In hindsight we should of signed Deacon instead of Long, I seem to remember Wigan were sniffing for Long back when he signed for us. Deacon would of been a much bigger player for us IMO.

Fine.

Unless someone has invented time travel there's less chance of that than one of your predictions coming true

Isn't it his 3rd or 4th "impact" injury since he joined us?

i could accept going into next season with horne or long and a new half-back... but if they are both first choice again WTF!!

defending Longs injury record at our club is ridiculous and deluded... the number of games we get from him is not good enough. some people pretend the issue is not his age. IMO either he is too old i.e. injury prone or he is crocked plain and simple. we should be looking to get 20+ games a year from a half-back

"no real rush"

yeah alright then... that will really help our recruiment for next seaon

"a fit SL"

remind me the % games he has played since he signed for us?!

indeed, neither Horne nor Long are playing at the standard we need to challenge for honours, but that doesn't seem to be why we're in business.

Bone density doesn't even start to decrease until 35 and it's a long, slow process - particularly in men. Long is 34. Intense physical exercise, particularly high impact, actually increases bone density and strength. Recovery time will increase with age, but Long is at no more risk of fractures than any other RL player.

And his lifestyle will not have affected his bone strength unless he's been seriously calcium deficient for many years.

If there was a better option at SH who was proven then I would admit that keeping Long would not seem the most sensible move. The thing is I can't see much quality available and when Long has been fit he has been very good I feel. The good thing this year is we have had genuine cover in Obst. Other halves get injuries too, recently I can think of Dobson, McGuire, Myler, Pryce as examples of players who have been out with lengthy injuries.

stop using sense like that Paul, it doesnt fit the thread remit mate

I agree with what your saying Paul, however the mail article says that with the salary cap change in 2013 and the poor exchange rate at the moment makes it very hard to attract quality overseas players, given that Fitz and Lauaki will probably leave at the end of the season we will need to replace them with quality and not unproven players either from the championship or u20`s, the signings of Hohaia & Laffranchi at Sts and the potential signing of Waterhouse at Wire shows that quality players are still interested in coming over, i hope we do have some quality lined up to come in for next season.

According to The Brother, we've signed
Aaron Heremaia.

I was mainly referring to halfbacks and the lack of quality available. In other positions there are quality signings to be made. Not too worried about our recruitment we seem to be getting it right more often than not these days.

I suppose your right Paul,time will tell i guess, signings from overseas are usually announced May/June so if we are to sign anybody we shouldn`t have too long to wait for some announcements.

I can't see any new signings from Aus, not with the cap change and currency exchange as it is, seems to me the HDM is keeping reminding us we're "going british" whenever we can.