And hardly was either

Another statement. www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5793

Another statement. www.saintsrlfc.com/news/page/5793

Strong stuff from Eamon

Hope Lance has deep pockets, that sounds like he's geeing up for a legal case.

I said last week that this could open a complete "can of worms" the wording from Eamon concerned me, seemed like a quick reactive response, rather than taking time and serious legal guidance? Now Lance has responded again, and if you look at both statements he has some basis. This matter should be resolved outside of the media and quickly.

I must say when I read the article I came to the same conclusion as Lance is trying to convey now. He wasn't trying to damage the club or staff.

This is becoming increasingly unfortunate.

If Lance has the agenda he claims to have then he needed to be much clearer about who he was criticising, and precisely for what. It just isn't clear from his initial comments that he only meant management, nor is it clear in what ways they allegedly failed to support him.

I'd be interested to know who wrote the first response from the club, as I thought it was a terrible piece of PR. It seemed to appear moments after Hohaia's interview came to light, and the contents reflected that. It was overly emotional, poorly written and ambiguously worded in places. In a situation with possible legal implications you need to be absolutely clear-headed and precise in your use of language. This was quite the opposite, and, given that one of the things the statement kept trying to stress was that the club has the highest professional standards, it rather undermined its own message.

Eamonn's subsequent statement was much more on the money, but I think Lance is right to pick him up on the comment about his degree. Students with severe mental health problems get degrees all the time, usually with the help of a strong support network. The major difference between carrying on with a degree and continuing to play RL, of course, is that by doing a degree you aren't risking getting your head stoved in any further.

I've no idea where this will go, but I don't think either party is covering itself in glory.

Steady! You know this for sure do you? If not I'd be very careful if I was you. Best to keep out and leave them to it. We should stick to the game, and not get too deep in the legalese.

Horrible watching this unfold, but Lance appears to backtrack at the same time as defending himself here. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/35867834

Horrible watching this unfold, but Lance appears to backtrack at the same time as defending himself here. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/35867834

Too strong; he should have let it die down instead of stoking the flames up. The Club had already made a statement so there was no need for his at all.

McManus is right to react and came across very well. Lance is putting the club in a bad light and also super league.