Oddly enough though, the first, considerably less sinister looking punch, was far more likely to cause a brain injury. The brain typically gets injured bouncing around inside the skull cavity which would happen much more with the first punch and ground impact. The second punch was much more likely to damage the skull itself. All a bit yucky in any event.

If Lance Hohaia had post concussion syndrome there is no way he would even be training, let alone playing up until very recently. This is just spin to get him off Saints books so they can bring in McDonnell. It really wouldn't surprise me if Lance signs with an NRL club within the next month.

McDonnell is more of a replacement for Lomax, whose also out for the season as opposed Lance.

What type of problems Lance has been suffering is undisclosed (and rightfully so), and has been in and out of the team (inexplicably it seemed until now). The prospect of long term damage is much scarier (especially when your considering retirement already) then any nefarious tactics to move around the cap...

Also, Saints didn't say anything btw, this has all come from lance - so no it's not saints spin

Bizarre. You don't know what medical ailments he has anymore than I do. If he's got symptoms he'll be assessed by professionals and those are the people who will diagnose him. Hopefully he'll have a break and be assessed and be found to have no long term issues. If he doesn't those professional medics will be able to say whether it's possible to define the time the injuries occurred, not people on here.

McDonnell is a stop gap we'd probably already been looking at following Lomax's injuries. KC has said several times he'd bring in a fullback if he could and possibly this does allow that to happen without cap concerns. But if that were the case, they would just put out a statement saying he'd 'left by mutual consent' or 'returned to Australia for personal reasons with the clubs best wishes' like happens all the time with overseas players. Neither Saints nor Hohaia would make up a story for the sake of it, let alone one that could materially damage the sport. Hohaia has been on the periphery of things at Saints, only ever playing because other players were injured. If the chance to release him came up, Saints would have taken it a long time ago. There is no need for a cover story here?

...what's your excuse?

He'll have egg on his face if he does, surely?

Is it the sort of thing that in, say, 2 years he could be fit to play again? Or has he got it for life?