30 September 2023 , 08:13
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Knowing James Roby will walk out for the last time on St Helens turf today got me thinking about amazing hookers I was lucky enough to play with during my own career.
When looking at British ones, the top three - in no order - would be Robes, Jimmy Lowes and Kieron Cunningham with an honourable mention for Terry Newton. I was fortunate enough to play with Jimmy as I was coming through at Bradford. He was a super smart player, a guy who had the IQ of a half-back but the toughness of a forward and was aggressive with it, too.
He was such a competitor and one of the reasons Bradford were so successful at the beginning of Super League. I played with Cunningham for Great Britain and he was hugely skilled but very powerful running the ball, too, and such a talismanic figure.
Tez (Newton) was another exceptionally tough, fit hooker with great ball skills. Robes’ level of consistency is immense; everyone recognises that now.
His standards are so high and he’s nine out of ten every week, playing in an incredibly difficult position in the middle where fatigue can have a big impact on your performance. Yet it never seems to impact Robes.
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He’s such a high skill level and is such an honest character. They made a statue of Cunningham outside of St Helens’ stadium but you could easily put a case forward for getting another for Roby as he prepares to retire. If he reaches another Grand Final he’ll go past our joint-record of 11 appearances but that doesn’t bother me.
Records are there to be beaten. I can’t think of anyone better to do that than Robes. We’re fortunate in this country to have been blessed with some magnificent No9s - and these guys I reckon stand the test against the greatest of all time.
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