Roberts and Fagan are among several shearers starting to make noises in the open grade and threatening the hopes of the bigger names, as the tension rises ahead of the Golden Shears in Masterton on March 2-4, and the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti four weeks later.
The winners of these events will be named as the two machine shearers in the New Zealand team for the 2023 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Scotland in June.
“Definitely was a goal of mine,” Roberts said.
“I was having a good shear, too, until the accident happened.”
“Just had a kicker and a slight lack of concentration,” he said.
“Buried the comb into my pinky dropping into the long blow. Opened it up, and cut a tendon. A bit unlucky, but I’ll be back in no time - all going well.”
Descendant from the tough Ngāti Pāhauwera shearing stock of Northern Hawke’s Bay, Roberts said he has surgery on Monday and expects to be out for several weeks, likely missing the February 11 Otago Shears near Balclutha, where he has the rare distinction of winning in all four grades from junior to open over the years.
He hoped to be back for his home show, the Southern Shears, a week later in Gore.
Roberts then has plans to hit the track running for the three North Island shows leading into the week at the Golden Shears, where he won the junior final in 2010 and the senior final in 2014.
A Trojan of the shearing circuit nationwide, he is, however, yet to shear a Golden Shears or New Zealand Shears open final, events not won by any South Island shearer since 1993.
