Roby focused on St Helens, not Smith’s exit

St Helens hooker James Roby is refusing to allow the current situation at Wakefield affect his preparations for the clash between the sides at Langtree Park on Friday evening.

Brian Smith has departed from his post as Wakefield coach, and has subsequently hinted that the club could be in deep trouble.

But Roby’s focus is on his own team’s situation, rather than Trinity’s current woe.

“I don’t think it affects us too much,” he said.

“Obviously, it affects them quite a bit, but, in terms of us, we’ve just got to still play the same game we were going to play and be confident in our ability, and play as well as we can do.

“Obviously, they’ll be clubbing together and trying to play with that camaraderie and morale in the team, they’ll almost be playing to claim shirts, and might have a new coach watching, or an interim coach who’s maybe still undecided on certain players.

“So everyone’s going to have to try and prove a point, I think.

“I’ve played against teams who have lost their coach before throughout my career, and, to be honest, they always seem to play well off the back of it.

“So we’ll have to be ready.”

Roby has recently recovered from injury to take his place back in the side, and he is looking forward to helping Saints collect more Super League points in the coming weeks.

“It’s always nice to come back fron injury,” he said.

“It was only a short one, I missed two games, but, at the same time, it was one of them where you want to be out there with the lads, but it’s early on in the year, and it’s probably better to let yourself heal.

“It wasn’t too bad being out for two weeks, but I’m just glad to be back now, and getting back to winning ways.”