Picturesque? Goodness me, idyllic Christmases with carol singers on the village green and jaunty neighbours bounding across the virgin snow bearing gifts of fresh home made mince pies. Sounds like Blake is trapped in a Richard Curtis rom-com.

Guess the club haven't housed them in Bewsey then.

I hope and actually believe Austin. Mind you I'm gullible as I believed this www.totalrl.com/tyrone-roberts-a ... lish-game/

I hope and actually believe Austin. Mind you I'm gullible as I believed this www.totalrl.com/tyrone-roberts-a ... lish-game/

He seems like he speaks well and will be good with the media, which is not a bad thing. I think Roberts image with the fans was worsened by the fact he was not very communicative in interviews and it made him come across as surly and disinterested. But also it probably spills over in to how good a communicator these players are on the field. You want an Aussie pro to be a big character in the dressing room and have a positive outlook and motivate and gee up others, you never sensed that Roberts was going to do that.

Having said that, these interviews about how they are loving life in the UK are just PR, remember how media-friendly Matt Rodwell was when he came over here. His love for Warrington soon soured when he was the scapegoat for us losing games and people were confronting him in the car park in front of his family.

The test will come if he starts the season slowly and the fans are split in to two camps: the knee-jerkers that will be offering to drive him to the airport and the ones who pin their hope on him getting better 'when the pitches firm up'. The first camp will grow rapidly if things don't improve quickly.

The other test will be if he does live up to expectations, and Aussie agents start putting feelers out that an NRL club might have salary cap space and be able to offer the sort of deal that he wanted to get last year. Then we will see how much he loves Warrington and his 3 year deal or whether he needs to ask for early release on compassionate grounds because he hasn't settled in.

From all the “will he, won’t he” vacillating before he signed I always had concerns about Roberts’ commitment. Settling in another country is hard enough when you are fully committed to the move, if you are half ars*d about it you have no chance.

Yes in his interviews he always look strangely detached, going through the motions, with no apparent interest in the club's fortunes. Mind you he was like that on the field.