Budding journalist Owen Farnworth, age 13, highlights why his favourite Saints player is a key cog in Justin Holbrook's team

EVERYONE has a favourite player.

Mine is James Roby.

Why? Because he works incredibly hard for the team and plays 80 minutes every week.

He is also now our captain and is a great servant to the club, with his appearance in Friday night's win against Castleford Tigers being the 400th of his Saints career.

Robes has been crucial to everything Saints do for a number of years and I am sure will continue to be this season.

Saints would have really struggled without him in recent seasons and it will be tough to replace him when he finally retires after so many good years of service to Saints.

The 32-year-old will have a huge bearing on what type of season Saints have.

If he stays injury free there is always a good chance Saints can win games and possibly win trophies.

Roby started his glittering career playing second fiddle to the legendary Keiron Cunningham.

He was given 20 minutes off the bench to help preserve Cunningham's career which is surely something Roby will be forced to do himself as he gets older, possibly rotating with the likes of Theo Fages and Jonny Lomax.

However if he continues to play at the level he did last season it may not be needed just yet.

Roby is a mainstay in the Saints side and will hopefully continue to be for a few seasons before hanging up his boots and saying goodbye.