I agree, i'd let the coaches pick.

I would expand it.

1 vote for each coach
1 vote for the 5 nominated press members
1 vote for each club captain, compiled from a poll of the players

Can't vote for own club in the case of coaches and players. All votes and results published.

Monas is better because he's a cool aussie. Roby looks like he should be in the cast of Oliver. Nuff said.

I have spoken to players that have played against Roby and they have said he is the strongest player they have played against, which I was surprised about because of his size. I rate Roby a lot and he suits Saints style of play very well. We have all seen the way saints have beaten us over the years and they play very well the plan of Jumping out of DH off a quick play the ball and running South to North with players piling through the middle looking for a short pass. They have done and stil do this very well. I remember Cullen ( on his boots n all slot) picking up on pryce following James graham hoping to pick up and go of one his quick PTB's
Monaghan tends to run diagonally. look at some of the tries he has scored (CC semi against Wigan) or look at the break he made against crusaders when Ryan o'hara failed to push up they are all pick ups from DH but diagonal runs. What you often see with Monaghan is that he very rarely gets tackled with the ball but he often passes the ball that close to the line, that he is often smashed by the defender just after he has passed. By taking it to the line he has created the 2 on 1 and put somebody through a gap or a half break usually resulting in a 1 on 1 tackle on his runner that then results in a quick PTB.
It would be interesting to see which areas of the pitch that most of saints. Clean breaks have come. I would suggest that most of theirs are 15m either side o the centre of the pitch but ours would be 15m in from each touchline. That shows the difference in the 2 teams and how they play so Roby may not suit our style of play and Monaghan may not suit theirs.

well, i dont know whos better (course i do, its monas classic) but i tell you one thing, regardless of how good james roby is, saints would have beaten us this year if cunningham was in teh side.

i dont mean,, oohh the hoodoo and all that , but when they got the roll on at the end of teh game there was 3 or 4 scenarios that were screaming for the fat romulan to go barging over, and he would've and we'd have been powerless to stop him.

Thats where we've been going wrong, should have been playing Feka at dummy half against you!

Mike Sullivan for me

disagree. Not about KC being the fattest man in the world.

Sts wouldn't have won. It was foolish we let the limping lions of sts save some face. They were boys against men. Wolves wouldn't have let KC score in a million goes. Admittedly, during the first half with the 6 or 7 goes on our line. They MIGHT have scored

I think they've both been exceptional this year, easily the best two hookers in the league. One area in which Roby does have an advantage is that he plays the full 80. It's really noticeable when Monas is off the pitch being spelled and it offers the opposition a bit of respite.

You could read it that way but the try assists and offloads would seam to suggest otherwise.

Warrington have scored a lot more points than Saints have this year which means we've been on the attack far more than we've been defending, that will go a long way to explaining why Michael Monaghan has done less defending than James Roby.

Out of the 2 i'd take Michael Monaghan, imo he's got a far better all round game. His kicking is better than Roby's (does he even have a kicking game), he'll get more 40/20's in a season than Roby (has he ever had one ?). He sets up a hell of a lot of our tries, he's great at drawing in defenders and then slipping the ball round the back of a defender or putting someone into an open gap.

Roby takes the eye more becuase of his style of play with his scampering runs but Michael Monaghan to me has the better all round game, he can control a game far better where as Roby just controls small spells of a game with his darting runs, if you can contain those runs of Roby's (like we did earlier in the season and Leeds have done over the years on the big stage) then their arn't many more tricks in his locker.

Richie Myler had a better tries/assists per gaem ratio than Eastmond and Tomkins last season. Stats mean jack.

I want them both

Its very difficult to judge who is the best, as people have already said, they are two very different types of players.

Which makes the stats slightly irrelevent, as Monaghan spinning out a great pass to Briers which leads to Wire running 50 metres and scoring, doesn't necessarily show up, when compared to Roby scooting from dummy half and making 10 metres for example.

There role is about choosing the right options at the right times, and this ability doesn't necessarily show up on SL stats....

Saying that, I think based on age and nationality I may prefer Roby.

From a neutral perspective it's still hard to compare the two. The way Roby tears teams apart around the PTB is a joy to behold, but so is Monas' ability to distribute in such a way that opens up defences in a different fashion - and he is a master at catching the markers not square as well. Both are absolutely class. Roby manages to be workmanlike AND possesses an X Factor but Monas maybe gives more direction. Hard to compare. I'd have either playing for Wakey or Exeter Centurions.

For try assists Warrington's stats should include "Monaghan-to-Myler-to-Briers-to-Hodgson". I'd bet that combination would be in the top three for assists measured against any other individuals.


Back on topic. Both great players. Roby's stats are unbelievable and without him this year Saints would be lost. The likes of Scott Moore should be DRIVING to emmulate him.

Cunningham was an all time great, the best ever when close to the line I'd say. He had that knack of brilliantly timing a pass so as to tease the defensive line into going for it, only for a average player like Stankevitch, Pickavance or Hargreaves to trundle onto it and end up flopping over the line without being touched. If somehow you manage to stop him doing that, he'd just pinch one himself. He also had that magical quality of making 12 other players defend better even without doing any tackling himself, just because he was there. It wouldn't have been the end of the game we'd have won that if KC had played, it would have been the first half where we had a two week camping trip on the Warrington try line and never scored a point.

We'll never replace him, no matter how brilliantly Roby plays. But it is a testament to Robes that there aren't many Saints fans discussing us missing Keiron. He is the reason we've not 'done a Bradford' and dropped well outside the 8 this season. We're punching above our weight with the squad we've got and we've done it with 6 or 7 missing most weeks.

If James Roby played for Wire and Monaghan played for Saints you would have laughed us off if we started this debate.

Does anyone REALLY think Monas does as much in attack as James Roby? seriously
Does anyone REALLY think Monas does as much in defence as James Roby? seriously
Does anyone REALLY think Monas is a 80 min a week man like James Roby is? seriously.

But I am honest, Monas probably has a better kicking part to his game and that is the only department he wins.

so he should if he can get it for playing half a season he should stroll it if he plays a full one..any how monas for me by a country mile

Go back to the season, he won it playing half a season and I bet his stats were ridiculous even then, especially for time he was on pitch...

was a ridiculous decision...theres others who stand a chance of m.o.s.for one ben westwood.if he played for saints he`d walk it

Firstly it seems you have not disagreed with my comment, because if you have took time to check, you would have to agree? so I accept your acceptance on that.

As for Ben Westwood a class player I would sign him for Saints without a doubt, tbh your best player that I feel puts in the effort and stats week in and week out, I not going to say anything detrimental on him. I can admit he is a cracking player.


I speak sense.

If he played for Saints he'd have been out for 9 weeks with an ankle injury so wouldn't be in the running for anything bar a spot of rehab.

thats a matter of opinion