Super League 
/ Ralph Ellis / 09 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Is James Roby an adequate replacement for Kieron Cunningham?
"Cunningham will be missed as much for his influence on the dressing room as for his ability on the field."
As Super League fans prepare for the big kick off this weekend, Ralph Ellis considers how St Helens will adjust to the retirement of their talisman.
No player is bigger than a club. When any of the legends eventually have to hang up their boots as old age and creaking muscles take their toll, the club always carries on. But there are some whose influence is so talismanic that it takes time for the vacuum they leave behind to be filled.
Think of Alan Shearer leaving Newcastle; or Lawrence Dallaglio ending his playing days at Wasps. In cricket, and okay we are talking a few years back, it took Somerset maybe a decade to regroup from the departure of Viv Richards and Ian Botham.
So as a new Super League season comes along with all the razzamatazz of an opening weekend of "Millenium Magic", maybe the biggest question will be to see what effect the retirement of Keiron Cunningham will have on St Helens.
On the face of it, the answer should be that it won't be much. Hooker James Roby has been his understudy for enough years to slot seamlessly into the side, and the rest of the group are pretty much the same players who reached last seaon's Grand Final but just came up short against Wigan on the day.
But the reality is that Cunningham will be missed as much for his influence on the dressing room as for his ability on the field. Suddenly when St Helens are in a tight corner their players won't have the figure of the gnarly old veteran forward to come up with some inspiration.
Saints new coach Royce Simmons has already given a clue to his thinking on the lack of one big leader by appointing two captains, with duties to be shared between veteran full-back Paul Wellens and prop forward James Graham. And Wellens himself has this morning unwittingly underlined the empty space that Cunningham has left behind.
He was giving an interview, trying to talk about the quality of the current squad, but instead couldn't help discussing how much his former team mate will be missed. "Keiron is kind of irreplaceable," he said. "He could always come up with the big play when it mattered."
Cunningham has stayed on the coaching staff, but as a player it was always his deeds that were far more inspirational than his words. He'll need a year or two to learn how to be an effective coach, while Saints will need as long for a new on-field leader to emerge.
All of which is a good reason to lay St Helens for this season's Grand Final while they are as short as being the [4.5] favourites. Don't get me wrong. Given a season to get over the loss of Cunningham, they will almost certainly work their way into the play-offs, and might even arrive for their third Grand Final in as many seasons. But the road will be rocky on the way and there will unquestionably be an opportunity to turn the market green and wait to collect your winnings.
Five things you might not know about James Roby
1. Born November 1985 in Whiston, Merseyside, he was keen on languages at school and studied French and German at Cowley Language College
2. He started a Sports Science degree at Liverpool John Moores University but dropped out to join St Helens full time
3. He scored the first try ever at the new Wembley Stadium when he went over in St Helens victory over Catalans Dragons in the 2007 Challenge Cup final.
4. That season he also became the youngest player ever to win the Man of Steel award
5. He suffered some family drama when his little boy was born six weeks prematurely, but all is well now. Little Ollie is three years old and full of health.
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