I actually think Michael Monaghan is better than Roby.



Roby's another one where my views differ from the masses a bit. Yes he is good but I think he is slightly overrated. Remember all that 'it doesn't matter if Cunningham retires because Roby could be even better'....Roby's not in Cunningham's class, he was the best hooker in SL by a long way. I am not saying that I disagree with the idea he's a top class player, but I think Monaghan is the best in the league, remember his last season at Manly he was the best hooker in the NRL as well.

Gasp! Sits and waits for the ensuing melee.

Ok thoughts on this thread

I wouldn't swap that's for sure. But I will bet Wire fans would say the same. Roby has been utterly sensational for us this season so far.



I think the two are very different styles so it's hard to say who is 'better'.

Better than Cameron Smith and Danny Buderus in his prime? How wouldn't have come to Super League if that was true.

Just looking at the Wigan games, Roby has been the best player who has played against us this season along with Scott Dureau.



Monaghan is obviously like an extra half-back and has a good kicking game but Roby is a much better runner of the ball and one of the best defenders in super league.



My personal opinion is that I would rather have Roby in my team because if you have two quality half-backs (which I don't believe Warrington have) then you shouldn't need a player like Monaghan at hooker. I would probably also rather have Roby just because he is British..... he was produced off the St Helens production line which is probably why the fans love him so much.

I should say I didn't start this thread, my original post up there was inside another thread and the mods have split it off. It looks like I was deliberately trying to bait Saints fans into an argument by starting a controversial thread.



Always irritating when the mods do that.



Anyway what do you guys think of Atkins v Shenton.....

Sorry Sally i'll hold my hands up, it looked like the other thread was going off on a different tangent.

Stat wise Roby is incredible this season. Compared to Monaghan:



3 more tries

3 more assists

139% more metres

4 more offloads

20 more tackle busts

33 more marker tackles

240 more tackles

7 more clean breaks

4 fewer missed tackles

1 fewer penalties conceeded

1 fewer yellow cards

I'd have Roby out of the two. Fantastic player, who I thought was a lot better than Cunningham for the last couple of years.

There you have the fundamental difference.

Why has Monaghan done so much less work than Roby defensively? Has Monaghan escaped due to playing in the halves? Is he spelled a lot?



I think the SL stats site really needs to add minutes on the field and the ability to break the stats down per minute or per 80 minutes etc.