James Roby explains his new St Helens role as unique position confirmed
James Roby has a new role at St Helens. After an outstanding 551-game career, the hooker hung up his boots at the end of last season after 20 years of playing for his hometown club.
And now the 38-year-old has taken his first step into life post-retirement, taking on a new position as the Saints’ Leadership, Culture, and Performance Coach. The new role will see him closely linked with Paul Wellens’ coaching staff as well as other areas of the club.
Knowing exactly what it takes to reach the very top, Roby won six Super League titles during his career, as well as four Challenge Cups, eight League Leaders’ Shields, and two World Club Challenges. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of the modern era and, for St Helens, the greatest in their history.
Explaining his new role, Roby said: “First and foremost, I’m another coach around the place to help with Paul Wellens, Laurent Frayssinous, Matty Smith, and the other coaching staff. I’ll be taking the lead on the things we do as a team that deal with our values, our culture, and the leadership aspect of that.
“I’ll be mentoring some of the players to a degree, and from a performance mindset, I’ll be doing individual one-on-one coaching where we will focus on people as individuals, trying to just squeeze a little bit more out of them if we can with a different approach.”
Roby, who wasn't short on options and who was offered other roles for this season, continued: “St Helens is home for me, and I’ve had a very lucky 20-year career. I’ve now come to the end of that, and it is a little bit scary at times. You think about what’s next and what to go into, and I explored a lot of different possibilities and opportunities, but in the end, this role became available. To stay in the environment that I know, I’m very familiar with all the staff and all the players; it’s a very easy transition for me as a retiring player.
“But this is also a role that I’m really passionate about. It’s a role where I really want to add value and make a positive difference. I’m ambitious; just like I was as a player, I’m ambitious to succeed in this new role.
“I’m very open to learning. I know that I’ve got a lot of upskilling to do and things that I’ll learn on the go or on the job, but I’m welcoming that challenge and embracing it. The challenge of working with these professional athletes day in and day out. It really excites me.”
St Helens have long since attributed their strong culture to their recent success. With a professional attitude and elite mindset, the Saints won four consecutive Super League titles between 2019 and 2022 and famously won the World Club Challenge against the might of the Penrith Panthers last season. For Roby, the culture game is pivotally important, with how the players train, act, and conduct themselves being hugely important to any future silverware.
“We’ve got a very strong and stable culture that has been developed over many, many years, and if you look at our trophy cabinet, this club is built on success,” Roby added. “It’s built on hard work and honesty; there are a lot of attributes that go into it, and good people make good cultures. Part of my job will be to help maintain that.”