The first time he was only 20 and had featured on the 2006 Great Britain tour of Australia. Paul Wellens,the new St Helens coach,was Roby’s teammate.

Roby had been shown an interest by the Roosters,and they were happy to fly back him back from the north of England to inspect their facilities.

“But my wife[Natasha] who was my girlfriend at the time,she was pregnant,she was 18,I was 20,and we were worried about being young parents away from home,” Roby said.

“I then had talks with Parramatta in 2013. I was very tempted,it was the closest I had come,and the emails went back and forth for a few weeks.

“In the end,it wasn’t a bad thing because a year later they[the Eels] were done for all the salary-cap stuff.

“When I was younger,the money wasn’t too different[between the two competitions],and I was happy being a hometown lad. The money now is vastly different,and if I was 20 years old again,maybe I would have made a different decision.”

Roby will retire at the end of the year. A statue of Keiron Cunningham,Roby’s dummy-half predecessor,stands out the front of St Helens’ home ground. So,you can only imagine it will be a matter of when - not if - Roby is enshrined somewhere around Totally Wicked Stadium.

Roby does not crave fame. He recently completed a masters degree in sports directorship.

Another interesting fact about Roby is the little-known fact he is colourblind.

“Every now and then,you might say that’s blue,but I’ll say purple,” Roby said.

“I’m just glad I play rugby because my team is behind me and the other team is in front of me. If it’s soccer or football,and the jerseys are similar,I’d struggle.”

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