Carney had a drink problem along with other things.Ta'ai has satisfied both the Giants and the Rugby League completely.A slight visa problem should be settled when the Manila office opens tomorrow after the Christmas break,hopefully.

I'd be happier if they said what the "small issue" was

if ponner wants to PM me i will tell him about the 2 problems.

The Giants press release is near enough as it is. Nothing to worry about hopefully

Giants still 100% confident taai will be over soon, wont be playing v widnes though.. and could you really play him in first game v saints even if he is over in time?? dont think so...bit of a blow, hope chans knee is fine.

application error rather than anything to do with his past so nothing like todd carney situation...

Brearley, it doesn't say he won't be playing v widnes. I suspect if he arrives from now - thursday he will probably play if later then probably not.

But believe me after speaking with a few of the staff even if he arrives here early next week hes still got more or less 2 weeks till the opening game v saints so he will be playing in the opening game (providing hes fit).

The staff are really excited and and just as eager to get him over here as we are

I suspect this year O Donnell and Fielden will only be used in 2/3 games and will be rested for the games against cas/widnes/salford/bradford/quins.

Can't these players get their agents to check over the visa application before it's submitted,to prevent technical problems.All this bs over visas gets a bit frustrating.Makes you wonder how committed these players really are.

How right you are Boomer.I have e-mailed Barry Sheerman and asked why it seems to just be RL players who seem to get all the grief.Don't expect much by the way of a straight answer.

forget your mp only thing you get from that txxx pxxx is that he should be on 100k per year and have 2 free carparking spaces

cant see him playing in the first game if he doesnt play in the friendlies... wouldnt be fair on the others plus we are strong enough anyway with ferres,odonnell,lawrence,chan,ferguson,fairbank if he doesnt..no need to rush him. we know what happens with our imports and their hamstrings!

i expect fielden and odonnell to be spelled but to play just 2/3 games???!! or do you mean against 3 teams?? that still would only be 6

I meant i expect them to play 2 in every 3 games so play two games rest one, play two rest one...if you get me?

So if he comes over in good condition and trains the house down you would not play him? i certainly would

jakegiant wrote:
Brearley, it doesn't say he won't be playing v widnes. I suspect if he arrives from now - thursday he will probably play if later then probably not.

But believe me after speaking with a few of the staff even if he arrives here early next week hes still got more or less 2 weeks till the opening game v saints so he will be playing in the opening game (providing hes fit).

The staff are really excited and and just as eager to get him over here as we are

I suspect this year O Donnell and Fielden will only be used in 2/3 games and will be rested for the games against cas/widnes/salford/bradford/quins.

l suspect you are right jake, so l wont be surprised if this happens and we loose some of these games.
l believe in always playing your strongest team, l believe simply resting players breeds inconsistancy within the team , and thats bad, hopefully PA has similar ideas
l wonder how these players would feel about having 1/3 of there pay packets rested ?

no as he hasnt played in the warm up games or been in pre season training with us, has to bed in and bide his time and we have others who are more than good enough to play the first game v saints. like i say , no need to rush him.

Agree with you here, we've players who've probably worked hard in pre season who can adequately do the job, why risk someone with no training, game time etc .....worthless risk if you ask me.

PA said yesterday that Ukuma would not get in the 17 for the opening round.

Support players need to get used to his style of play,so its fair enough.Though if the visa farce could have been avoided then it would have been a different story.