Robys better than Houghton and Barbas better than shaul. Sneyd is better than richardson and kelly is better than whoever will be at stand off. Our 3/4 are better than saints imo and forwards pretty even so if we play well we should be in with a big shout if winning it. Walmsley is a massive loss for them and more or less evens out watts as a loss to us.

We've proven in the last couple if years were better than saints if we play to our potential but the problem is we rarely seem to

Confident we will get a result tomorrow. Dont believe the hype just because they have strolled past a few whipping boys. Leeds outplayed them. Wigan game could have gone either way. Without Walmsley they just don't have the firepower to cause us enough problems. As long as we are disciplined and don't cough up too much ball in our own half we will win. Roby is great, Barba is great, Thompson is playing really well, Percival is capable. The rest of the team is nothing to write home about at all.

Roby's past it now, has been for the last 3 years. Never was world class, you can only claim to be if you go to the NRL otherwise its like saying a Glasgow Rangers player is. Cam Smith has been far and away the best for 10 years at least.

Bang on the money IMO

Roby me and the lads were talking about last week, and we all pretty much agreed he has been the standout hooker for many years. Houghton is great and I love him, but Roby is better.

I am going anyway, and I reckon we will get beat by 10, but we have a chance that's for sure

One man team are the Saints, and that man will more than likely be gone next year, possibly this season, if his penchant for drug abuse returns.

Danny Houghton for me, years younger. Wouldn’t swap for the ageing James Roby

Still one of the best No 9,s in the game, he doesn’t hit those 150 to 200 metres anymore but he still hits 50+ tackles and his pass selection is much better towards world class standard.
Josh Hodgson is our international player and plays in the NRL is he world class, Roby is more effective than Hodgson in his distribution for England every England coach has recognised that.
Lots of fans say: Houghton (defence) + Clarke (attack) = James Roby

"lots of fans"?
where can I see this mass adulation of Roby, read it for myself.

It's a good job the VAST MAJORITY os Saints fans aren't as arrogant as the few idiots trolling on here.

Not arrogant at all, I,m just responding to the earlier post referencing to Roby being past it for the 3 years.
When in actual fact his overall stats over those 3 years have been superior to Houghton and Clarke, the only player matching him at the moment is Parcell.
A player who can win Man of Steel as a substitute, play over 30+ games as an international and hits the top stats for tackles and metres for over 10 years is an entity you don,t really treat with ignorance just because he plays for another club other than there own.

you have FACTS for the stat comparison, I'd love to read them.

Houghton's good, and pivotal to your team - but he is not in roby's league in my opinion. Roby is still the second best hooker in the league behind shaun lunt.

After watching both teams at CP recently should be a good tussle between you two, the thing with saints this year is that the average players in the squad are all performing well. Wilkin, peryoux, LMS, makinson, Amor - all look like really strong. Shutting down barba is the key, easier said then done mind.

It's like holbrooks coaching strategy is

run as hard as you can
play the ball as fast as you can
tackle as hard as you can.

So simple, yet probably the easiest way to get improvements from an underperforming group

They are the most NRL comparable team. Do the basics extremely well, durable and willing to go the extra mile. I think the 3rd game in 8 days is where you see who struggled over easter and with FC having 12 man deficit, then the tough game against wakey while in comparison saints at widnes was a bit easier i'd go for saints win by 12.