Roby: impact off the bench

St Helens hooker James Roby has been named the 2007 engage Super League Man of Steel.

Roby is just 21 and has made only 12 starts for Saints this year, but he has made plenty of impact coming off the bench.

Roby is the youngest recipient of the British game’s top individual award since former Great Britain captain Andy Farrell won it in 1996, also aged 21.

Roby - who is the sixth St Helens player to win the award in the last eight years - edged out Wigan stand-off Trent Barrett and teammate Paul Wellens, the 2006 winner.

Experts

The Man of Steel is decided by a panel of rugby league experts.

Roby, who was short-listed for young player of the year 12 months ago, has featured at loose forward, stand-off and scrum-half this season but is regularly used by St Helens coach Daniel Anderson to rotate with hooker Keiron Cunningham.

Roby received his trophy and a £5,000 cheque at an awards ceremony at Old Trafford, where he will return for Saturday’s Grand Final against Leeds.

Australian Barrett, who was last week named the Rugby League Writers’ Association player of the year, was voted the GMB players’ player of the year in a poll of all Super League squads.

Anderson was named Super League coach of the year for the second successive season, ahead of Bradford’s Steve McNamara and Huddersfield boss Jon Sharp, while Bradford prop Sam Burgess was named young player of the year.

Steve Ganson is referee of the year but he is not eligible to take charge of the Grand Final because he is from St Helens.

Excellence

Leeds were named club of the year for their achievements in sporting administration, player development and marketing.

Hull centre Richard Whiting was named the Carnegie community player of the year and veteran Leeds centre Keith Senior received a special award for becoming the first player to play in 300 Super League games.

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Tags: Saint, Steel

Posted on March 30th, 2007 by Klaus Roe
Filed under: Rugby Union, Fun and Games