Does anyone know the exact extent of his injury. Has his ligaments snapped, torn,or badly sprained. Is it the anterior or cruciate that is affected?
Is it any worse than Walsh's injury?

Ligaments are more or less always worse than a break. Walsh was a bad one as he did ankle ligaments also but 9 times out of 10 you get over a break but ligaments can end you, especially if your in the latter stage of career.

I've just come back from a broken ankle which was bad but they told me im luvky it wasn't ankle ligaments Id done.


So basically in the long term Id take walsh injury over lomax but I bet walsh hurt more at the time

Like you said, he was a rookie then, and I wonder with increased experience and ability to read a game whether he could move back into the halves in the future?

I think if he played with a real scrumhalf like walsh then he'd be a great stand off, he's more of a runner and likes to take the line on but can also act as a pivot.

If you look at his halfback partners since he's been at saints, he's never played with a out and out 7 and at 18yrs that was a tough ask.

Maybe he could take the lance role of utility player If we bring in a good fullback. He can certainly play fullback and in the halves and see no reason why he couidnt cover centre and hooker.

I broke my leg, dislocated my ankle and ruptured ligaments all in one tackle and it is the ankle that has proven to be more troublesome since I've started playing again.

As you say, breaks are easier to deal with/heal and 9 times out of 10 there's no recurring problem. Ligaments on the other hand are much more vulnerable to go again though.

This is not strictly true. ACL grafts are usually more robust than the original tissue. It's the elasticity which is lost (or, sans improvements in the field of surgical grafts, used to be). Unfortunately, by strengthening the ligament you take away the "safety" mechanism of rupture when the joint is overloaded. This shock is then transferred to the surrounding structures in the knee and damage can occur at any or all these points.

I don't know what all that means but I'm guessing you don't agree.

Would Lewis Tierney not be an option on loan (or permanent). He is behind Bowen and Hampshire at present for the fullback position and behind Manfredi, Burgess and Charnley for wing. He has pace, and a good step. My only reservation with him is when running the ball out he tends to go sideways, a bit like Ash Golding at Leeds.

He played very well on the wing at Salford on Easter Monday.

Wigan wouldnt loan him to saints.

Which part of what I said isn't true?

Whilst it is hard for any kid to excel whilst physically under-developed - I tend to think "ball handling" is something you are born with. You don't need to be fleshed out circa age 22 to have the vision to see a runner in space and put the ball in his hands. Bear in mind that almost all of the best ball-handling scrum halves this country has produced, whilst physically under-developed, wear able to function to some degree even in their teens. Bobbie Goulding is a classic example.

Admittedly, Lomax's opportunities at scrum half were limited. But at no time during his occupancy of the role did I ever get the feeling that he showed signs of being a distributor. From the outset he was a nimble-footed, scooting half.

Each time you attack the line you face an incredibly challenging and mentally complex conundrum. It requires a unique awareness of time and space to "see" not just how the defensive pattern is currently arranged but how best to exploit it in the context of your own players movements. The masters of their craft seem able to conceptualise a four-dimensional model of the motions of players and can plot the optimal route to success - whether it be a set move, a kick or - the toughest of the lot - opportunistic. Such players are always that bit quicker in thought. But they are also patient. The acid test for any distributor is when he's facing an organised and aggressive defence at first receiver whilst trying to pick out the man in space. In most cases the scrum half will get rid of the ball far too early instead of waiting till the absolute last split-second for that one opponent to break ranks and commit himself - thus giving him the opportunity to slip his man through the gap.

The Australian Test scrum half, Brett Kimmorley, was one of the greatest ball handling scrum halves I've seen. Very often he took what seemed like an age to get rid of the ball. And yet the number of times he just slipped the pass to one his teammates running through a gap the size of a bus was amazing.

Lomax never struck me as the above kind of player. Not close. Far too often he panicked, dumped the ball off early for little gain or threw the ball aimlessly into the ground or touch. No, Jonny's agility was physical - not mental.

It's true and it's not true. The cruciate graft ITSELF is stronger and therefore less likely to snap. However, this places greater than normal stresses on the surrounding tissues since prior to repair it would have snapped BEFORE the load is transferred to the rest of the knee.

Im not sure what all that means but I'm guessing you think lomax is no Kimmorley?

I'm saying he's not a play-making distributor.

I have never mentioned a cruciate graft. I think you're putting words in my mouth here and/or going off on one of your silly know-it-all point-scoring exercises.