St Helens have named their squad for the World Club Series – with James Roby NOT involved.
Roby has failed to recover from a rib injury, but Travis Burns and Dominique Peyroux are included.
Keiron Cunningham will select his 17 from: 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Jordan Turner, 5. Adam Swift, 6. Travis Burns, 7. Luke Walsh, 8. Alex Walmsley, 10. Kyle Amor, 11. Atelea Vea, 12. Jon Wilkin, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 14. Lama Tasi, 15. Greg Richards, 16. Andre Savelio, 17. Luke Thompson, 18. Dominique Peyroux, 19. Theo Fages, 20. Joe Greenwood, 22. Jack Owens, 28. Morgan Knowles.
Trent Robinson will choose his Roosters’ side from: Aidan Guerra, Blake Ferguson, Brendan Elliot, Dale Copley, Daniel Tupou, Dylan Napa, Ian Henderson, Isaac Liu, Jackson Hastings, Jake Friend, Jayden Nikorima, Joe Burgess, Kane Evans, Latrell Mitchell, Mitchell Aubusson, Mitchell Frei, Sam Moa, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Siua Taukeiaho, Tyler Cornish, Vincent Leuluai.
St Helens coach Cunningham had insisted that whilst he was happy to see James Roby making progress from the rib injury suffered against Huddersfield, he won’t rush him back for this Friday’s World Club Series game against Sydney for the sake of it.
Roby missed last Thursday’s loss to Salford due to the problem, with youngster Morgan Knowles stepping in at hooker in the absence of the talismanic England international.
And Cunningham told TotalRL at Monday’s World Club Series launch that Roby had to be fully fit to play on Friday.
“He’s making really good progress and he’s improving all the time, but he’s got to convince me that he’s 100 per cent fit,” said Cunningham.
“If he’s not then I won’t play him, because I don’t want to lose him for five or six weeks.”
Cunningham also said that whilst Friday’s game is a special occasion, the club have to manage him properly with a long and thorough season ahead.
“The game is a great spectacle, but I’ve got bigger fish to fry down the line with the league and the Challenge Cup. James Roby features highly in all of those plans.”
