As a result Roberts will not only miss the climax of the RaboDirect PRO12 season but also be ruled out of Wales' summer tour to Australia.
Halfpenny - and indeed Roberts himself - knows all about injury setbacks having been forced home early from the Britsh and Irish Lions tour in 2009.
And drawing on his own setbacks, Halfpenny is hopeful Roberts can make the best of a bad situation.
"Speaking to Jamie, he's devastated," Halfpenny told Wales Online. "He's absolutely gutted missing the summer tour.
"But on the flip-side, you've got to look at the positives you can get out of it.
"For me, I had time to work on my upper body strength, my size and things and also my skills.
"I had time to really look at my game and look at what I needed to improve.
"Last year, when I was out with my foot problem, I put in a plan to improve my skills as much as I could.
"It will be the same for Jamie I would imagine. He will have plenty of time to reflect on his game and look at how he can improve himself as a player.
"I should think he will be doing a lot of upper body weights once he has his op.
"He'll obviously be disappointed, but it's how you react to it and what you do with the time off.
"It's important that Jamie really takes the time to become a better and stronger player when he comes back."
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