Pity we couldn,t give Gardener a couple of games in the pack, he would show up the current lot in how to run hard and tackle hard.

I would give him a 1 season deal. For me Lomax is a little over rated.

McDonnell looks pretty poor to me. His kick returns are on par with wello, he's dead with the ball. I think it's a waste of cap giving a below average fullback a deal when we have lomax, Hohaia, makinson, swift and wello who can all play fullback.

I must admit his support play is excellent but IMO no way that warrants a deal.

just about sums it up

He,s very similar to Lance but playing at full back, if we sign Burns then Lance can play full back if needed or at hooker to spell Roby and lastly at half back in an emergency.
I hope I,m wrong but I get the impression that Lomax could be on the way to a "Wheeler Scenario" with injuries.

The difference with lomax is he actually wants to play and cares about the game. Wheeler couldn't careless if he plays or not and happy to sit out with a simple little knock.

Wheeler will go down as a player that never lives up to the enormous potential he had which is partly down to injuries but also partly down to been a poor pro.

McDonnell isn't staying with Saints next year. So thread can be closed.

And was never going to be staying since day one of him coming in.

I really do hope that Utility is located near Auckland, he must be one of the highest paid and the LEAST effective of all the players we have.

totally agree.

He has pulled a great con trick. This season he has been average, but because he has been verging between awful and terrible for the previous 2 years he has actually convinced people that he is playing well.

last I read was that Gardner was going to Brazilian Rugby Union?

Bit harsh on Lomax that. Comparing him to Wheeler is way off the mark. 114 games in 5 years for Lomax, 53 in 7 years for Wheeler.

I can see why you say that. I think for me to agree 100% on this, is the end of next season lets see what he does.

I,m not really comparing him in that manner, its just an awareness in that the club appears to be not that good in conditioning players the right way especially after injury.
Amor is an example he,s come back after injury and is struggling for fitness and form, is it because his conditioning is not right, if so then there is the risk of further injury in trying to get back to his original level.
Back to Lomax, I seem to remember a couple of occasions we,ve brought him back too early only to suffer from injury again, we,ve done the same with Walsh with calf, wrist and elbow injuries.
Lots of clubs seem to have a shorter recuperation time, we seem to have 5 years of an injury jinx, is it self inflicted.

We certainly have had a ridiculous amount of injuries over the last few years. Why that is I don't know though.