option but our play will suffer when Roby leaves and Lee comes on. We need someone who will contintue the work Roby does. Example - Dwyer or Mcshane

    Really hope we dont have to celebrate the career and mourn the early exit of Roby.
    Roby has been carrying 2 injuries all year, one is a serious injury. I doubt he has been in a good enough state to play for a while let alone do the work we all expect of him due to his high standards.

    Hopefully, a long off season will help him.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RV12 View Post
    Roby has been carrying 2 injuries all year, one is a serious injury. I doubt he has been in a good enough state to play for a while let alone do the work we all expect of him due to his high standards.

    Hopefully, a long off season will help him.
    Indeed. The silver lining of all this is that he shouldn't be in with a shout for the Four Nations, as it will be Hodgson and Clark I would've thought. He needs a long rest and a capable hooker coming in in the off season in order to spell him.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SaintJose View Post
    Indeed. The silver lining of all this is that he shouldn't be in with a shout for the Four Nations, as it will be Hodgson and Clark I would've thought. He needs a long rest and a capable hooker coming in in the off season in order to spell him.
    Enter Matty Smith

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    In The West Stand Dux's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kirk1989 View Post
    I felt so sorry for Roby last night. he looked like a broken player. Very poor performance from him and usually when he plays poorly then WE as a team do not play well.
    I think there's a confusion of cause and effect here. I think it's more the case that when the team, and especially the pack, play well, then Roby will be eyecatching. When we're 'winning the ruck' then he can run out of dummy half and play to his strengths. When, however, we are getting the speed of the ruck dictated to us, as we were for most of last night, then he's not in a position to do the things that he does so well. Despite that, he almost always performs at a high level - if we're up against it and he's not making big runs, he will be getting through a ton of work and giving snappy, clean distribution. Last night was a rare bad day at the office, IMO, and no indication of a decline.

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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Scouse Don's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    I think there's a confusion of cause and effect here. I think it's more the case that when the team, and especially the pack, play well, then Roby will be eyecatching. When we're 'winning the ruck' then he can run out of dummy half and play to his strengths. When, however, we are getting the speed of the ruck dictated to us, as we were for most of last night, then he's not in a position to do the things that he does so well. Despite that, he almost always performs at a high level - if we're up against it and he's not making big runs, he will be getting through a ton of work and giving snappy, clean distribution. Last night was a rare bad day at the office, IMO, and no indication of a decline.
    What he said but he needs to be spelled more.
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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Blobbynator's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    Last night was a rare bad day at the office, IMO, and no indication of a decline.
    I think Roby is starting to decline a bit now, albeit slowly.

    We need to be looking at his long term replacement now whther that is an academy product or a recruit, we need to fill the void Roby will leave us in a few years. As for next season he definitely needs to be spelled more and maybe an indication of why we're bringing in Tommy Lee (if indeed he does sign) to help cover Roby for spells during games and to give him the odd week off to recover. Roby needs to be protected more now so he is fit and ready come the bigger games.
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    The worst thing about it all is that Cunningham has said REPEATEDLY he wants cover for Roby but has just flogged him out there doing 80 minutes every week. Failure to address an obvious issue has, at best, lessened the players impact and, at worst, shortened his career.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blobbynator View Post
    I think Roby is starting to decline a bit now, albeit slowly.

    We need to be looking at his long term replacement now whther that is an academy product or a recruit, we need to fill the void Roby will leave us in a few years. As for next season he definitely needs to be spelled more and maybe an indication of why we're bringing in Tommy Lee (if indeed he does sign) to help cover Roby for spells during games and to give him the odd week off to recover. Roby needs to be protected more now so he is fit and ready come the bigger games.
    I can't believe we didn't do a bit more to get Brad Dwyer. Perhaps with him being left out a few times at Warrington he would demand less and our bargain basement cap managers will be interested

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    Feel sorry for Roby, this season has seen him drop down to fourth place in English hookers, he is looking so jaded, making mistakes James would never make, and slower, same with Wilkin he looks completely done for at times, again error ridden.

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    He's had a poor season by his stellar standards. He's got one season left at most IMO. Terrible against Warrington in the semi final.

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    I think it is more to do with the class of player around him (or lack of them). Danny Houghton has no trouble doing the full 80 and tackles more than Roby but he has had better players around him this year. I know he is younger but I think Roby had a bad game on Thursday because his timing was out due to him being rested last week. Forwards can be rested & rotated because their job is pretty much straight forward but hookers, half-backs & full back to a degree need to find a rhythm as they are involved in that many more plays than the rest.

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    One swallow does not make a summer. Roby was poor by his own standards against Warrington but has been consistently one of our best players in most games. If you judged all of Saint's players by the same standards he along with Amor would come out on top this year. I fully expect Roby to have another excellent season next year and that steps have been taken to spell him with an experienced replacement.

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    Rather see Roby do 80 mins with a broken leg than watch him go off for Tommy bloody Lee.

    Now if we showed a little ambition and brought in a decent interchange (like Dwyer or Lunt) then that would be a different story.

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    Lunt would be good could depend on how hkr fare later .

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    Learning All The Songs Mike Stephenson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saddened! View Post
    He's had a poor season by his stellar standards. He's got one season left at most IMO. Terrible against Warrington in the semi final.
    Roby didn't have his best game, but he's got a few more years in him at least. He does need help though.

    If you look at the NRL grand final earlier on, Cameron Smith who's 33, played the full 80 and made 71 tackles. The difference is, Melbourne have a utility on the interchange (Ben Hampton). A quick player who can come in and relieve some of the responsibility of trying to spark the side out of dummy half. So even in a competition with reduced interchanges, most teams have a utility or interchange hooker on the bench. Again it's a mentality thing- its negative as far as I'm concerned, to name four forwards on the bench as St Helens have been doing more often than not..

    Regards,

    STEVO

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